Thursday Papers: PotashCorp files to halt BHP bid - tips, comment and bids

Financial Times

* PotashCorp has stepped up its defence against a $39 billion hostile bid from BHP Billiton, asking a Chicago court to block the bid and accusing the miner of misleading shareholders.

* Petropavlovsk, the Russia-based gold miner, has announced plans to spin off IRC, its iron ore division, in a Hong Kong listing worth up to $588 million next month.

* Louis Dreyfus, the French family-owned conglomerate that owns one of the world’s largest agricultural commodities trading houses, is exploring an initial public offering of some of its businesses, sources said.

The Lex Column

* US dollar - Is it a case of currency investors having had too much of a good thing?

* Inditex - The retailer that can do no wrong has done no wrong again.

* ETFs part I – Reform - Bankers must not race ahead of themselves.

* Uranium - Meltdown in prices has given the other yellow metal a healthy glow.

* ETFs part II – Stockpickers - The end of old-fashioned stock-picking?

Other comments

* Summers’ exit opens door for new ideas.