Tuesday Papers: UBS on the F1 starting grid - other news

Financial Times

* UBS is moving into Formula One as a global partner, giving the Swiss bank a platform to underpin its rebranding and advertising campaign.

* Deutsche Bank on Monday launched a dark pool in Hong Kong.

* Amlin and Hiscox, two of the largest Lloyd’s of London insurers, pointed to high catastrophe losses in the first half as a drag on profits; Amlin’s pre-tax profits fell 39% to £107.6m; at Hiscox pre-tax profits were down 31% to £97.2m.

* Xavier Rolet, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, has stepped down from the board of LCH.Clearnet.

* Markit on Monday said that its composite eurozone purchasing managers’ index, covering manufacturing and services, fell from 56.7 in July to 56.1 in August, a two-month low; meanwhile, the European Central Bank said it had stepped up purchases of eurozone government bonds last wseek. 

* The German government is trying to cut its defence budget by ending national service and cutting the army by a third to 165,000 troops.

* The S&P 500 index closed down 0.4%; the UK’s FTSE 100 index was up 0.8%, led by banks; the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index is up 0.6%; Germany’s Dax index of blue-chip companies was up 0.1%, while the CAC 40 index in France was higher by 0.8%; the Nikkei 225 average was down 0.7%; the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.6%, and mainland China’s Shanghai index was down 0.1%.

* BP is preparing to drill a first deep-water well in the Gulf of Sirte in the autumn.

* The figures, released on Tuesday by the Health and Safety Executive, show a marked rise in the combined number of “major and significant” hydrocarbon releases over 2009-10 by UK offshore oil and gas operators, mainly in the North Sea.

* Leading economists have questioned the Bank of England’s nonchalance over the effect on the economy of huge cuts in public spending planned by the government.

The Daily Telegraph