The ruble hit an 11-month high yesterday, just after warnings against bets that the currency would continue to mount. The government has apparently decided to abandon some of its more ambitious pre-crisis goals for the 2012 economy, admitting that growth will be more reserved than previously hoped. Billionaire Alisher Usmanov is apparently negotiating with the government to possibly exchange his 31.1% in mobile operator MegaFon for a stake in Rostelecom, once the latter has undergone a planned restructuring. TeliaSonera has reportedly agreed with Mikhail Fridman-led Alfa Group to combine holdings in mobile operators MegaFon in Russia and Turkcell in Turkey. Despite planning 67,000 job cuts, Sberbank is apparently optimistic that profits will recover next year. VEB is planning to sell foreign currency bonds, the term and size of which will be decided according to market ...

It felt as if negotiations would go on for an eternity, with months of stalling: search this site for 'Opel bid' and the stories of stops and starts come thick and fast.  Now, just as it seemed that the deal was finally coming to a close, comes the spectacular announcement that GM will not in fact sell off its loss-making European unit Opel to the consortium of Canadian part-maker Magna and Russia's Sberbank, preferring to restructure it itself as the economic climate warms.  German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had pledged €4.5bn in loans may well be fuming and apparently Prime Minister Putin has chimed in with his consternation over the abortive deal, which had promised ...

This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

• Gillian Tett (Financial Times): Rally fuelled by cheap money brings a sense of foreboding, October 22, 2009. It is crystal clear that the longer that money remains ultra cheap, the more traders will have an incentive to gamble (particularly if they privately suspect that today’s boom will be short-lived and want to score big over the next year). Somehow all this feels horribly familiar; I just hope that my sense of foreboding turns out to be wrong.

• Doug Kass (TheStreet.com): The earnings season racket, October 21, 2009. If end demand doesn’t pick up (and pick up quickly), the 2010 earnings outlook for many industries (such as semiconductors and other beneficiaries of restocking) will be in jeopardy, as

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An interesting opinion piece today by Vladimir Ryzhkov in the Moscow Times sees one of the last bastions of media freedom - Ren TV - looking like it may have to fight for its independence.  The increasingly popular station, the only one in Russia to offer a critical interpretation of the Sayano-Shushenskaya dam disaster and cover the Dissenter's Marches in Moscow and St Petersburg, may be fettered by management 'restructuring'.Controlled by National Media Group, owned by Putin ally Yury Kovalchukm, Ren will have a new Director General and will find new lodgings alonside state-controlled RIA-Novosti and the tow-the-line RT.  Ryzhkov recollects Gazprom's Media's overhaul of NTV which followed similar lines: could this be another nail in ...

TODAY: Lavrov keeps eagle eye on Georgia; Netanyahu's fears about Russian rogue scientists; Chubais takes the fall for hydropower plant disaster.  Litvinenko widow despairs over apparent British moves towards rapprochement.  Luzhkov-Baturina to take Nemtsov to court. UN report pessimistic on Russia's demographic decline; Ban Ki-moon voices approval for ecological care.According to the Moscow Times, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says that Russia will survey shipping in the Black Sea to monitor Georgian 'provocations' which are a 'serious concern'.  Jorg Himmelreich in the International Herald Tribune suggests that much analysis of last year's Georgia-Russia conflict has overlooked the crucial matter of President Bush's Georgia policy.  Spokesman Andrei Nesterenko says that he believes that the ratification of the Lisbon treaty would benefit ...

TODAY: Russia keeps its voting rights in Council of Europe; Lavrov says Russia wants unbiased discussions about human rights; French Foreign Minister argues Russia flouting ceasefire; Israeli diplomat makes swift exit; UK Foreign Secretary visit to ease tensions?; Scientology 1- Russia nil.At a meeting with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, Sergei Lavrov has asserted that the Kremlin has not avoided discussing human rights issues with other European states, 'but that dialogue should not be politicized, it should be concrete'.  According to Bloomberg, Kouchner has said that Russia is not honoring the terms of the 'Sarkozy-Medvedev' ceasefire agreement.   Ex-Georgian parliamentary speaker Nino Burjanadze has blamed President Mikheil Saakashvili for last year's conflict with Russia and has affirmed ...

Yesterday, QuoteMedia, Inc. announced that it will provide streaming real-time portfolio management and comprehensive financial market data and research information to JitneyTrade, an online Canadian broker. JitneyTrade, a company specializing in active traders, will integrate QuoteMedia’s products into the services it offers its brokerage customers. A spokesman for the company stated that the partnership is both exciting and significant.

The company’s contracted services encompass an extensive array of its products, including raw quote and research data via QuoteMedia’s DataFeed solutions and a plethora of QuoteMedia’s content and research products. Additionally, JitneyTrade will provide its clients with Quotestream(TM) Desktop and Quotestream Wireless, the company’s companion portfolio management system.

When asked about the benefits of the newly signed agreement, QuoteMedia CEO Dave Shworan stated, “JitneyTrade is emerging as a leading Canadian broker for active traders by providing the right combination of experience, knowledge, client service, technology and information. We are thrilled that JitneyTrade has

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Honestly, is there any other way to interpret this?

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko, as reported by the AP:

Moscow wants NATO to listen to its concerns and hold serious discussions on the Kremlin's proposal for an overarching new European security treaty.

Reacting to Rasmussen's remarks, Russia noted "the readiness he declared for stepping up Russia-NATO relations," Nesterenko said in a statement. But he suggested the alliance must do more to earn Russia's trust and remove its concerns.

"We are realists...further prospects for cooperation will depend first of all on the general backdrop of relations with the alliance, the restoration of trust, readiness to

...

TODAY: US missile defense in Eastern Europe plans officially scrapped in favor of 'more efficient' new program.  A matter of concession or conviction on Obama's part; mixed reaction from former would-be host countries fearful of Russian dominance; is the US expecting Russian cooperation in Iran in return wonders media - and will it get it?  NATO to have increased involvement in new plans. Georgia and Russia to negotiate.  Gapzrom may get its tower. The US plans to build missile defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic have been binned; the Moscow Times reprints President Obama's speech on the decision here.  'This is not about Russia',  White House spokesman Robert Gibbs has said.  According to the ...

China is Investing Billions in Renewable Energy One firm has already built China’s largest wind turbine manufacturing factory. And it’s working with the Chinese Science Academy to develop new wind, solar, and geothermal technologies… for which it will own 70% of the rights. But this company’s business reaches far beyond the Chinese border, with operations in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe. It’s first quarter net income increased by 294% over a year ago. Click here for the full report.

The financial services industry in the United States and Europe is still reeling from the financial crisis, shedding tens of thousands of jobs each month – even a year after the crisis hit its apex.

However, recent evidence suggests that the financial services industry in Asia – particularly China, which was largely isolated from the toxic assets that caused the crisis – is starting to rebound.

Indeed, many …