Nasdaq to buy Nordic bourses owner OMX
London: The Nasdaq Stock Market has agreed to buy OMX which owns and operates exchanges in Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Reykjavik and the Baltic states.

Nasdaq is looking to expand beyond the US borders and earlier unsuccessfully tried to acquire the London Stock Exchange. The acquisition of OMX would give Nasdaq a platform in Europe. Shares of Nasdaq, the largest U.S. electronic stock market, were halted after 4 p.m. on Thursday in New York for news pending. Nasdaq declined to comment on what the news would be.

Trading in OMX shares was suspended on Thursday amid speculation that a bid for the company was expected.OMX has a market value of about $3.17 billion, said last month was in talks with several exchanges though it had not received any bids.
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Fed economists fear slowdown in US growth
Federal Reserve economists fear that the maximum sustainable U.S. economic growth rate may slow. Fed Governor Frederic Mishkin speaking at a monetary policy conference organized by the Dallas Fed said, "Given the slower projected population growth and what appears to be a downward trend in the number of hours in the average workweek, these results suggest that potential output growth will be slower than it otherwise would have been," Mishkin said.

The Fed has indicated its predominant concern is that inflation may not ease from elevated levels but has said that holding benchmark interest rates steady at 5.25 percent should allow price pressures to recede.
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China to keep yuan balanced
Though it is willing to promote flexibility of its currency China will keep the yuan "basically stable at a reasonable, balanced level," said Chinese vice premier Wu Yi.

Wu Yi said the flexibility of the yuan's exchange rate will be continuously increased through the reform, while being maintained at a basically stable, reasonable level, she said. She said that a large appreciation in the yuan could be harmful to China's economy and that exchange rates were not the main cause of the huge U.S. trade deficit with China.

The yuan has appreciated about 8 percent since it was revalued by 2.1 percent and delinked from a dollar peg in July 2005.

U.S. business men say the revaluation is far from enough, and gives Chinese exporters an unfair advantage in world markets.

The vice premier of China said attempts to pressure China to carry out a significant revaluation of the yuan would not be helpful, and could jeopardize the interests of the two countries.
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