Li-Ka Shing buys EDF's UK Network (£5.8bn)

The consortium included Hongkong Electric Holdings. Li also owns Superdrug in the UK. Meanwhile Carlos Slim has bought a townhouse on Fifth Avenue for $44m.

Tate and Lyle sells Sugar Business

Acquirer is American sugar refining, deal is for £211m cash. TAL were sugar refiners, in 1885 they put golden-syrup - made from the by-products of sugar refining - into green and gold tins, which proves to be a hit.

Tech Companies Target in Digital TV and Digital Radio

Intel's Atom processor is a ground-up re-architecture of Intel's chips, focused on energy efficiency. Intel as well as Google are getting interested in the digital TV market, following the lead of Microsoft, and Intel has finalised deals with France Telecom and Telecom Italia to put the chips in set-top boxes. Otellini told analysts it was the biggest change in TV since colour television.

Reciva, a company based in Cambridge, UK, has developed the Barracuda module, a hardware/software platform for Internet radio that supports the major streaming protocols: RTSP, MMS and HTTP. Stingray is an extension that supports FM and DAB radio too.

CDS Curve Inversion

Probability of short-term default higher believed higher as CDS curves for Greece, Spain, Portugal have inverted as has BP CDS. Exposure to Greece for French banks is highest with Credit Agricole, through its ownership of Emporiki, and SocGen, which owns Geniki Bank. The Guardian quotes James Rickards, former general counsel of LTCM, on the morality of CDS - "Why should we have instruments where the hope is for the failure of a sovereign state?".

Governors of Central Banks

Central Bank Governors generally have PhDs.

1. People's Bank of China: Dr Zhou Xiaochuan. PhD from Tsinghua University

2. Reserve Bank of India: Dr Subbarao. PhD from Andhra University. He did his BSc. Physics from IIT Kharagpur in 1969, MSc. IIT Kanpur. He also has a Masters degree in Economics from Ohio State. He became Governor in September 2008.

3. Bank of England: Dr Mervyn King. Honorary Doctorate from Cambridge (now ex-Governor).

Biggest Yuan Fall since Dec08 following Xrate Reform

Speculation is fizzing around China amidst beliefs that its central bank (PBOC) will INTERVENE to limit gains of yuan against the dollar. China announced over the weekend that they would drop the 2 year peg (FIXING) of the yuan against the dollar, allowing the yuan to appreciate.

The Chinese consumer can now buy a bit more dollars than before.

If China becomes more consumer-oriented, then will inflation rise in the US, if cheap goods from China are no longer available. This sentiment was echoed by Michael Woofolk, MD at Bank of New York Mellon, who revealed that the higher cost of Chinese goods would lead to inflation and higher interest rates in Europe and the US, resulting in slower growth.

"This is an important step" said US Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner. One of Obama's foreign policy goals is a stronger renminbi. The idea is that if Chinese good becomes more expensive, US consumers will buy more US goods.

Japanese Bonds and Equities This Week

JGB futures hit a record 2 year high (as people moved money from falling shares). JGBs have also been helped by the Eurozone debt crisis. 3 month LIBOR on YEN is currently around 0.24% (24 TV series) compared with 0.53% for USD 3m-Libor (easy to remember, 53 is the 16th prime number) - Yen LIBOR used to be more than USD. NKY is currently around 9700 level (fell a lot in May). GBP 3-month LIBOR is 73 bps (21st prime number).