A round-up of the key stories across the specialist financial media, including news that the heads of the Bundesbank and ECB are at odds over ECB loans.
Bundesbank at odds with ECB over loans
The head of Germany’s Bundesbank has launched a powerful attack on Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, in a sign of mounting concern in Europe’s biggest economy at measures being taken to try to contain the eurozone financial crisis.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, signalling the worst may be over for the euro region’s most distressed bonds, said he expects leaders to strike a deal by the end of the month on expanding a debt-crisis firewall.
Markets dampened by Bernanke, factory data in focus
Asian shares fell on Thursday as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke put the brakes on a recent rally by curbing optimism about the strength of the U.S. economic recovery, but without signaling any further monetary easing to stimulate growth.
CIMB, which is in talks to buy Asian assets from Royal Bank of Scotland, may keep about two-thirds of the workforce at the divisions after the takeover.
China's big factories rebound as smaller firms lag
China's factories grew more than expected in February as new export orders for big firms bounced back while a private-sector report portrayed a different picture of smaller companies lagging behind the rebound.