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Pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis on Sunday publicly confirmed for the first time its previously reported bid for Genzyme Corp. (Nasdaq: GENZ) and moved to prod Genzyme shareholders into embracing a deal that management of the Cambridge, Mass., company has so-far spurned.

The offer, outlined in a news release issued by Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis, is $18.5 billion in cash, or $69 a share. Genzyme shares were trading below $55 a share immediately before news of the July 29 offer leaked.

Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) said the offer was reiterated in a letter sent Sunday to Genzyme Chief Executive Henri Termeer, a copy of which the suitor made public.

A Genzyme spokesman did not immediately return a telephone call early Monday morning.

Sanofi-Aventis said it sent the letter only "after several unsuccessful attempts to engage Genzyme's management in discussions."

The news release goes on to state: "Sanofi-aventis is disclosing the contents of its letter in order to inform Genzyme's shareholders of the significant shareholder value and compelling strategic fit inherent in a combination of the two companies."

"A combination with Genzyme represents a compelling opportunity for both companies and our respective shareholders and is consistent with our sustainable growth strategy," Sanofi-Aventis Chief Executive Christopher A. Viehbacher said in the public statement.

"Now is the right time for Genzyme to consider a transaction that maximizes value for its shareholders," he adds later. "Sanofi-aventis believes strongly in this acquisition and its strategic and financial benefits business card design. We remain focused on entering into constructive discussions with Genzyme in order to complete this transaction."

In contrast to the upbeat news release, the letter fromViehbacher is strongly worded and even critical.

"We are disappointed that you rejected our proposal on August 11 without discussing its substance with us," Viehbacher wrote. "After our repeated requests, you agreed only to let our respective financial advisors hold a meeting of limited scope. Our financial advisors finally met briefly on August 24, but the meeting simply served as further confirmation that as throughout you remain unwilling to have constructive discussions. As I have mentioned to you, we are committed to a transaction with Genzyme, and, therefore, we feel we are left with no choice but to take our compelling proposal directly to your shareholders by making its terms public."

He later adds: "It is our preference to work together with you and the Genzyme Board to reach a mutually agreeable transaction. As we have consistently stated, we place value on the ability to engage in a constructive dialogue and to conclude a successful outcome that would ensure a timely and smooth integration."

Large pharmaceutical companies increasingly have been courting biotechs to bolster the bigger companies' patent holdings and new-drug pipelines.

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Attorneys general from 11 states have joined a Missouri-led effort urging a bankruptcy judge to appoint an independent trustee to run US Fidelis, the Wentzville-based company that once led the nation in the sale of extended auto service contracts.

Last month, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Charles E. Rendlen III to appoint the trustee. Koster accused US Fidelis owners Darain and Cory Atkinson of plundering the company by illegally transferring the firm’s assets in order to put them out of reach of creditors, including several hundred consumers.

US Fidelis is now run by turnaround consultant Scott Eisenberg of Amherst Partners, based in Birmingham, Mich.

Eisenberg has said repeatedly that, since taking over last month, he has had no direct contact with the Atkinson brothers. Under Eisenberg’s leadership, the company has threatened to sue the Atkinsons to recover about $65 million that he believes they and companies they control owe US Fidelis.

Backing Koster’s accusations in court filings on Wednesday is Mary Lobdell, an assistant attorney general in Washington state who led a multistate investigation of US Fidelis that looked into widespread allegations of consumer fraud and telemarketing violations overnight pay day loans.

Lobdell noted in a filing that Darain and Cory Atkinson have not resigned from their executive positions — president and vice president, respectively — and that the brothers still could interfere with the running of the company.

"Given past business practices, the States have no confidence that the Atkinsons will keep the Debtor at arms length," she stated in the filing.

Also joining the call for the appointment of a trustee are attorneys general from Ohio, Iowa, North Dakota, Arkansas, Oregon, Maryland, Wisconsin, North Carolina, West Virginia and Tennessee. A hearing is scheduled for May 26.

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Stocks closed lower Wednesday as the dollar strengthened on fears tied to the growing fiscal crisis in Europe and a dour report on U.S. sales of new homes raised concerns about the economic recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) fell 53 points, or 0.5%. The S&P 500 index (SPX) slid 6 points, or 0.5%. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) dropped 16 points, or 0.7%. All three indexes remain near the highest levels since late September 2008.

Stocks opened lower after ratings agency Fitch cut Portugal’s sovereign credit rating one notch, reigniting concerns that the debt problems of struggling European economies like Greece are spreading and could hurt stronger members of the European Union.

The downgrade battered the euro, which fell to a 10-month low versus the dollar. The stronger greenback weighed on commodity prices, driving oil down 1.7%.

Stocks were also pressured by weaker-than-expected reports on new-home sales and durable goods orders. But analysts said the data are consistent with an economic recovery, albeit an uneven one.

Despite Wednesday’s retreat, stocks have been generally moving higher over the last several weeks. On Tuesday, all three major indexes closed at new 18-month highs as investors cheered a better-than-expected report on home resales.

"We had a nice run-up since the beginning of the week," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners. "Considering the negative news out of Europe, the strength of the dollar and the decline in commodity prices, the market is not doing too bad."

Cardillo said investors were also focused on the bond market, where a lackluster auction of 5-year Treasury notes raised concerns about budget deficits and fiscal policies in the United States. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note jumped to 3.83% from 3.68% as prices sank.

Meanwhile, investors are bracing for testimony Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to deliver Thursday before the House committee on financial services.

Bernanke is expected to discuss how the central bank plans to eventually unwind some of its emergency liquidity facilities as the economy continues to show signs of a gradual recovery.

"Volatility could be expected during his testimony as traders hang on every word," said Dan Cook, senior market analyst at IG Markets.

In addition, investors will take in quarterly results Thursday from Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) and ConAgra (CAG, Fortune 500) before the opening bell. Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500) reports after the market closes.

Portugal: Fitch cut Portugal’s credit rating one notch to "AA minus" from "AA," citing the country’s growing budget deficit and debt load.

"A sizeable fiscal shock against a backdrop of relative macroeconomic and structural weaknesses has reduced Portugal’s creditworthiness," said Douglas Greenwich, associate director in Fitch’s sovereign team.

Fitch said the outlook for Portugal is negative, given the country’s fiscal challenges and the still struggling global economy.

The downgrade came one day before EU policy makers are due to meet in Brussels to discuss economic concerns at the Spring European Council.

Economy: Sales of new homes unexpectedly fell 2 cash advance no faxing.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 308,000 units. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected a jump to a 315,000 annualized unit rate from a 305,000 annualized unit rate in January.

The report came one day after an industry group said sales of existing homes fell in February, but the decline was less severe than expected.

Separately, the Commerce Department released its report on durable goods orders, showing a gain of 0.5% in February, which was the third consecutive increase and in line with economists’ expectations.

Durable goods excluding autos rose 0.9%, after falling 1% in January. Economists expected an increase of 0.3%.

Company news: Shares of Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500) rose after the coffeehouse chain announced plans to pay an initial dividend of 10 cents per share on April 23 to investors on record when the market closes April 7.

Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) announced plans to begin reducing the loan balances of certain distressed homeowners with subprime or adjustable rate mortgages to make their payments more affordable. Shares of the company gained 2.6%.

General Mills reported adjusted earnings per share of 97 cents on net sales of $3.6 billion in its fiscal third quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected earnings per share of 85 cents and sales of $3.5 billion. Despite the strong results, shares of General Mills (GIS, Fortune 500) fell nearly 2%.

Lennar (LEN) gained 3.7% after the homebuilder reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss of 4 cents per share, versus a loss of 89 cents a year ago. The company said it sees signs the U.S. housing market is moving towards stabilization.

World markets: European stocks got a strong start but ended mixed after Portugal’s credit rating was cut. Britain’s FTSE 100 and France’s CAC 40 were lower, while Germany’s DAX was gained nearly 0.2%.

In Asia, stocks ended higher. In Japan, Tokyo’s Nikkei index gained 0.4%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.1%

The dollar and commodities: The dollar surged against the euro, pound and yen. At one point, the U.S. currency rose to $1.35 against the euro, marking the highest level since May 2009.

Crude oil for May delivery slipped $1.30 to settle at $80.61 a barrel as the dollar soared and the government’s weekly oil inventory report showed a larger than expected build in supplies.

The price of gold for April delivery fell $14.90 an ounce to $1,088.80.

Treasurys: The price of the benchmark 10-year note fell, pushing its yield up to 3.83%. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Prices fell after an auction of $42 billion worth of 5-year notes received lukewarm demand. The government is on track to sell $118 billion worth of notes this week.

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Jeff Andrews tried to remain diplomatic when asked about the McGuinty government’s $7 billion green-energy deal with South Korean titan Samsung Group.

The president of Pro-Power and Energy Ltd. in Port Hope could see, on the surface, the attraction of the deal. Samsung C&T and its consortium partner, Korean Electric Power Corp., have assured four manufacturing facilities will be established between 2013 and 2015. Two will make wind towers and wind blades, the other two will assemble solar modules and inverters.

Samsung has also committed to developing 2,000 megawatts of wind power and 500 megawatts of solar power across parts of Ontario. Together, these manufacturing and power-development initiatives are expected to create 16,000 jobs over six years, welcome news during tough economic times, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Thursday.

But there’s a catch. Samsung will get 4 per cent more for the wind and solar power it produces, and it will get priority access to Ontario transmission capacity that’s in short supply. Many energy developers who have been waiting patiently for access to transmission will now have to wait a little longer.

Why, asked Andrews, is the Ontario government giving a deep-pocketed, foreign conglomerate special treatment that’s not being extended to local ventures struggling to create homegrown manufacturing and green energy?

"It’s great for Samsung, but Samsung doesn’t need it as much as we need it," he said.

Pro-Power, in partnership with CWind Inc. of Owen Sound, has been busy putting together its own consortium that aims to build wind turbine nacelles, blades and towers in Ontario. It signed a 10-year contract with auto-parts manufacturer Linamar Corp. to make the nacelles, and has established two subsidiaries, WindPro and WindBlade, to make turbine towers and blades.

This all-Ontario consortium has been attracting investors and wind developers with thousands of megawatts of projects in the pipeline are placing orders fast cash loans. Linamar is on course to make 350 nacelles a year in 2012, well before Samsung will be up and running.

"We have been working hard, digging deep and trying to get the government’s support," said Andrews. "We’ve had some response, but not as much as we think we should get. We’ve proven beyond doubt that we’re serious about it. The Ontario government needs to step up and give support to the people who have really proven they’re committed."

The Green Energy Act, passed last year, was supposed to create a level playing field, he added. Along with the feed-in-tariff program launched in September, Pro-Power and hundreds of other manufacturers and developers have been working on the assumption all are playing by the same rules.

Andrews is clearly frustrated. "We are the Ontario story. I know that sounds cocky, but we are. Our technology was developed and proven here in Ontario by Ontario residents. The patents were established here in Ontario."

McGuinty justified the deal Thursday as a way to accelerate Ontario’s green economy, by drawing an "anchor tenant" that can stimulate jobs and exports much more quickly. The alternative, he said, is to "hope" our industry of smaller players will grow over time while the province misses out on export opportunities to a U.S. green-energy market ready to explode.

Ian MacLellan, vice-chairman of solar-cell manufacturer Arise Technologies Corp. in Waterloo, said that kind of thinking doesn’t work in the long run. "If you took that approach looking back 30 years to Silicon Valley, they would have funded Xerox and not talked to Steve Jobs."

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Sweden’s central bank kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged and said it will stick to plans to leave the rate at a record low until autumn next year to support the economic recovery and reach its inflation target.

The seven-day repo rate was left at 0.25 percent, the Stockholm-based Riksbank, the world’s oldest central bank, said on its Web site today. The decision was expected by all 15 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

“The recovery in the economy is continuing and inflationary pressure will be low in the coming period,” the Riksbank said in its statement. Today’s decision was necessary “to attain the inflation target of 2 percent and to support the economic recovery. The recovery is from a low level and there will be ample spare capacity over the coming years.”

The largest Nordic economy’s contraction this year will be the severest since World War II, Finance Minister Anders Borg said last month. The export-reliant nation’s slump has been deeper than in neighboring Denmark and Norway after Swedish manufacturers, including the world’s biggest maker of ball bearings SKF AB and truck maker Volvo AB, cut thousands of jobs to adjust to smaller markets. Exports make up half of Sweden’s $480 billion economy.

‘Earlier’

“We still believe that the Riksbank will hike earlier than they forecast since the labor market will stabilize earlier and develop better than they predict,” said Annika Winsth, chief economist at Nordea Bank AB in Stockholm. Nordea forecasts a rate increase to 0.75 percent in April.

The krona was up 0.3 percent against the euro, after earlier having appreciated 0.5 percent, at 10.4310 at 10:19 a.m. in Stockholm. Against the dollar, the krona was up 0.4 percent at 7.1989.

The economy will shrink 4.5 percent this year and grow 2.7 percent next year, the bank forecast today. That compares with an earlier forecast of a 4.6 percent contraction in 2009 and 2.5 percent growth next year.

The central bank also revised its unemployment forecast, saying the rate will peak at 10.1 percent next year, compared with a previous estimate of 10.3 percent, and fall to 10 percent in 2011.

Unemployment

Sales abroad slumped for a 12th consecutive month in October, forcing companies to cut more jobs and threatening to send unemployment higher than the 8.1 percent rate recorded in October, not adjusting for seasonal swings. Ericsson AB, the world’s largest maker of mobile-phone networks, last week said it must continue cutting jobs and costs, affecting 946 people.

“We’re facing rising unemployment,” Borg said on Dec instant payday loans. 4. His ministry predicts the jobless rate will peak at 10.7 percent in 2010 and the economy will shrink 4.9 percent this year.

Industrial production fell for a third month in October, with the decline deepening to 2.7 percent from a 0.5 percent fall in September, Statistics Sweden data show. Industrial output sank an annual 16.1 percent in October and hasn’t grown for 15 months, according to the office.

“The Swedish economy is split in two, where industry is performing very poorly while other parts are doing better,” Winsth said. “The Riksbank focuses a lot on industry and the problems we’re experiencing there.”

Inflation Outlook

The Riksbank today said prices will fall 0.3 percent this year compared with an earlier estimate of a 0.4 percent drop. It cut its inflation expectations to 0.8 percent from 0.9 percent next year and said prices will rise 3 percent in 2011.

The recession has undermined price pressure, with Sweden posting eight months of deflation through November, the longest period of price declines since 1980, when records start. Consumer prices fell an annual 0.7 percent last month, compared with the Riksbank’s 2 percent price growth target.

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s government, which is preparing for an election in September, will spend 32 billion kronor ($4.5 billion) in 2010, or about 1 percent of gross domestic product, on tax cuts and welfare to support demand. His administration came to power in 2006 promising to create jobs by reducing taxes and unemployment benefits. The government trails the opposition by 7.5 percentage points, according to an opinion poll published this month by Statistics Sweden.

Some indicators have pointed to economic improvement. Sweden emerged from recession in the second quarter and expanded 0.2 percent in the three months ended September. Stimulus measures have helped send consumer confidence higher, with the index rising to 11.4 in November from 7.5 in October, marking a fourth consecutive month of positive readings.

“The economic ground should be sufficiently solid for the Riksbank to start hiking the repo rate by the end of summer next year,” Danske Bank said in a report yesterday.

Other central banks are also exercising caution. Oslo-based Norges Bank will probably leave its benchmark rate on hold today after raising the rate a quarter point on Oct. 28 to 1.5 percent as policy makers adjust their stance to lower oil investment and the impact of a strong krone on exports.

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Sprint Nextel Corp reported a wider quarterly loss and a revenue decline, but its success in slowing the loss of the most valuable wireless subscribers took some of the sting out of the results.

At the heart of Sprint’s struggles is the loss of postpaid monthly-bill-paying subscribers, the most lucrative subscribers in the mobile business. That dwindling subscriber base has put Sprint further behind rivals Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc in the wireless wars.

In the third quarter, Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. mobile service, lost 801,000 postpaid subscribers, a significant number but well below the 870,000 losses analysts had feared.

Helped by the introduction of Palm Inc’s popular Pre smartphone, the subscriber losses slowed from 991,000 in the second quarter and 1.25 million in the first quarter.

“They still have an extremely long way to turn around the business and generate positive post-paid subscriber growth,” said Soleil/Nelson Alpha Research analyst Michael Nelson.

“Clearly, a loss of 800,000 a quarter isn’t going to cut it, but it does show some sign of improvement and says they are at least heading in the right direction.”

Its shares fell 4 percent in early afternoon trading.

Sprint Chief Executive Dan Hesse called the sequential improvement the best in more than five years, and said he expected a smaller postpaid subscriber loss again in the fourth quarter. Hesse expects improving subscriber trends in 2010.

The results are a far cry from the numbers put out by AT&T and Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc no teletrek payday advance. Between them, AT&T and Verizon Wireless added more than 3 million subscribers in the third quarter.

Still, the improvement in the postpaid business helped offset depressed quarterly financial results, analysts said.

“Although it generated lower financial results, certainly the highlight of the quarter was the improvement in postpaid customer losses,” said Nelson.

Sprint’s third-quarter loss widened to $478 million, or 17 cents a share, from $326 million, or 11 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell about 9 percent to $8.04 billion.

Excluding items, Sprint posted a loss of 19 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, compared with analyst estimates of a loss of 15 cents per share. Revenue was forecast at $8.09 billion.

While losing monthly-bill-paying wireless customers, Sprint fared well with prepaid customers, adding some 666,000 of them in the quarter due to Boost Mobile, a service that allows for unlimited calls and texting at a set monthly fee.

Still, investors worry that Sprint could be overly dependent on growth from prepaid, a business that tends to be less profitable and less predictable than postpaid. Some also worry the market will pull back once the economy improves. 

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A U.S.-led group that includes former Ford Motor Co director Michael Dingman is in talks to acquire the automaker’s money-losing Volvo brand, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.

The group, called the Crown consortium, has been in talks with Ford over Volvo for some time, said the source, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private.

The discussions raise a potential rival bid for Volvo to that of China’s Geely Automotive, which confirmed in September an interest in the Swedish brand.

Ford, the only large U.S. automaker not to restructure under a government-supported bankruptcy this year, in December said it was considering selling Volvo. The automaker has been divesting brands to focus on Ford, Mercury and Lincoln and conserving cash to support a turnaround.

A Ford spokesman said the automaker was in discussions with parties interested in acquiring Volvo. He declined to identify the parties or to comment on the potential timing of any sale.

“We will provide an update as soon as we have something to say,” Ford spokesman Mark Truby said.

The Financial Times first reported the Crown consortium’s interest in the Volvo brand and said the group was fronted by Dingman and former Ford and Chrysler executive Shamel Rushwin.

Dingman served on Ford’s board from 1981 to 2002, when he reached its mandatory retirement age.

The FT said the consortium had fully secured financing from U.S. private equity groups and was seeking additional backing from Swedish investors to signal its intent to keep Volvo in the country, citing people close to the sale.

The FT reported another informed person as saying the U.S. consortium had offered significantly less than Hong Kong-listed Geely, but that both plans involved similar plans for more than $3 billion of additional investment in Volvo.

The FT quoted a person close to the sale as saying Geely had offered just less than $2 billion for Volvo. Other media reports have put the price tag at about $2.5 billion.

The timing of the sale remains unclear. Ford has been restructuring Volvo to cut costs and to separate its operations to run on a stand-alone basis. It started discussions on the sale of Volvo in the first quarter of this year.

The unit was designated as held for sale during the first quarter, meaning that Ford expected to sell it within a year, but the process has moved at a deliberate pace.

Volvo is the last brand left at Ford from the automaker’s former premier auto group. Ford previously sold off Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover, but has continuing relationships with each brand and likely would retain ties to Volvo also.

The process of separating Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford for the sale to Tata Motors required working out continuing relationships that may be even more extensive between Ford and any new owner of Volvo.

As a result, Ford’s interests run beyond transaction price to the long-term financial stability of Volvo. 

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The 700,000 cars sold in the cash-for-clunkers program prompted U.S. automakers to boost 2009 production after a long period of inventory cuts, spurring North American steelmakers to restart idled mills.

Now that the clunkers program has wound down, the steel industry is unsure whether demand will stay high enough to absorb the additional output. So far, analysts are not seeing a U.S. economic recovery robust enough to sustain the pick-up in steel demand.

“As a result of the cash-for-clunkers program as wells as some restocking throughout the automotive supply chain, there has been an increase in end-user demand. And there is very little steel inventory at present,” said Luke Folta, steel analyst at Longbow Research.

By late August, some steel producers had already closed order books for October and are now working to fill them. But analysts are waiting to see whether the increased production will still be needed after the next few months.

“Aside from automotive, and a few other smaller pockets, there hasn’t been a real pick up in end-user order activity. There’s a meaningful amount of capacity coming online and we’re somewhat concerned that it may have gone too far,” said Folta.

Europe-based ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, and U.S. Steel, said late last month they were restarting production at two blast furnaces each in the U.S. Midwest and Canada in response to improving demand.

Adding production capacity mostly to accommodate increased car output will boost U.S. steelmakers’ operating rate to 60 or 70 percent of capacity, analysts said.

“It doesn’t get you all the way back, but the industry is running at a 55 percent operating rate (up from about 45 percent) and it is justified by what we have seen in real consumption over the last several months,” said Charles Bradford, partner at Affiliated Research Group good credit score.

A major drawdown in steel service center inventories, a process that kept steel mill capacity near a 45 percent operating rate for the first seven months of 2009, has meant consumers now need to order steel just to maintain current levels of output even if the economy stays flat.

“The absence of inventory destocking has been the most significant driver of the increases in steel production and mill shipments over the past couple of months,” said Folta.

With inventories extremely low, it is unlikely steel output will fall again to this year’s low levels. But it is also unlikely to surge dramatically, said Anthony Young analyst on the Dahlman Rose metals team in New York.

Shipments from service centers, the middle men between raw steel producers and end users like manufacturers of appliances, cars or computer boxes, have stood fairly flat for months.

In July, steel mills saw a 15 percent increase in orders even though actual sales at service centers barely rose.

“I think it’s fair to say that the bulk of inventory destocking is behind us. If you look at stock inventory levels at the distribution level they are very low,” said Folta.

About 50 service centers indicated in the latest monthly Longbow survey that they are not carrying any excess stock. 

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The collapse of Lehman Brothers a year ago has been likened to the 1994 crash that killed Formula One star Ayrton Senna, in the way it has spurred calls for root-and-branch review of risk in the financial sector.

Senna’s tragedy led to regulatory changes in racing that have been effective; deaths on the track are now a rarity.

But governments are not finding it nearly as easy to make quick and comprehensive changes to financial regulation.

That means risks may remain for another collapse on the scale of Lehman in coming years, though authorities would probably be able to act more decisively next time to prevent a financial crisis from spreading around the globe.

The core lesson from Lehman for governments has been clear — regulating against all future crises is futile but there are ways to limit fallout and need for government bailouts.

Britain witnessed at first hand with Lehman the legal nightmare when a complex, global bank goes under. Its financial services minister, Paul Myners, wants banks to simplify their structures and make “living wills.”

“We need to move to implementation across the EU. The time has come to move from theorizing to action. Simple structures are an essential precondition for effective arrangements,” Myners said.

Patrick Buckingham, a partner at Herbert Smith law firm in London added: “The sheer complexity of the Lehman insolvency has inevitably triggered a desire for a plan for an orderly wind down in the form of a living will, and may also lead to regulators asking for current entity arrangements to be simplified.”

Bankers see the Lehman crash as a major turning point.

“Was Lehman the Senna of international banking? Yes. All the changes to regulation are going to add up to less systemic risk,” an investment banking industry official said.

“But are all the lessons learnt feeding through into policy changes? Only up to a point,” he added.

Leaders of the G20 group of major nations pledged in April this year to strengthen financial supervision.

In the U.S. city of Pittsburgh this month, almost exactly a year after Lehman went bust, they will meet again to reinforce the need for stronger bank capital and wind up arrangements.

But some of the leaders are openly complaining the reforms are too slow or timid. Talk of a new, commonly adopted framework for financial supervision around the world has fizzled out as governments struggle with the nitty gritty of reaching agreements on regulatory change.

CONSENSUS 

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Cisco Systems Inc and EMC Corp are in talks to create a new joint venture to provide technology services, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people briefed on the plan.

The paper said the new venture, code-named Alpine, would be aimed at data centers — the giant computing rooms that power the Internet and corporate networks.

The joint venture plans to target large businesses and emphasize installing products from Cisco and EMC, the newspaper said, adding that it was unclear when the new venture could be announced.

Cisco and EMC would both have board representation on a new company, the people told the paper.

“EMC and Cisco have a long-standing strategic alliance and over the years we continue to broaden and strengthen the alliance” a spokesman for EMC was quoted as telling the paper. A spokesman for Cisco told the paper the company did not comment on rumor or speculation.

Cisco and EMC could not be immediately reached for a comment by Reuters.

(Reporting by Chakradhar Adusumilli in Bangalore; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

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