insto - Australian financial markets

US markets had a soft end to the week, on Friday as consumer confidence fell and oil fell below US$60/barrel.

The S&PP500 stock index shed 0.4 per cent as US consumer sentiment data showed a decline to 64.6 from 70.8 month. Energy stocks also lost ground as the price of oil continued to fall and Chevron warned of lower profits.  In financials, US consumer lender CIT fell almost 18 per cent after it was reported that the FDIC refused to guarantee its debt. 

The BrisConnections corporate finance drama just keeps moving on, with more twists and turns that the road it’s financing, the $4.8 billion Airport Link, Australia's largest infrastructure project.

“I've left a few messages telling him he's a fool, he'll never get to spend the money, and he's lied to me and sold out hundreds of people,” bankruptcy adviser Big Jim Byrnes, fuming over reluctant greenmailer Nicholas Bolton’s decision to sell his Brisconnections proxies to Leighton’s subsidiary Thiess. But no, baseball bats won’t be needed this time, as Byrnes added: “He'll never get to spend the money because he won't be able to pay the next instalment in a few days, and a liquidator will claw back the $4.5 million as an uncommercial transaction.”