• Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, who yesterday said the U.S. recession probably has ended, may have to accept a slow recovery and high unemployment as the price for defending his inflation-fighting credentials.
• Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said he’s worried that lawmakers will hamper U.S. central bank efforts to rein in its monetary stimulus, and that inflation might “swamp” the bond market.
• Stocks in Europe and Asia advanced as billionaire investor Warren Buffett said his company is buying equities and higher commodity prices lifted raw-material producers. U.S. futures gained.
  BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest mining company, increased 2.7 percent as copper, lead and nickel climbed on the London Metal Exchange. KBC Group NV surged 5.5 percent after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. advised buying shares of the Belgian bank. Inditex SA gained 2.7 percent after earnings at Europe’s largest clothing retailer beat analysts’ estimates.
• Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. said Barclays Plc got a $5 billion discount when it bought the North American brokerage business and some real estate days after Lehman’s bankruptcy filing a year ago, and wants assets back.
• Inditex SA, Europe’s largest clothing retailer, reported a 7.6 percent decline in first-half profit as Spaniards pared spending on fashion in the country’s worst recession for 60 years.

Bloomberg 16 September 2009