Today's Headlines

Bloomberg: 

• Islamic State Said to Plot Subway Attacks in U.S., France. Islamic State militants captured in Iraq said the group has been planning attacks on subways in Paris and in the U.S., Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said. The U.S. said it hasn’t confirmed the plot. Iraq has informed the French and U.S. governments about the newly obtained information, Abadi said during a meeting with a small group of reporters in New York. Abadi, who is in New York for the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, said he considers the information credible and that he’s awaiting further details. The information comes from recent arrests, he said.
• Putin Party Lawmaker Drafts Bill on Foreign-Asset Freeze. A United Russia lawmaker proposed a law that would allow the seizure of foreign state assets in Russia after Italy froze luxury properties belonging to a childhood friend of President Vladimir Putin. Vladimir Ponevezhsky, a parliamentarian for Russia’s ruling party, submitted a bill on compensating individuals who had property seized abroad, according to the draft posted on the State Duma’s website. Italy this week froze properties worth 28 million euros ($36 million) belonging to billionaire Arkady Rotenberg, who is blacklisted by the European Union and U.S. for his personal ties with Putin amid the conflict in Ukraine. The bill proposes compensating a Russian citizen who is victim of an “unlawful” judgment in a foreign court using federal budget funds. The government would then be allowed to seize foreign state assets in Russia, including property that is covered by diplomatic immunity. 
• China Watchdog Finds $10 Billion in Fake Currency Trade. China uncovered almost $10 billion in fraudulent trade nationwide as part of an investigation begun in April last year, including many irregularities in the port of Qingdao, the country’s currency regulator said today. Companies “faked, forged and illegally re-used” documents for exports and imports, Wu Ruilin, a deputy head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange’s inspection department, said at a briefing in Beijing. The trades have “increased pressure from hot money inflows and provided an illegal channel for criminals to move funds,” Wu said, adding that those involved in such fraud would be severely punished.
• BOE’s Carney Says Rate-Increase Case Getting ‘More Balanced'. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said the judgment on when to increase the benchmark rate from a record low has become “more balanced” in recent months. Two policy makers pushed for a rate increase in August and September, as the deepening recovery fractured unanimity for keeping borrowing costs at 0.5 percent. While the U.K. is poised for the fastest growth in the Group of Seven, Carney is among the majority who say weak wages and anemic growth in Europe support keeping rates where they’ve been since 2009. 
• European Stocks Decline With FTSE 100 After BOE’s Carney. European stocks fell to a four-week low, erasing earlier gains, as U.K. shares dropped after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said the time to increase interest rates is getting closer. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 0.9 percent to 341.44 at the close, after earlier gaining as much as 0.5 percent. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index fell 1 percent as Carney said the judgment on when to increase the benchmark rate from a record low has become “more balanced” in recent months. 
• Short Sellers Gather in Australia Amid Iron Ore Rout. Investors are using Australia’s stock market to bet that an iron-ore rout has further to run. Two of the five most-shorted companies in the nation’s benchmark equity index are producers of the commodity, according to data compiled by Markit Group Ltd. and Bloomberg. Bearish bets on Atlas Iron Ltd. (AGO) this month hit a record, the data show. A gauge of iron-ore prices in China tumbled 41 percent this year to the lowest since 2009, falling below $80 a dry ton this week.
• Copper Falls to 14-Week Low as Durable-Goods Orders Drop. Copper prices dropped to a 14-week low after a report showed demand for durable goods in August tumbled by a record in the U.S., the world’s second-biggest consumer of the metal. The orders for items meant to last at least three years plunged more than 18 percent after surging almost 23 percent in the prior month, government data showed today. Aluminum, tin, nickel, lead and zinc dropped in London, while the dollar climbed to the highest since June 2010 against a basket of 10 currencies, eroding the investment appeal of commodities.
• Banks Face Stable Funding Rule After Basel Strikes Accord. Global regulators have reached a deal on a rule requiring banks to use funding sources that won’t dry up in a crisis. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision found an accord this week on the so-called net-stable funding rule that will force lenders to reduce their reliance on short-term financing, Stefan Ingves, the group’s chairman, said in a speech yesterday to a gathering of global regulators in Tianjin, China. 
• Consumer Comfort in U.S. Falls to Lowest Since Early June. Consumer confidence fell last week to an almost four-month low as Americans’ views of the economy and their finances deteriorated. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index declined to 35.5 in the period ended Sept. 21, the worst reading since the first week of June, from 37.2. The personal finances gauge dropped by the most since mid-May, while attitudes about the world’s largest economy were the dimmest in four months.

Fox News:

• Holder resigning as attorney general, officials say. (video)

CNBC: 

• Fund flows flashing that there's danger ahead.

ZeroHedge:

• What Wall Street Thinks About Today's Selloff. (graph)
• Why Blackrock (And Every Other Bondholder) Is Freaking Out (In 1 Simple Chart). (graph)
• Global Bellwether: Japan's Social Depression.
• Record Durables Drop Follows Record Boeing-Driven Surge; Ex-Transports In Line. (graph)

Business Insider: 

• INFOGRAPHIC: How The Hedge Fund Industry Has Exploded Since 2008.
• The Economist's New Cover Says What Everyone Is Thinking About Obama Now.

Reuters:

• Fed's Fisher says rates may rise 'sooner rather than later'. The U.S. Federal Reserve may start raising rates around the spring of 2015, at the earlier end of market expectations, Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said on Thursday. "It's assumed in the market place that we'll start our liftoff in raising interest rates some time between the spring and the summer," Fisher, a member of the Federal open Market Committee, the Fed's main policy making body said at a conference in Rome. "I won't say what we're saying internally, that would not be appropriate, but maybe sooner rather than later," he said.
• Italy to cut 2014, 2015 GDP forecasts, hike deficit goals - source. Italy is preparing to slash its economic outlook for this year and 2015 and raise its targets for the budget deficit, a government source told Reuters on Thursday. A Treasury document to be published next week will forecast that the economy will contract by 0.2 percent or 0.3 percent this year, compared with the current official forecast made in April for it to expand 0.8 percent, the source said.

Handelsblatt:

• Russia Threatens Gas Supply Throttling to Europe. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak threatens gas supply disruptions if the EU continues to re-export Russian gas to Ukraine, he said in an interview.

MNI:

• Russia Considers Seizing Foreign Assets After Sanctions. Russian lawmakers are drafting legislation that would allow the government to seize foreign assets in Russia in response to sanctions.