Friday Papers: ECB rules out double dip - other news

Financial Times

* The European Central Bank on Thursday forecast that the eurozone would expand this year and in 2011 much more strongly than previously expected, ruling out a double dip back into recession.

* Leading UK and continental European companies are increasingly shunning banks from Spain, Italy and even Germany because they do not believe the Europe-wide stress testing of banks gave a true picture of their financial health.

* Swatch Group on Thursday confirmed it had started legal action against UBS over an unspecified investment in the bank's absolute return fund made last year.

* Lloyd’s of London insurers and reinsurers are watching nervously as Hurricane Earl passes perilously close to the US east coast.

* Credit ratings on almost 900 municipal bonds, or $50bn to $55bn of debt, could be cut by up to three notches by Moody’s Investors Service.

* Sweden’s central bank raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point to 0.75% for the second time in two months on Thursday, highlighting the strong recovery under way in the Swedish economy.

* Russia announced a 12-month extension of its grain export ban on Thursday, raising fears about a return to the food shortages.

* Wall Street is backing Eric Dinallo, the right-hand man of Elliot Spitzer, its previous scourge, in the race for the New York attorney-general.

* Foreign companies are losing market share in China across a broad range of industries because of discriminatory treatment by the government and regulators, according to the European Chamber of Commerce in China.