Some good news for Sweden - Standard & Poor’s has just confirmed its credit ratings at AAA with a stable outlook.

The agency said the ratings “reflect a prosperous, competitive economy and successive governments’ commitment to prudent economic policies.” Phew!

It did not expect “a likely change in government to alter the key attributes of Sweden’s economic policymaking.”

Over to Greece where the country’s statistics agency has reported that salaries are continuing to drop. The data comes on the heels of a parliamentary report revealing that far from being eased, poverty is also worsening in the debt-stricken country. Helena Smith reports from Athens:

Yet more evidence of Greece’s austerity-driven depression in figures released by Elstat, the country’s statistics office. While fiscal adjustment continues apace, on the ground Greeks are far from feeling the headway being made. The agency reported today that in the second quarter of 2014 Greece’s wage index dropped by 1.4% compared to the same period last year – worsening an overall decline that now stands at 23.8% since 2010 when Europe’s debt crisis exploded in the Greek capital. Raising the minimum wage has been a major demand of the main opposition radical left Syriza party whose leader is heading the fight against what he describes as the perniciousness of “Merkelism” in Europe.

The drop follows publication of another report, this time by the Greek parliament’s State Budget office, revealing that three in every five Greeks (the equivalent of some 6.3m people) were affected by poverty in 2013 either because of unemployment or “material deprivation.” While some 2.5m people lived below the poverty threshold, another 3.8m were “facing the threat of poverty,” said the study entitled “Minimum Income Policies in the European Union and Greece: A Comparative Analysis.”

Unlike other EU member states, which implemented social programs to protect the poor, Greece was “acting slowly” to shore up safety nets that until now had been provided traditionally by the family, the report maintained. If there was help it was not only “fragmented,” but often the victim of “administrative malfunctions,” it said.

Our full take on the US GDP figures from my colleague Angela Monaghan is now up:

The US economy grew at its fastest rate for two and a half years in the second quarter after a broad-based pick-up in activity, boosting hopes of a sustained recovery.

The commerce department increased its estimate of GDP growth from an annual rate of 4.2% to 4.6%. It was the best performance from the world’s largest economy since the fourth quarter of 2011, and the upward revision was driven by stronger export growth and business spending than previously estimated.

It was a significant rebound from the 2.1% annual drop in GDP in the first quarter of the year, when extreme weather disrupted the economy. The latest revision was in line with Wall Street’s expectations.

Full story here.

US consumer confidence in September hit its highest level for more than a year, according to a final reading on the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan survey.

The index of consumer sentiment rose from 82.5 at the end of August to 84.6, the highest since July 2013. Confidence was boosted by more favourable prospects for the US economy and higher expectations for personal income, according to the survey.

Meanwhile in Slovenia...

Benoît Cœuré, a member of the European Central Bank’s governing committee, has given a speech, where he argued that Europe’s banks are in a stronger position to lend following health checks.

My main message today is simple: we need to focus on the quality of credit, not only the quantity.

Unfortunately most economists don’t agree. Lending to private businesses needs to increase by 3% a year but is unlikely to do so, according to a poll by Reuters.

More essential reading on the Bill Gross/Pimco story.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that regulators at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, were probing Pimco over misleading information about the fund’s performance.

One possible focus of the SEC inquiry, according to people familiar with the matter: whether Pimco’s alleged maneuver meant investors were given inaccurate information about the fund’s performance. It is a breach of securities law to provide investors with misleading information about values or performance, even if the wrong information was supplied unintentionally.

Read the full story here

Bill Gross jumped before he was pushed.

This becomes evident from reading a statement from Pimco’s chief executive officer, published by Business Insider.

While we are grateful for everything Bill contributed to building our firm and delivering value to PIMCO’s clients, over the course of this year it became increasingly clear that the firm’s leadership and Bill have fundamental differences about how to take PIMCO forward. [My emphasis].

As part of our responsibilities to our clients, employees and parent, PIMCO has been developing a succession plan for some time to ensure that the firm is well prepared to manage a seamless leadership transition in its Portfolio management team...

Sid Verma of Euromoney flags up that Andrew Balls, brother of the shadow chancellor, could step into the top job at Pimco. Andrew Balls is a deputy chief investment officer, leading Pimco’s European operations.

Bill Gross may not be a typical super-rich fund manager. He never trusted the exotic quantitative models that left many of his rivals exposed to toxic assets. In an interview with the Guardian he also said bankers, such as himself, ought to pay more taxes.

But he was tough when it came to managing his clients money, he insisted.

My clients don’t pay me to feel sorry, they pay me to bring them money. I am tough but I have a soft side...When I go home, I don’t watch Fox [the Murdoch-owned right-wing news channel] and I vote for Obama.

He dealt a blow to the last Labour government, when in the final months of Gordon Brown’s premiership, he warned that the UK’s economy was resting on a bed of nitroglycerine.

The business world is pretty excited about the departure of Bill Gross, so-called bond king, from Pimco, one of the largest money managers in the world.

He starts work at Janus Capital on Monday, a fund with $177.7bn under management. Although Janus is based in Denver, Gross will get his own office in Newport Beach, California.

Janus shares have soared nearly 30% in pre-market trading. (Hat tip Fast FT)

This is despite questions about Gross’s leadership style and the performance of his fund. The US Securities and Exchange Commission is also investigating whether a $3.6bn fund managed by Gross exaggerated its numbers, while US papers have reported that officials are probing Pimco itself.

Here is what Twitter users are saying about the US data.

One Mumbai-based fund manager expects central bankers to raise interest rates.

The Dow Jones is expected to rise today, after yesterday’s sell off.

It’s not the only news market watchers’ attention today. Bill Gross, the so-called bond king, is leaving Pimco, the trillion-dollar fund he founded. He starts at Janus Capital on Monday.

More details on the latest US data - revisions to earlier forecasts of Q2 data.

• Bang on consensus, the figures shows that Q2 GDP rose by 4.6%, the fastest rate of expansion since Q4 2011;
• US consumer spending rose 2.5%;
• Exports rose 11.1% and imports 11.3%;
• The dollar has gained against all major currencies.
  

A Boeing 787 Dreamliner flying from Chicago to Warsaw has been forced to make an emergency landing at Glasgow airport.

Poland’s LOT airline that was operating the plane said it was forced to land following a fire protection alert from the baggage hold.

The aircraft has been assessed as safe by emergency services he added.

Such events are closely watched, since the entire Dreamliner fleet was grounded last year over suspected battery problems.

The eurozone debt crisis has not gone away, it is just resting. Without a programme of debt forgiveness, Europe’s economies cannot return to growth.

This is the view of Bob Swarup, an investor and fellow of the Institute of Economic Affairs, and we have just published his article on the Guardian’s economics blog.

He argues that quantitative easing - monetary stimulus - cannot be a solution to Europe’s debt problem and puts forward an alternative plan.

Europe needs its own Brady bond plan. Aggregate the debt, reduce principals and coupons, and allow the markets to price it free of political rhetoric and monetary smokescreens. Use QE but as a salve to facilitate and ease the transition.

The FTSE100 has been tipped into positive territory, thanks to a modest rally in banking stocks after a Sky news report suggested that a probe into rigging foreign exchange rates would soon come to a close.

The FTSE 350 Banking index has risen 0.5%, as investors take heart that a settlement is on the way, although the mood on Barclays is more cautious.

• RBS +0.2%
• Barclays -0.1%
• HSBC +0.7%
  

More on that FT story about the UK’s nominee for European commissioner, Lord Hill, being denied the power to oversee regulation on bankers bonuses.

The FT reported that the UK nominee had lost these responsibilities to ease his way through confirmation hearings with the European Parliament, where there are vocal critics of Hill’s appointment.

Via Reuters

Officials close to [European Commission president] Jean-Claude Juncker said the decision to move oversight of pay to the EU’s justice portfolio was made before Hill was offered the post of EU commissioner for financial stability, financial services and capital markets union. They said Juncker decided that oversight of financial sector pay was better handled by the justice commission because that directorate already handles other corporate issues such as contract law.

Some interesting comments from our readers on the German consumer confidence survey and general economic picture in Europe (click here if this text is a bit too small to read comfortably).

Air strikes in the Middle East = rising oil prices? Not necessarily.

Brent crude fell has fallen below $97 a barrel this morning and is heading for its worst month since April 2013.

Some air and missile strikes have hit oilfields in eastern Syria in an apparent attack by US-led forces against Islamic State militants, Reuters is reporting. But prices are under pressure, with weak demand and plentiful supply.

CNN Money has a helpful explainer on why prices are falling

• Disruption to supplies is minimal;
• The US is less dependent on foreign oil;
• Europe’s economies are slowing and the strong dollar is dampening demand.

Brad McMillan, chief investment officer at Commonwealth Financial group, is forecasting oil prices to fall further to $80-$85

The U.S. energy renaissance is just beginning... The Middle East is no longer as influential in setting oil prices

Fund manager Neil Woodford also had a few interesting things to day about Tesco.

My colleague Sean Farrell has been listening back to his interview on Today and has picked out these lines.

I used to be a [Tesco] shareholder some years ago and exited the position because I was concerned about some of the things that are playing out now. Clearly I didn’t anticipate the sort of problem we have just heard about this week.

There are many structural and cyclical challenges. When cyclical problems are overlaid with structural problems the solutions tend to be much, much more difficult and longer term. So the industry, in the near term, faces a long road to exit this period of depressed margins and crushed profitability, and maybe asset bases [and] balance sheets need to be rebalanced in time before the industry can reemerge as an investable proposition from my point of view. The immediate future is going to be tough for the sector but particularly for Tesco.

From today’s Daily Telegraph

Buy-to-let property owners could face new restrictions under EU rules, according to the paper’s splash. The Financial Conduct Authority, the UK’s financial services watchdog, is tightening up affordability criteria for loans in response to the EU’s mortgage credit directive adopted earlier this year.

“Accidental landlords” - people who cannot live in a property for work reasons or those who have inherited property - could be caught out by the changes, according to legal experts, although the Treasury is not clear how many people will be affected.

Banknote analogies are hard to resist when it comes to De La Rue’s profit warning.

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and the business world.

European markets are set for a mixed day of trading, following a sharp sell off in Asia this morning.

The MSCI index of Asia Pacific shares is down 1% to its lowest level since June. The region’s largest stock market, the Nikkei has also fallen 1%, after data showed that Japanese inflation eased in August raising concerns about the economy’s lacklustre performance. Analysts think the Bank of Japan could be forced into further financial stimulus.

Meanwhile, US stocks endured their biggest one-day fall since July, led by Apple. The tech company was forced to withdraw a software update from its operating system - an event analysts deem more damaging than the storm in a teacup over bending phones.

European markets are expected to dip again, over fears that Russia is preparing to seize western assets.

Jasper Lawler at CMC Markets writes:

If there’s confirmation regarding a proposed piece of legislation in Russia to allow foreign asset-seizure; the DAX with Germany’s strong Russian trading ties and the FTSE 100 with the UK’s large energy-investment in Russia could see another bout of selling.

Apart from that there is not a lot in the diary. Perhaps the biggest event is the final revision of US GDP data for August that is expected to show the US economy grew faster than previously thought.

More to follow...