Thursday newspaper round-up: Deutsche Boerse, ECB, Sunday trading

Deutsche Börse has agreed to sell the International Securities Exchange, its US options business, to rival Nasdaq for $1.1bn, as global exchanges swap assets in an industry shake-up. The deal will extend Nasdaq’s leading share of the highly competitive US options market, in which more than a dozen exchanges fight for business. ISE operates three equity options markets with a combined market share of 15%. – Financial Times

Some of Europe’s most senior bankers have warned the European Central Bank of the dangers of negative interest rates ahead of a widely anticipated cut at the bank’s policy meeting on Thursday. The ECB is expected to cut its deposit rate by 10 basis points to minus 0.4 per cent as it takes further action in its struggles to lift persistently low inflation and boost economic growth back to normal levels. – Financial Times

Britain has little or no say over decisions made in a European Union increasingly dominated by German interests, Iceland’s prime minister has said. A leader of non-EU member state, Iceland’s Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson warned larger member states like the UK wield “diminishing power” in institutions still under the sway of the Franco-German alliance. – Telegraph

Britain's statistics office is a step closer to including homeowner costs in the official measure of inflation after the UK’s top statistician recommended the move. John Pullinger, head of the Government Statistical Service and the UK Statistics Authority, said the CPIH measure of inflation, which includes the costs associated with owning and maintaining a property, should be the “preferred measure of consumer inflation”. – Telegraph

No 10 has conceded that its plans to relax Sunday trading laws are dead in the water, after David Cameron suffered his biggest Commons defeat since the election at the hands of his own Conservative MPs. The government’s attempt to let larger shops trade for longer than six hours each Sunday was voted down after 27 Tory backbenchers teamed up with Labour and the SNP. – Guardian

The energy company behind the Hinkley Point nuclear project has still not signed off a contract with its Chinese partner that is needed for the £18bn plant to go ahead. EDF Energy and China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC) reached anoutline deal that was unveiled last October by David Cameron during a state visit by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping. But five months on the companies have not finalised the agreement, amid growing doubts over EDF’s commitment to the project. – Guardian

A record number of British workers are on zero-hours contracts, according to official figures. More than 800,000 people are on the controversial contracts, the Office for National Statistics reported, a rise of 104,000 on last year. The findings prompted a volley of abuse from unions and Labour, who called the practice unjust, but employers maintained that the majority of people on zero-hours contracts were happy with the arrangement. – The Times

Five of Britain’s largest industry lobby groups have urged the government to reform business rates. More than two years after the government said that it would review the taxes, the British Retail Consortium, British Council of Shopping Centres, Association of Convenience Stores, Federation of Small Businesses, and British Property Federation have written to the Treasury arguing that it is time to act. – The Times.