KILL THE COMPETITION
Welcome to today's round-up of business news from The Times: what we're saying, what they're saying, from Michael Beh
Wednesday, December 10, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, called for greater state control of energy to fight climate change, curb fuel poverty and secure supplies.
http://tinyurl.com/576wfe
The Independent: The collapse in Britain's credit rating makes its debt twice as risky an investment as McDonald's and a host of other large companies.
http://tinyurl.com/6rafg5
The Times: Countrywide, the UK's largest estate agency group, will hold a £1.7 billion ($2.4 billion) Christmas sale, with prices cut by up to 30 per cent.
http://tinyurl.com/62m557
Comment
Carl Mortished in The Times: With fuel prices as they are, burning coal is unbeatable, even after adding the cost of buying carbon allowances
http://tinyurl.com/5tcnmk
Andrew Ross Sorkin in the New York Times: Employees will pay for Sam Zell's pursuit of a childhood fantasy through the now-collapsing Tribune Company.
http://tinyurl.com/5ut9jj
Jeremy Warner in The Independent: Britain has never defaulted on its debts, not in recent history anyway, but countries do go bust.
http://tinyurl.com/6ynpss
Upside
Daily Telegraph: Ken McMeikan, the new chief executive of Greggs, will revamp the bakery group after reporting half-yearly sales rose 3.8 per cent.
http://tinyurl.com/5c4jzt
Financial Times: Volkswagen became the first German carmaker to seek to tap the country's €500 billion (£440 billion, $650 billion) banking rescue plan.
http://tinyurl.com/6bfhty
Daily Telegraph: Christmas price cutting by retailers has seen London fall from the world's second-most expensive city to the seventh.
http://tinyurl.com/5rnsry
Downside
The Times: Zero per cent interest rates are on the horizon amid predictions the economy will shrink 1 per cent or more this winter.
http://tinyurl.com/5futck
New York Times: The world economy is on the brink of a rare global recession and world trade will shrink for the first time since 1982, the World Bank predicts.
http://tinyurl.com/6a25wo
New York Times: In a rush for safe harbour as US shares fell, Treasury bills traded with a negative yield; investors will lose 1 per cent over three months.
http://tinyurl.com/5cqoeu
Mergers and shakers
The Times: David Ross, a co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, quit as London Olympics adviser and chairman of National Express after he secretly mortgaged shares.
http://tinyurl.com/6jj4r4
The Times: Ford, the US car giant, is in talks with Changan, one of China's biggest carmakers, about selling the Volvo brand.
http://tinyurl.com/6fgxcu
The Times: New Star, the crumbling funds manager, was put up for sale; offers of at least £120 million ($175 million) are expected.
http://tinyurl.com/5usoxo
Around Asia
The Times: Sony, the Japanese electronics giant, will cut more than 16,000 jobs and raise prices as consumer spending dwindles.
http://tinyurl.com/5zqtcl
The Times: Chinese exports appear to have shrunk in November; it is the first monthly fall in more than seven years.
http://tinyurl.com/6ncb2p
Bloomberg: Foreign direct investment in China fell 36.5 per cent to $5.3 billion (£3.6 billion) in November.
http://tinyurl.com/5jpjvc
Look ahead
Bloomberg: OPEC is expected to cut oil production by up to 2.5 million barrels a day when the oil cartel meets next week to discuss falling prices.
http://tinyurl.com/5zfonq
Daily Telegraph: Tesco, the UK's biggest retailer, will leapfrog France's Carrefour to become the world's second largest retailer after Wal-Mart by 2012.
http://tinyurl.com/6grlkl
New York Times: The airline industry will cut collective losses to $2.5 billion (£1.7 billion) in 2009, an airline trade association predicts.
http://tinyurl.com/5mxrfa
MARKETS
FTSE 100 4,381.26 up 1.9% (Tuesday close)
Dow 8,691.33 down 2.7% (close)
S&P 500 888.67 down 2.3% (close)
Nasdaq 1,547.34 down 1.6% (close)
Nikkei 8,491.55 up 1.1% (latest)
Hang Seng 15,064.75 up 2.1% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.4760/1.1409 euros (latest)
Euro $1.2938 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $41.53 down $1.89 (latest)
West Texas crude $42.75 up 68 cents (latest)
Gold $777.10 up $2.90 (latest)
New York
Reuters: US stocks fell on Tuesday amid rising corporate layoffs and disappointing profit outlooks. Chipmaker National Semiconductor rose nearly 10 per cent, leading tech stocks higher, but biotech stocks dragged the Nasdaq down. Texas Instruments rose 3.2 per cent and US-traded shares of Sony rose 2.5 per cent. Transport company FedEx fell more than 16 per cent after cutting its profit outlook. Consumer goods conglomerate Procter & Gamble fell 4.6 per cent after an analyst cut its price target. Manufacturing conglomerate 3M fell 3 per cent, its second straight fall, on a gloomy outlook.
http://tinyurl.com/5zrnlh
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks rose for a fourth day in early trade. BHP, the world's biggest miner, rose 3.8 per cent on higher commodity prices. Santos, Australia's third-biggest oil and gas producer, rose 5.3 per cent. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. surged 9 per cent in Tokyo after a measure of shipping costs for commodities advanced for a second day. Japanese shipping line Mitsui rose 9 per cent on higher shipping prices. Electronics giant Sony fell 2.7 per cent after cutting jobs and its profit outlook. Westpac, Australia's second-largest bank, fell 8.3 per cent after it sold A$2.5 billion in stock at an 11 per cent discount. Japanese carmaker Honda rose 4.3 per cent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 1.4 per cent to 84.81 in morning trade.
http://tinyurl.com/6dd2pk
Michael Beh
michaelwbeh@gmail.com
London
Leading shares shrugged off discouraging economic data on retail sales and manufacturing to record a second session of gains yesterday.
The FTSE 100's 2 per cent rise was partly driven by stocks likely to soon depart the index in the latest reshuffle to be announced after the market closes today such as Stagecoach, up 11.9 per cent and John Wood Group, up 7.9 per cent. Stocks likely to step up include Tate & Lyle, up 3 per cent, and Amlin, also up almost 3 per cent. Overall, the FTSE 100 gained 81.2 points to 4381.26, on continuing hopes that big economic stimulus plans will supporting the global economy. Energy stocks were behind most of the gains, with oil and gas companies supported by the lingering threat that OPEC will cut production quotas next week, resulting in higher oil prices. Cairn Energy gained 7.3 per cent and BG Group added 6.8 per cent.
Peter Stiff
peter.stiff@thetimes.co.uk
AGENDA
INTERIMS
Clapham House Group
Hartest Holding
TMN Group
Workplace Systems International
FINALS
JP Morgan Indian IT
Widney
TRADING STATEMENTS
JJB Sports (Q3)
AGMs
Advance UK Trust
Air Partner
Baillie Gifford Japan Trust
White Young Green
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