Welcome to today's round-up of business news from The Times: what we're saying, what they're saying, from Michael Beh
Thursday, December 4, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: Dire economic news drove the pound to 13-year lows and convinced many that the Bank of England would cut rates by up to 150 basis points.
http://tinyurl.com/64yzqx
Daily Telegraph: The boss of Iberia, the Spanish airline considering merging with British Airways, was told of BA's merger talks with Qantas only at the last minute.
http://tinyurl.com/5usp6p
The Times: AAim, a £3 billion ($4.4 billion) property investment company backed by HBOS and chaired by Sir David Frost, has gone into administration.
http://tinyurl.com/55ymj3
Comment
David Wighton in The Times: Cutting interest rates will not help when the mechanism that turns these cuts into a boost for the economy is broken.
http://tinyurl.com/6cth7g
Damian Reece in the Daily Telegraph: Any British Airways-Qantas merger looks increasingly unlikely, and it may threaten BA's proposed deal with Iberia.
http://tinyurl.com/5c2wfl
Lex in the Financial Times: If things are as bad as the US auto giants make them out to be, extending loans would be even more wasteful than it seems.
http://tinyurl.com/57no4o
Upside
The Times: Homeowners who are sacked or whose pay is cut can defer their mortgage interest payments for up to two years under a Government guarantee.
http://tinyurl.com/6ankbh
Daily Telegraph: Some staff at New Star Asset Management could share £10 million ($15 million) in incentives under a rescue deal for the stricken fund manager.
http://tinyurl.com/6nuy8j
Reuters: Online retail spending rose 15 per cent on the all-important Monday after Thanksgiving from a year earlier.
http://tinyurl.com/5wbkc7
Downside
The Times: Nomura, the Japanese securities giant, will cut 1,000 City jobs after taking on the European business of Lehman Brothers, the failed US investment bank.
http://tinyurl.com/5gvmcy
Daily Telegraph: The Financial Times newspaper will ask staff to work shorter weeks or apply for redundancy as it seeks to slash costs.
http://tinyurl.com/69qaos
New York Times: Harvard University's $36.9 billion (£25 billion) endowment fund lost 22 per cent of its value in the past four months and could lose 30 percent by June 30.
http://tinyurl.com/6pyy6w
Mergers and shakers
The Times: Competition regulators will ask Mike Ashley, the billionaire behind Sports Direct, to justify his recent purchase of shares in rival JJB Sports.
http://tinyurl.com/6yuqtr
Reuters: Panasonic reportedly raised its buyout offer for rival electronics maker Sanyo by 8 per cent in the hope of closing a deal this week.
http://tinyurl.com/6n2dkn
The Times: France's EDF offered $4.5 billion (£3 billion) for half of US nuclear power generator Constellation Energy, disrupting Warren Buffett's bid for it.
http://tinyurl.com/63vz3q
Around Asia
Financial Times: China Investment Corp, the country's sovereign wealth fund, would stop investing in Western financial institutions, its chairman said.
http://tinyurl.com/6efntx
The Times: An Indian court ruled that Vodafone, the mobile phone giant, must pay $2 billion (£1.4 billion) in capital gains tax and other firms could face bills.
http://tinyurl.com/5ojvtb
Bloomberg: Babcock & Brown, the Australian asset manager struggling to stave off collapse, got a lifeline with a A$150 million (£66 million, $98 million) loan.
http://tinyurl.com/5w4z5n
Look ahead
The Times: ITV predicts that advertising could fall by between 12 per cent and 18 per cent on its flagship television channel in January.
http://tinyurl.com/6qtl6v
Bloomberg: Boston's State Street, the world's largest money manager for institutions, plans to cut 1,700 jobs by March.
http://tinyurl.com/6dje7s
Nikkei: Japan's industry-leading Nippon Oil and sixth-ranked Nippon Mining Holdings will merge under a holding company by next autumn.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 4,169.96 up 1.1% (Wednesday close)
Dow 8,591.69 up 2.1% (close)
S&P 500 870.74 up 2.6% (close)
Nasdaq 1,492.38 up 2.9% (close)
Nikkei 7,932.32 down 0.9% (latest)
Hang Seng 13,730.86 up 1.1% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.4776/1.1621 euros (latest)
Euro $1.2715 (latest)
Commodities
West Texas crude $46.55 down 24 cents (latest)
Gold $773.30 up $2.80 (latest)
New York
Bloomberg: US stocks rose for a second day as a jump in online spending and a record increase in mortgage applications lifted retailers and banks. Amazon.com, the world's top online retailer, rose 10 per cent. Among financial stocks, Morgan Stanley rose 15 per cent, JPMorgan Chase rose 6 per cent, Citigroup rose 8.3 per cent and Bank of America rose 7.1 per cent. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, the US's largest public copper miner, fell 17 per cent after it cut production and suspended its dividend. SanDisk, the world's largest maker of digital camera memory cards, rose 25 per cent on takeover talks. CIT Group, the largest US independent commercial lender, rose more than 20 per cent for the second straight day as it moves to become a bank holding company.
http://tinyurl.com/64s539
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks fell in morning trade after Japanese businesses cut investment at the fastest pace in six years last quarter. China stocks surged after a report that the Government may inject more funds into the nation's largest banks. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Japan's largest bank, fell 7 per cent, leading declines among Japanese banks. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China rose 3.4 per cent on speculation the country's sovereign wealth fund would raise its holdings in the nation's three largest lenders. Australian surf-wear maker Billabong fell 18 per cent on a gloomy profit outlook. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.5 per cent to 79.52 in morning trade.
http://tinyurl.com/5oe6x6
Michael Beh
michaelwbeh@gmail.com
London
Rio Tinto lost another 10 per cent as a broker warned that many of the miner's investors believed "muddling through" its debt repayments without a rights issue was not an option.
A warning of a slowdown in London train commuter passenger numbers from Stagecoach sent its shares down 17 per cent. Go-Ahead, thought to be the next most exposed to City job losses, lost 13 per cent, FirstGroup fell 8 per cent, National Express fell 9 per cent, and Arriva, least exposed,lost 6 per cent.
The FTSE 100 rose 47.1 to 4,169.96 dragged up by a strong start to Wall Street.
Man Group, the hedge fund manager, was the top performer, up 7 per cent, after its flagship futures fund AHL reported 5.8 per cent growth in value over the past month.
AstraZeneca rose 5 per cent after good trial results from its anti-inflammatory drug for arthritis sufferers.
Drax, the coal-fired power station, fell 5 per cent after Credit Suisse cut its target price from 660p to 400p,saying long term $50 a barrel oil prices would make its electricity look relatively expensive.
Robert Lindsay
robert.lindsay@thetimes.co.uk
AGENDA
INTERIMS
Samuel Heath
FINALS
Abacus
The Local Shopping REIT
Minorplanet Systems
Optos
Redhall
Western & Oriental
TRADING STATEMENT
Bellway
Wm Morrison (Q3 results)
EGMs
Prodesse
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