From Paul Larter
Need
to Know: today's top stories sector by sector
Tuesday, December 8, 0730 BST
Top of the home pages
The Wall Street Journal: James Cayne,
the chairman and chief executive of Bear Stearns - under fire from
shareholders amid heavy losses in the mortgage market - is stepping down as
chief executive, sources say.
The Daily Telegraph: The US has entered its first full-blown economic
recession in 16 years as employment weakens and retail sales decline,
according to investment bank Merrill Lynch.
The Times: The Bank of England
will come under intense pressure to cut interest rates this week as figures
out on Tuesday show that the high street suffered its worst Christmas for
three years.
Making moves
Bloomberg: Starbucks, the
biggest chain of coffee shops, replaced chief executive Jim Donald with
former CEO and chairman Howard Schultz after the shares fell 42 per cent
last year.
BBC: Daryl Brewster, chief
executive of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, has resigned for personal reasons after
less than two years on the job. The shares rose 10 per cent.
Financial Times: Gordon Brown has hired Stephen
Carter, the former head of Ofcom, to get a grip on his Downing Street
machine to draw a line under months of indecision and errors.
M&A plays
The Times: Global Radio has
begun talks with GCap shareholders to try to win their support for a
takeover of Britain's largest commercial radio group after Global's initial
approach was rejected privately by the board.
International Herald Tribune: News
Corp bought a near 15 per cent stake in Premiere, Germany's largest
pay-TV broadcaster, from the German cable operator Unitymedia for €287
million.
South China Morning Post: Cathay Pacific rejoined the dogfight over the
proposed sale of a strategic stake in China Eastern Airlines by announcing
that it would consider teaming up with Air China or its parent company to
make a counter-offer.
Good news day
Financial Times: Oil-rich Gulf
states are set to stay on the international acquisition trail this year
after they spent a record $83 billion buying foreign companies last year -
about twice as much as in 2006.
The Daily Telegraph: The average ratio of executives
buying their companies' shares to those selling doubled in the last
quarter of 2007 compared with the first six months of the year.
BBC: Virgin Atlantic cabin crew
have called off two planned 48-hour strikes after a deal was agreed with
management on pay.
Bad news day
The Times: Citigroup, the
world's largest bank, is expected to cut up to 32,000 jobs - or 10 per cent
of its workforce - to stem rising losses when it unveils full-year results
next Tuesday.
BBC: Shares in Airbus parent EADS
fell almost 8 per cent on Monday after Deutsche Bank forecast weak orders
and advised clients to sell the stock.
International Herald Tribune: Christine
Lagarde, France's Finance Minister, said that the outlook for Europe had
eroded rapidly on high oil prices, fractious credit markets and nerves about
the US economy.
Around Asia
The Nikkei: Matsushita Electric has teamed up with Google and YouTube
to commercialise flat-panel television sets allowing users easily to access
and view videos posted online.
Financial Times: The developed world should not discriminate against sovereign
wealth funds from developing countries or subject them to "financial
protectionism", Beijing says.
The Australian: Qantas,
Australia's biggest airline, is to lift the surcharge from Australia to
Britain by $25 to $210, while it will be raised by $20 to $165 for flights
to mainland United States, Canada, South America, South Africa and India.
Coming up
Bloomberg: Options to buy oil for
$200 on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose ten-fold in the past two
months and is the fastest-growing bet in the oil market.
Reuters: Investors disillusioned by sluggish
US stocks and bonds look set this year to boost their exposure to
commodities by about 30 per cent, investment banks say.
The New York Times: Sony BMG,
the second largest music company, will this month become the last of the big
four majors to drop copy protection software on music downloads.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 6,335.70 down 0.2% (Monday close)
Dow 12,827.49 up 0.2% (close)
S&P 500 1,416.18 up 0.3% (close)
Nasdaq 2,499.46 down 0.2% (close)
Nikkei 14,408.35 down 0.6% (latest)
Sterling $1.9701 (latest)
West Texas crude $95.50 up 41 cents (latest)
Gold $863 up $1 (latest)
New York
Reuters: Healthcare and consumer shares led the Dow
Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 higher as investors snapped
up stocks that may offer protection against an economic slowdown. Merck,
the US drugmaker, and Alttria, the cigarette maker, benefited from
defensive plays but the Nasdaq finished 0.2 per cent lower as technology
shares with global exposure, such as Hewlett-Packard, fell. They rose
0.2 per cent and the S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks
retreated for a fourth day, led by BHP Billiton and the Japanese
commodities dealer Mitsui, after metal prices declined and crude oil
fell the most in five weeks. BHP, the biggest miner, dropped to the lowest
in almost four months after raw material prices fell on speculation that a
slowing US economy will dent demand. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index, a regional
benchmark, was down 0.4 per cent and Japan's Nikkei had fallen 0.6 per cent
in intraday trading.
London
Alastair Stewart of Dresdner Kleinwort warned some housebuilders could dive
into losses over the next two years. Four of the biggest are reporting this
week. They are Persimmon, down 40p to 685p, Bovis Homes, down
33p at 540p, Redrow off 11p at 286p and Bellway, down 38p at
734.5p.
But Taylor Wimpey, with its exposure to the US and to the Spanish
construction market, was the biggest victim, off over 7 per cent or 14.2p to
179.8p.
The FTSE-100 closed down 12.8 at 6335.7 after mining stocks, one of the few
bright spots, gave up their earlier gains as metals prices declined.
Schroders, the fund manager, lost 76p to £11.26 after Citigroup reduced
from hold to sell. It also cut New Star Asset Management, down 11p to
a new low of 168.25p to hold saying it was “exposed to fund redemptions,
weak performance and a leveraged balance sheet”. And it cut forecasts for Henderson,
down 6.75p to 111.25p.
Talk of rising utility bills and a recession made energy related stocks and
defensive pharmaceuticals the winners. British Energy was up 32.5p to
571p after Cazenove upgraded its price target to 730p from 660p. But National
Grid, up 19.5p to 856.5p, Scottish & Southern Energy, up 33p
to £16.68, Shell, up 9.5p to 637p and BP, up 9.5p at 637p
all benefited.
In a recession people still need medicine and GlaxoSmithKline was up
45p at £13.21, Smith & Nephew lifted 19.5p at 596.5p and AstraZeneca
rose 60p to £21.70.
SSL, the Durex and Scholl group, an often rumoured bid target for the
likes of Johnson & Johnson and Unilever, gained 27p to 564.5p. Unilever
rose 43p to £19.27.
Robert Lindsay
robert.lindsay@thetimes.co.uk
AGENDA
INTERIMS
None scheduled
FINALS
Arden Partners
Michael Page International (Q4)
AGMs
Topps Tiles
EGMs
None scheduled
TRADING STATEMENT
Domino’s Pizza
Dunelm
Heywood Williams
Prostrakan
Lamprell
Michael Page International
Topps Tiles
TRAFFIC FIGURES
Easyjet (Dec)
ECONOMICS
BRC UK Dec retail sales monitor (0001 GMT)
UK’s DMO auctions 2.25 bln stg of 4.75 pct Treasury Gilt 2030 (1030 GMT)
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