Welcome to today's round-up of business news from The Times: what we're
saying, what they're saying, what you should be thinking
Top of the home pages
The Times: Guy Hands, the
chairman of EMI, the music company, has tabled a bid for Chrysalis, one of
Britain's last big independent music groups.
The Wall Street Journal: The Dow
Jones industrial average plunged 2.5 per cent and long-dated Treasurys
surged following a fresh round of big writedowns by banks and signs that
bond insurers' credit ratings may be slashed.
The Guardian: Scottish Equitable,
one of Britain's biggest property funds, was forced to shut its doors to
withdrawals after the slump in commercial prices triggered panic selling by
small investors.
From the commentators
Carl Mortished in The Times: The world
may run out of love for oil before it runs out of oil. Political and
economic upheavals will count for more in our ability to access hydrocarbons
than geology.
Lex in Financial Times: The world's troubles justify investors' enthusiasm
for gold futures. But a rebound in the dollar against the euro could
provide a sell signal.
Tom Stevenson in The Daily Telegraph: John Dunsmore may be the rookie
chief executive at S&N but he has played the bid for the brewer like
a veteran. Spurning proposals at 720p, 750p and 780p, he has perfected that "hard
to get" shrug.
Good day
The Daily Telegraph: More than 1,200 store managers and back-office
staff at Waterstone's and HMV will
receive a bonus of up to £5,000 after better-than-expected Christmas trading
figures.
Bloomberg: IBM, the biggest
computer-services company, forecast 2008 profit that beat analysts'
estimates as growth in Europe and Asia outpaces US sales. The shares rose
4.9 per cent.
The Wall Street Journal: The
Directors Guild of America reached a tentative three-year deal with the
major Hollywood studios, adding to pressure on striking screenwriters.
Bad day
The Wall Street Journal: Merrill
Lynch matched Citigroup's massive fourth-quarter net loss, booking a
total of $16.7 billion (£8.5 billion) in writedowns related to the credit
crisis.
Reuters: A consensus that the
struggling US economy needs rescue emerged on Thursday as the Federal
Reserve chairman backed the idea and President Bush urged a quick and
temporary fiscal package.
The New York Times: Housing starts
plunged 14.2 per cent last month to their slowest pace in 16 years amid a
rise in delinquent construction loans.
Mergers and shakers
Financial Times: Scottish &
Newcastle, the owner of Foster's beer and Newcastle Brown Ale, opened
talks with Carlsberg and Heineken at 800p per share.
The New York Times: The New York
Stock Exchange agreed on Thursday to buy the smaller American Stock
Exchange for $260 million in stock.
Financial Times: A consortium led
by Virgin Group beefed up its bid for Northern Rock, lining up Peter
McNamara, former managing director of Alliance & Leicester, as the
executive responsible for risk management.
Around Asia
The Times: HSBC will seek a listing
in China as soon as the Chinese authorities lift restrictions on the
presence of foreign companies on the Shanghai stock exchange.
BBC: Qantas, the Australian airline,
has said it will seek compensation from Boeing after a second delay in the
delivery of the 787 Dreamliner jet.
Financial Times: China has ended more than a century of South African
dominance of the gold mining industry
to become the world's biggest producer of the ore.
Coming up
The Wall Street Journal: Rick
Wagoner, chief executive of General Motors, said the carmaker could see "significant"
profit increases in two to three years.
The Times: The Bank of England's
Deputy Governor dampened hopes of aggressive cuts in interest rates to
bolster the economy as he highlighted its fears over inflation, even as
growth falters.
The New Zealand Herald: Stemagen
Corp, a California company, says it used cloning technology to make five
human embryos, with the eventual hope of making matched stem cells for
patients.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,902.40 down 0.7% (Thursday close)
Dow 12,159.21 down 2.5% (close)
S&P 500 1,333.25 down 2.9% (close)
Nasdaq 2,346.90 2% (close)
Nikkei 13,595.78 down 2.8% (latest)
Hang Seng 24,314.77 down 3.2% (latest)
Sterling $1.9684 (latest)
West Texas crude $89.66 down 47 cents (latest)
Gold $876.70 down $3.80 (latest)
New York
Reuters: The benchmark S&P 500
plummeted 2.9 per cent to a 15-month low as news of a plunge in regional
factory activity and a hefty loss at Merrill Lynch further clouded an
increasingly dire view of the economy. Financials were battered after
Merrill Lynch reported about $16 billion in mortgage-related writedowns.
Energy shares fell, with Exxon Mobil down 3 per cent, as the price of
oil slipped 0.9 per cent.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks fell,
extending a global slump, after reports added to concern the US economy is
in recession and Merrill Lynch reported a record loss. Sony, the
second-biggest consumer electronics maker, and LG. Philips LCD, the
No 2 maker of liquid crystal displays, led declines among companies reliant
on US consumers. BHP Billiton, the biggest mining company, dropped
along with oil and metal prices. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was down 1.5
per cent and Japan's Nikkei had fallen 2.8 per cent in intraday trading.
Paul Larter
paul.larter@thetimes.co.uk
London
JP Morgan warned that Cable & Wireless's earnings would come under
threat as two heavyweights – Digicel and Mexico's America Movil – were
cleared to bid for mobile licences in Panama, where C&W obtained 23 per
cent of its earnings in the past six months. But C&W rose 1.1p to close
at 165.6p after its broker denied talk that its pension fund was flattering
its cashflow figures.
Plunging mining stocks and Ben Bernanke’s gloomy comments about the state of
the US economy sent the FTSE 100 into the red, off 40.5 at 5,902.4. Fears
over falling US metals demand sent mining stocks down with Vedanta
Resources the worst, off 125p at £17.60.
Morgan Stanley analyst Martin Allen upgraded the property sector. His key
picks were British Land, up 47½p to 968p, Segro, up 25½p
to 499p, and Brixton up 18p to 323¾p. But he downgraded last year's
most defensive player, Liberty International, to underweight and it
lost 3p to 972p.
S&N closed up 39p at 765p after it revealed it had received its
desired 800p bid offer from Carlsberg and Heineken. SABMillier lost
57p to £11.87, but Enterprise rose 12¾p to 416p as short sellers
closed out. Both had cautious trading statements.
AB Foods was the best performing blue chip, up 63p to 838p, with better
than hoped trading figures from Primark. Taylor Wimpey, the
housebuilder, gained 10½p to 175½p, helped by strong figures from Barratt
Developments, up 36¼p to 399p.
Rumours of approaches for some of the businesses of Hunting helped to
lift it 20p to 670½p against a falling oil services sector.
Robert Lindsay
robert.lindsay@thetimes.co.uk
AGENDA
INTERIMS
THB Group
FINALS
None scheduled
AGMs
First Artist Corporation
X5 Retail Group
EGMs
None scheduled
TRADING STATEMENTS
BlueBay Asset Management
Carphone Warehouse
Luminar
ECONOMICS
UK Dec retail sales (0930 GMT)
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