Tuesday, August 12, 0730 GMT

Top stories

The Times: Inflation is set to hit 5 per cent over summer, leaving the Bank of England no scope to cut interest rates.

New York Times: New York will pursue three more banks over the same auction-rate securities that Citigroup and UBS have spent $25 billion (£13 billion) buying back.

Daily Telegraph: Oil and gold prices fell amid hopes that Russia and Georgia would negotiate a ceasefire over South Ossetia.

Comment

Gerard Baker in The Times: Russia's blitzkrieg into Georgia is an old-fashioned opportunistic power grab rather than a move to manipulate global energy markets.

Tracy Corrigan in the Daily Telegraph: Selling British Energy to the French is not ideal, but it is preferable to relying on Russia or Algeria.

David Prosser in The Independent : History shows that Britain will suffer a slowdown from the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Upside

Financial Times: NBC Universal the US broadcaster, has generated more than $1 billion (£524 million) in revenue from the Olympics.

The Independent: A consortium led by BG Group has found an oilfield in the North Sea, which its partner estimates could contain 150 million barrels.

Daily Telegraph: Fortress Investments, a New York hedge fund, has given 38-year old star trader Adam Levinson $300 million (£156 million) in shares to stay with the company.

Downside

The Times: The drought in mortgages drove the housing market to a virtual standstill last month as sales dropped to levels not seen for 40 years.

New York Times: China's trade surplus swelled to $25.3 billion (£13.2 billion) in July, its highest level in eight months.

The Times: More than 500 petrol stations could close this year because of the credit crunch and an escalating supermarket price war.

Mergers and shakers

The Times: Apax Partners, one of Britain's biggest private equity groups, will sell a 10 per cent stake to Australian and Singaporean sovereign funds and a Japanese investor.

The Times: First Artist, the British agency that marketed West End musicals Miss Saigon and Mamma Mia!, will merge with SpotCo, its New York counterpart.

The Independent: An investor made $270 million (£141 million) on a bet against the share price of Bear Stearns, the US investment bank, two weeks before its collapse.

Around Asia

Bloomberg: Japan's wholesale inflation rate hit a 27-year high of 7.1 per cent in July as companies raised prices to offset oil and commodity costs.

Daily Telegraph: Six financial institutions led by Goldman Sachs and a division of Royal Dutch Shell have taken a 20 per cent stake in the Dubai Mercantile Exchange.

Financial Times: Kazakhmys, the London-listed Kazakh copper miner, lifted its stake in rival Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation to prevent a hostile bid.

Look ahead

Daily Telegraph: The Competition Commission will next week deliver a report that should begin the break-up of BAA, which owns Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and other airports.

Bloomberg: Oil-tanker rates will triple by the first quarter of next year, predicts Nobu Su, the world's third-largest spot tanker operator.

Reuters: The long-awaited authorised biography of Warren Buffett, the first written with his co-operation, is scheduled for release on September 29.

MARKETS

FTSE 100 5,541.80 up 1% (Monday close)

Dow 11,782.35 up 0.4% (close)

S&P 500 1,305.32 up 0.7% (close)

Nasdaq 2,439.95 up 1.1% (close)

Nikkei 13,335.87 down 0.7% (latest)

Hang Seng 21,931.64 up 0.3% (latest)

Currencies

Sterling $1.9078/1.2817 euros (latest)

Euro $1.4886 (latest)

Commodities

West Texas crude $114.29 down 16 cents (latest)

Gold $814.60 down $13.70 (latest)

New York

Reuters: US stocks rose as oil prices closed lower for a sixth day. Amazon.com rose more than 9 per cent after positive reports on its Kindle book reader. Apple rose 2.4 per cent after it reported strong downloads for iPhones. IPhone carrier AT&T rose 2.8 per cent.

Bank shares also rose but cut gains in the last hour of trading. Shares in WalMart rose 1.2 per cent. Telecommunication equipment maker Ciena Corp rose 6.8 per cent after an analyst raised its rating.

Asia

Bloomberg: Asian stocks fell in morning trade, led by commodity producers. Newcrest Mining, Australia's largest gold producer, fell 5.3 per cent, Sumitomo Metal Mining, Japan's biggest nickel producer, fell 4.8 per cent, and BHP Billiton fell 0.9 per cent.

Steelmakers also fell. Japan's Nippon Steel, Asia's biggest steelmaker, fell 3 per cent, South Korea's Posco, the third-largest, fell 1.5 per cent and JFE Holdings, Japan's No.2, fell 3.6 per cent. One bright point was Nippon Sheet Glass, which rose 6.4 per cent after profit dropped less than expected. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.3 per cent to 128.25 in early trade.

Michael Beh

michaelwbeh@gmail.com

AGENDA

INTERIMS

BPP Holdings

Collins Stewart

Intercontinental Hotels

Rok

Weir

AGMs

Mulberry

TRADING STATEMENTS

United Drug

ECONOMICS

UK Consumer Price Indices including inflation target - July

House Price Index from Department for Communities and Local Government stats

RICS housing market survey

British Retail Consortium retail sales monitor

UK Producer prices - July

OTHER

CBI SME Trends survey

Sign up for The Times

To receive Kill the Competition click here

To sign up for Top stories you missed while you were away click here

Keep up with the day's top stories click here

Need to Know, the essential daily business guide sector by sector click here

Explore Markets

• United States

• Europe

• Japan

• China

• Russia

• The Gulf

• India

• Africa

Times Recommends

• C&G axed - 1,660 jobs to be lost
• UK house prices rise 1.1% as buyers return
• Mixed reaction to US banks repaying bailouts