Welcome to today's round-up of business news from The Times: what we're saying, what they're saying

Top stories

The Times: Lehman Brothers will slash its dividend , sell assets and consider a takeover after the US investment bank lost $3.9 billion (£2.2 billion) in the quarter.

New York Times: Saudi Arabia vowed to ignore Opec’s call to stick to the oil cartel’s quotas and will continue to pump plenty of oil.

Reuters: Shares in Washington Mutual, the biggest savings and loan bank in the US, fell 30 per cent on fears it will not find a buyer or be able to cover its mortgage losses.

Comment

David Wighton in The Times: Lehman Brothers’ boss Dick Fuld has much to be proud of, but pride could hinder him doing what may have to be done – selling the bank quickly.

Jeremy Warner in The Independent: There's a gallows humour about the City as the purges become relentless and few expect to survive for long.

John Gapper in the Financial Times: Hank Paulson, the US Treasury secretary, should take the weekend off after his energetic interventions in financial markets.

Upside

The Times: Barratt Developments, the UK’s largest housebuilder, will cover capital losses and pay stamp duty in a bid to sell more homes in a slow market.

The Times: E.ON, the German energy group, plans to build a £4 billion ($7 billion) nuclear power station beside the River Severn in Gloucestershire by 2020.

Daily Telegraph: Thorntons, the chocolate-maker and retailer, increased annual profit by 20 per cent to £8.5 million ($14.9 million) on new products and up-market tastes.

Downside

The Times: Britain will plunge into recession this year to join the ranks of the worst-performing economies in Europe, the European Commission predicts.

The Times: Opec will send a delegation to Russia to forge closer ties; the prospect alarms other countries as the two control half the world’s oil.

Daily Telegraph: Credit Agricole, the French financial services group, will axe 500 jobs at its Calyon investment bank arm.

Mergers and shakers

The Times: RAB Capital, the embattled hedge fund, will liquidate its losing $900 million (£512 million) Special Situations fund unless investors lock themselves in for three years.

New York Times: ImClone Systems is considering a $70 a share bid from an unnamed pharmaceutical company that trumps Bristol-Myers Squibb’s offer for the drug maker.

The Independent: Charles Allen, the former chief executive of broadcaster ITV, joined the board of Virgin Media , increasing speculation of a takeover bid for ITV.

Around Asia

Bloomberg: New Zealand cut interest rates by a half point to 7.5 per cent, more than expected, saying the economy was in a recession and inflation would slow.

Financial Times: Chi-X, the equities trading platform, will start operating in Australia early next year and plans to expand into Asian markets.

Financial Times: Indonesia was forced to cancel an auction of bonds because investors demanded higher returns than it could afford to pay.

Look ahead

The Times: Julian Roberts, the new chief executive of Old Mutual, says he will fix the insurance giant’s troubled US life division within two months or sell it.

The Times: The Walt Disney Company may mount a challenge to BSkyB by bidding for Premier League football broadcasting rights for its ESPN channel next year.

Reuters: The next US president will decide a $35 billion (£20 billion) air-refueling defence contract that was awarded to Northrop and Europe's EADS but withdrawn.

MARKETS

FTSE 100 5,366.20 down 0.9% (Wednesday close)

Dow 11,268.92 up 0.3% (close)

S&P 500 1,232.04 up 0.6% (close)

Nasdaq 2,228.70 up 0.9% (close)

Nikkei 12,196.89 down 1.2% (latest)

Hang Seng 19,674.35 down 1.6% (latest)

Currencies

Sterling $1.7522/1.2540 euros (latest)

Euro $1.3974 (latest)

Commodities

West Texas crude $103.90 up $1.32 (latest)

Gold $760.70 down $1.80 (latest)

New York

Reuters: US stocks rose on Wednesday as OPEC's move to shore up oil prices boosted energy shares. Among the oil majors, Conoco Phillips rose 5.2 per cent and Exxon Mobil rose 2.7 per cent. Technology shares also rose on relief that chip maker Texas Instruments did not cut its earnings outlook. Texas Instruments rose 0.6 per cent and tech bellwether IBM rose 2.6 per cent. Financial shares, however, were broadly lower. Troubled investment bank Lehman Brothers lost another 6.9 per cent, while Washington Mutual lost 30 per cent. Wachovia Corp fell 2.5 per cent, Merrill Lynch fell 3.8 per cent and American International Group, the world’s biggest insurer, fell 4.7 per cent.

Asia

Bloomberg: Asian stocks fell for the third day, driving the benchmark index to its lowest level since June 2006. Financials suffered in the wake of Lehman Brothers’ losses, with Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's biggest bank, down 4.3 per cent, Mizuho Financial Group, Japan's second-biggest, down 3.8 per cent, Kookmin Bank, South Korea's biggest, down 3.2 per cent and ANZ, Australia's fourth-largest, down 3.5 per cent. Carmaker Mazda, which gets more than half of its profit in Europe, fell 7.2 per cent on poor European growth predictions. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 1 per cent to 116.59 in early trade.

Michael Beh

michaelwbeh@gmail.com

London

The FTSE 100 closed down 49.4 points at 5,366.2 as losses at Lehman Brothers, the US investment bank, hit London's blue chip financial stocks. Barclays lost 5.3 per cent and Lloyds TSB fell 5 per cent. Insurers also lost ground after Old Mutual, down 3.5 per cent, said it expects its US life business to make a $135 million writedown on the value of its holdings of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae preference stock. Retailers also weighed on the index after results and updates from some of the high street’s biggest names painted a bleak picture for shop owners. Next lost 2 per cent despite better than expected first half results, after it gave a downbeat trading outlook.

Peter Stiff

peter.stiff@thetimes.co.uk

AGENDA

INTERIMS

Faroe Petroleum

Financial Objects

Hilton Food Group

John Lewis Partnership

Wm Morrison Supermarkets

Premier Farnell (Q2)

PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Dunelm Group

Galliford Try

Swallowfield

Tenon Group

FINALS

Gartmore Growth Opportunities

TRADING STATEMENTS

Home Retail Group

AGMs

Anite

Artemis Alpha Trust

EGMs

PGNiG SA (Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo SA)

Scotty Group

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