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

Top stories

New York Times: The US financial rescue plan remained in doubt ; lawmakers said negotiations had a way to go after earlier announcing a deal was at hand.

The Times: Britain’s five leading retail banks have up to £95.3 billion ($175 billion) of bad assets on their books that may qualify for the US bailout.

Bloomberg: JPMorgan Chase will buy the deposits of Washington Mutual for $1.9 billion (£1 billion) after the biggest bank failure in US history.

Comment

David Wighton in The Times: Now that it is clear the US bailout will happen, there are increasing doubts about whether it will work.

Jeff Randall in the Daily Telegraph: US taxpayers will be enrolled in an economic chain gang to pay for the grotesque excesses of flim-flam merchants.

Rupert Cornwell in The Independent: George W. Bush, a populist but most unpopular leader, has been forced to put Wall Street ahead of public opinion .

Upside

Financial Times: Lehman Brothers’ London investment bankers will get large cash bonuses if they stay under new owner Nomura, the Japanese bank.

The Times: Britain’s television regulator will let ITV drop its Border and West Country news bulletins , saving the broadcaster £40 million ($74 million) a year.

The Times: Alitalia’s four main unions agreed to a €1 billion (£795 million, $1.5 billion) rescue plan for the struggling Italian airline that they rejected last week.

Downside

The Times: The property portfolio of Songbird Estates, which owns most of Canary Wharf in East London, fell in value by £470 million ($865 million) in the first half of the year.

Daily Telegraph: Half yearly profit at Lloyd's, the world's largest insurance market, fell 47 per cent to £949 million ($1.75 billion).

Daily Telegraph: Embattled mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley will sack 300 staff and global banking giant HSBC will sack 1,000 , 500 of them in London.

Mergers and shakers

The Times: The Republic of Ireland became the first eurozone state to officially fall into recession in the current global slowdown.

The Independent: Lloyds TSB could be left short of capital and take on too much bad debt in its emergency takeover of rival British bank HBOS.

Financial Times: Morgan Stanley lost a third of assets in its prime brokerage as hedge funds panicked after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and moved to rival banks.

Around Asia

Bloomberg: The Chinese Government will let investors buy shares on credit and sell borrowed stock to help develop its stock market.

New York Times: A run on Hong Kong’s Bank of East Asia stopped as quickly as it started , thanks to regulators co-operating, the bank and a tycoon nicknamed Superman.

Bloomberg: New Zealand's economy contracted 0.2 per cent last quarter, driving the nation into its first recession in 10 years.

Look ahead

The Times: General Electric, one of the world’s biggest companies, said its third-quarter profit would be up to 16 per cent below its previous forecasts .

The Independent: Analysts expect Marks & Spencer to report on October 2 that trading deteriorated during its second quarter.

Nikkei: Honda, Japan’s second-largest carmaker, will establish automotive research and development operations in India next year.

MARKETS

FTSE 100 5,197.02 up 2% (Thursday close)

Dow 11,022.06 up 1.8% (close)

S&P 500 1,209.18 up 2% (close)

Nasdaq 2,186.57 up 1.4% (close)

Nikkei 11,967.87 down 0.3% (latest)

Hang Seng 18,909.59 down 0.1% (latest)

Currencies

Sterling $1.8428/1.2563 euros (latest)

Euro $1.4668 (latest)

Commodities

Brent crude $103.47 down $1.13 (latest)

West Texas crude $106.63 down $1.39 (latest)

Gold $886.60 up $4.60 (latest)

New York

Reuters: Wall Street snapped a three-day losing streak on Thursday as Congress had looked set to agree to the $700 billion bailout. Banks led the gains, with Bank of America up 4 per cent and JPMorgan up 7.3 per cent. IBM lifted the Dow more than any other with a 3.1 per cent rise. Nike rose almost 10 per cent after the world's largest athletic footwear and apparel company beat profit estimates. In after-hours trade, stock futures on all three major indices were down more than 1 per cent as uncertainty grew about the bailout plan.

Asia

Bloomberg: Most Asian stocks declined in early trade on concern the US financial rescue plan hit a snag and after a measure of shipping rates tumbled the most in three months. Shinhan Financial Group, South Korea’s leading holding company, fell 2.3 per cent. Mitsui OSK, Japan's largest operator of dry-bulk ships, lost 3.1 per cent. Takeda Pharmaceutical rose 2.9 per cent after announcing a share buyback. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.4 per cent to 115.18 in early trade and was set to be almost 1 per cent higher for the week.

Michael Beh

michaelwbeh@gmail.com

London

RSA Insurance rose 11 per cent after Henri de Castries, chief executive of Axa, the French insurer which is RSA's largest shareholder, said on French radio "The situation today will offer us opportunities to reinforce our positions in the next few months."

Swiss Re said its Admin Re division, which buys life and health policies that are in run off “is uniquely placed to seize opportunities arising from the current market situation.” Old Mutual which is expected to sell its US life insurance division, rose 13 per cent.

The FTSE 100 closed up 101.45 at 5197.02 as word spread that the $700 billion debt rescue package were nearing agreement.

Thomas Cook lost 4 per cent after its 53 per cent shareholder in Germany, Arcandor, said that it may seek to raise funds by reducing its stake. Investec said its Monday trading figures may disappoint.

AGENDA

INTERIMS

JJB Sports

AGMs

BSkyB

Henderson Smaller Companies IT

EGM

Caliber Global Investment

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