Welcome to today's round-up of business news from The Times: what we're
saying, what they're saying
Top stories
The Times: Financial meltdown loomed
closer as the US Congress rejected the bailout plan, Wall Street had a
record plunge and five banks had to be rescued.
New York Times: Citigroup will buy
Wachovia’s banking operations for $2.2 billion (£1.2 billion) and get a
government guarantee on its riskiest assets.
The Times: Bank charges and insurance premiums will
rise after banks and insurers had to pay £14 billion ($25.3 billion)
under Bradford & Bingley’s nationalisation.
Comment
Anatole Kaletsky in The Times: The bailout will surely be passed or every
major US bank will fail and every British one will be nationalised.
Damian Reece in the Daily Telegraph: The US wants
punishment and a stick with which it can beat Wall Street for years but
it may permanently damage its economy.
Sean O'Grady in The Independent: As governments fall over themselves to
fix the financial system, they only add
to the sense of panic .
Upside
The Times: Bankrupt Lehman Brothers will sell
its investment management unit to Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman,
the private equity firms, for $2.15 billion (£1.19 billion).
The Times: Bookings at TUI Travel and Thomas Cook, Britain’s two
biggest travel retailers, have surged
following the collapse of rival XL Leisure.
Bloomberg: Electric Power Development, Japan's biggest power
wholesaler, raised its first-half
profit forecast by 65 per cent; its shares rose 5.1 per cent.
Downside
The Times: Up to 100 MFI stores could
close within days unless they get rent relief, despite a last-minute
hour management buyout of the furniture retailer.
The Times: The nationalisation of Glitnir, Iceland’s third-largest
bank, could force billionaire Jon Asgeir Johannesson to sell
his stable of 20 UK retailers.
Daily Telegraph: The value of mortgages lent to British homebuyers fell
95 per cent to £143 million ($258 million) in August, the lowest level
on record.
Mergers and shakers
Daily Telegraph: Brad Mills quit
as chief executive of Lonmin days before Xstrata decides on a hostile
£5 billion ($9 billion) bid for the platinum miner.
The Times: BSkyB may have to cut
its holding in broadcaster ITV to less than 7.5 per cent after a double
defeat in The Competition Appeal Tribunal.
The Independent: Vodafone, the mobile phone giant, has promoted
two directors to run its emerging markets division and appointed a new
UK chief executive.
Around Asia
The Times: Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan’s biggest bank, will
pump $9 billion (£4.9 billion) into Morgan Stanley, the US bank, and
end up with a 21 per cent stake.
New York Times: Warren Buffett will pay $230 million (£130 million) for
10 per cent of a Chinese battery maker that plans to sell
electric cars in the US by 2010.
Bloomberg: Japan and Australia's central banks pumped
$20.8 billion (£11.6 billion) into their financial systems after
Congress rejected the US bailout.
Look ahead
The Independent: Colin Keogh will
quit as chief executive of Close Brothers as soon as a successor is
found after the merchant bank reported profits fell 32 per cent.
Bloomberg: Prime Hong Kong office rents could
fall up to 20 per cent by the end of next year due to the financial
crisis, analysts predict.
Financial Times: Two carmakers will
exhibit Indian-made vehicles at this week’s Paris car show that they
intend to export to Europe in 2009.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 4,818.77 down 5.3% (Monday close)
Dow 10,365.45 down 7% (close)
S&P 500 1,106.42 down 8.8% (close)
Nasdaq 1,983.73 down 9.1% (close)
Nikkei 11,199.07 down 4.6% (latest)
Hang Seng 17,035.97 down 4.7% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.8010/1.2549 euros (latest)
Euro $1.4352 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $93.36 up 26 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $95.87 down 50 cents (latest)
Gold $909.00 up $14.60 (latest)
New York
Reuters: The Dow lost 778 points
, its biggest ever points fall, after Congress rejected the US bailout plan.
The S&P 500 had its worst day in 21 years. The Nasdaq had its worst day
since the tech bubble burst in 2000. Wachovia lost 81 per cent as the
bank was forced to sell most of its assets to Citigroup in a
regulator-brokered rescue deal. Bank of America Corp fell 17.6 per
cent and Goldman Sachs fell 12.5 per cent. Among technology shares, Apple
fell 18 per cent and Google fell 11.6 per cent. Volume during the
plunge was heavy.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks
dropped in early trade, extending the worst global sell-off in 21 years. Mitsubishi
UFJ, Japan's largest bank, fell 6.6 per cent. ANZ, Australia's
fourth-largest bank, fell 5.6 per cent. Falling oil and commodity prices saw BHP,
the world's largest miner, fall 7.4 per cent and SK Energy, South
Korea's biggest oil refiner, fall 5.1 per cent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index
fell 3.3 per cent to 107.66 in early trade. It has fallen 32 per cent this
year.
Michael Beh
michaelwbeh@gmail.com
London
ICAP fell 24 per cent as it said it was struggling to predict the outcome of
the year and as several banks were nationalised, reducing its client base.
Man Group fell 18 per cent on revealing that market turmoil had wiped
$5 billion off its investments and 40 per cent from its performance fees.
HBOS lost 18 per cent as the nationalisation of Bradford & Bingley left
investors worrying that Lloyds TSB's rescue would either not happen
or would hit Lloyds, down 13 per cent.
Xstrata, down 17 per cent, led the miners lower as metals prices
crashed and amid fears over its planned bid for Lonmin, down 15 per
cent. The FTSE 100 lost 269.7 to 4818.77.
Robert Lindsay
robert.lindsay@thetimes.co.uk
AGENDA
INTERIMS
Alexandra
Alliance Trust
Deal Media
Diamond Corp
Evadix
Game
Harvey Nash
IS Solutions
Meldex
Scisys
Sibir Energy
Tesco
TRADING STATEMENTS
Dairy Crest
Scottish and Southern Energy
Thomas Cook
Thus
AGMs
Misys
ECONOMICS
UK National Accounts Q2 2008
UK Consumer Trends Q2 2008
UK Business investment revised results Q2 2008
UK Economic Accounts Q2
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