Welcome to today's round-up of business news from The Times: what we're
saying, what they're saying
Top stories
The Times: Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, has
backed fresh "fiscal stimulus", driving a share resurgence on both
sides of the Atlantic.
New York Times: The US Treasury wants
to steer some of its $250 billion (£145 billion) rescue package to
banks that are willing to buy weaker rivals.
The Times: Iceland is ready to
accept a $6 billion (£3.5 billion) rescue bailout led by the
International Monetary Fund and backed by its Nordic cousins.
Comment
David Wighton in The Times: The Bank of England looms
as the sticking point in the Government's struggle for economic
recovery. A chunky cut in interest rates is vital.
Damian Reece in the Daily Telegraph: Flash Gordon might be flying
around the world, but those he's left
behind are preparing for the worst.
Gerard Baker in The Times: The panic might have stopped just in time
with the bank recapitalisation and debt guarantee measures in the US, but
now the blame game starts.
Upside
The Times: The supermarket petrol war has forced
prices under 98p a litre with Tesco following the lead of Asda and Wm
Morrison in the third price cut in a week.
The Times: William Hill, the betting chain, is celebrating
a win over the economic downturn and smoking ban on gamblers by
reporting a 9 per cent profit increase for the 15 weeks to the middle of
October.
The Times: Asda, the budget retailer, has overtaken
Primark as Britain's second-biggest clothing retailer by volume after a
makeover from a former Marks & Spencer executive.
Downside
The Times: Huge share falls mean Britain's biggest companies may need
to put aside up to £150 billion
($258 billion) to repair the damage to their pension schemes.
New York Times: With oil and gas prices falling, raising
investment capital for alternative energy companies such as wind and
solar is more difficult.
The Times: The collapse in mortgage lending intensified with loans last
month by banks and building societies falling to £17.7 billion ($30.4
billion), the lowest monthly figure
for more than three years.
Mergers and shakers
Daily Telegraph: Kurt Viermetz, chairman of Deutsche Börse, the company
that operates Germany's stock exchange, is to step
down early after sustained pressure from activist shareholders.
The Independent: Nissan, the Japanese auto giant, will stop
production of Micras and Note models at its flagship Sunderland car
plant for several weeks.
New York Times: Profit at American Express, the credit card issuer, fell
24 per cent in the third quarter as cardholders spent less and
defaulted more.
Around Asia
The Times: China's economic growth slipped
to 9 per cent for July to September as the international slowdown
seeped into the world's fastest-expanding major economy.
New York Times: With the demise of major American institutions, Japan
could use its deep pockets to take
a more active role in international finance.
The Times: Seoul's $130 billion (£75.6 billion) rescue package has
received a lukewarm reception with
the Asian Development Bank saying the Korean Government's forecast of 4.5
per cent GDP growth for 2009 is too high.
Look ahead
The Times: Britain was £37.6 billion ($64.6 billion) in the red but right
to borrow more to safeguard homes, jobs and small businesses, declared
Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister.
Daily Telegraph: Lloyd's insurers Amlin and Omega Insurance have warned
the industry faces paying out
billions of pounds from hurricane claims, in particular Hurricane Ike.
The Times: France's leading six banks will
receive a €10.5 billion (£8.2 billion) cash injection from the
Government by the end of the year.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 4,282.67 up 5.4% (Monday close)
Dow 9,265.432 up 4.7% (close)
S&P 500 985.40 up 4.8% (close)
Nasdaq 1,770.03 up 3.4% (close)
Nikkei 9,238.59 up 2.6% (latest)
Hang Seng 15,433.74 up 0.7% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.7186/1.2902 euros (latest)
Euro $1.332 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $73.21 up $1.18 (latest)
West Texas crude $75.61 up $1.36 (latest)
Gold $801.20 up $11.20 (latest)
New York
Reuters: US stocks rallied on
Monday after the Federal Reserve's chairman backed more government spending
to help the economy and credit market conditions showed further signs of
improvement. But the advance of over 4 per cent in both the Dow and S&P came
on the thinnest daily volume in almost a month, signalling investors remain
skittish about diving back into stocks after weeks of punishing volatility.
Oil field services companies Halliburton and Weatherford
International jumped after they posted better-than-expected quarterly
earnings. The energy sector also got a boost as the price of oil rose and
analysts at Oppenheimer & Co raised recommendations on energy stocks such as Chevron
and Exxon Mobil. Both climbed more than 10 per cent.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks
climbed in morning trade, led by producers of consumer goods and
commodities, on optimism the US and Japan will expand efforts to stimulate
the economy. Honda, which generates more than half its sales in North
America, rose 6.6 per cent, Canon, the world's largest seller of
digital cameras, jumped 5.2 per cent and Sony, maker of the
PlayStation 3 game console, advanced 4.2 per cent. Daelim Industrial,
a Korean home builder and chemicals maker, rose 5.7 per cent and Hyundai
Development, a home builder, gained 5.5 per cent. Woodside Petroleum,
Australia's second-largest oil producer, jumped 7.5 per cent and BHP
Billiton, the biggest, rose 6.3 per cent. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial
climbed 4.3 per cent after money-market rates fell and National Australia
rose 4.5 per cent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 2.5 per cent to 92.86
in morning trade.
Myles McIvor
mjclub@bigpond.com.au
London
Cattles, the door to door lender, rebounded 54 per cent on suggestions it was
close to winning its bank licence.
Royal Bank of Scotland was the top FTSE 100 gainer up 23 per cent on
reports that CVC and Swiss Re were close to agreeing to buy its insurance
division.
The FTSE 100 closed up 219.66 at 4282.67 on a strong performance from miners
and oil stocks after heavy sell offs last week. Prudential gained 22
per cent after it hinted that it would unveil a cash injection today to help
it buy AIG assets.
But RSA Insurance lost 3 per cent and Aviva another 0.6 per
cent as fears the insurance sector would need a bailout refused to die.
Hammerson fell 3 per cent and Liberty International lost 2.5 per
cent on fears over debt and falling rental income.
Robert Lindsay
robert.lindsay@thetimes.co.uk
AGENDA
INTERIMS
Filtrona
FINALS
Debenhams
St Ives
RESULTS
Dialog Semiconductor (Q3)
Icon (Q3)
Prudential (Q3)
Xstrata (Q3 output)
AGMs
Expansys
TRADING STATEMENTS
Filtrona
Laird
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
The essential daily business here
