Welcome to today's round-up of business news from The Times: what we're
saying, what they're saying
Monday, October 27, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: Pressure is mounting on the Bank of England for an emergency interest
rate cut this week as the severity of the global downturn wreaks more
havoc.
New York Times: The financial crisis reached the Middle
East ; Kuwait halted trading in shares of a major bank and Saudi Arabia
will help citizens get credit.
Financial Times: European firms are set to issue a wave
of profit warnings in coming months as earnings are expected to fall 40
per cent by the end of 2009.
Comment
Gary Duncan in The Times: Britain will need a large dose of luck and
some swift and well-judged action by the authorities to
escape the worst of this recession.
Hamish McRae in the Independent: Loss of confidence is
spreading to the emerging economies, and this is troubling for the
developed world.
Liam Halligan in the Daily Telegraph: Labour has revealed its true
big-government tendencies and the results could bankrupt
Britain .
Upside
The Times: Ukraine has agreed
to the terms of a $16.5 billion (£10.5 billion) loan from the International
Monetary Fund to combat the financial crisis.
Financial Times: Netbooks, or mini-notebooks, have led
growth in the computer market and a shortage of them is expected by
Christmas.
Reuters: The US Federal Reserve is expected to cut
interest rates 50 basis points to 1 per cent on Wednesday.
Downside
The Times: Henry Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, said British
insurance companies would not be bailed
out by the United States.
Daily Telegraph: Investors fear Britain’s HSBC and Spain’s Santander,
two of Europe’s biggest banks, will
be caught in the credit crisis they have so far largely escaped.
The Times: House prices will continue
to fall for another 12 months and will not bounce back to last year's
levels until at least 2013.
Mergers and shakers
The Times: A multibillion-pound programme to buy new train carriages could
be delayed because two thirds of Britain’s train leasing industry is
about to change hands.
Daily Telegraph: The London Stock Exchange is preparing to recruit
a successor to Dame Clara Furse, its long-serving chief executive, who
may leave next year.
Bloomberg: High-end carmaker Porsche SE plans to raise
its holding in Volkswagen AG from 42.6 per cent to 75 per cent next
year.
Around Asia
The Times: Vietnamese are seeking the security
of gold as the looming global recession threatens the nation’s recent
extraordinary economic success.
The Times: Small explorers are scrambling to find oil in the Iraqi
region of Kurdistan, where potential returns outweigh
the risks of operating in a warzone.
Bloomberg: The Bank of Korea cut
interest rates 75 basis points - the most ever - after stocks lost 20
per cent and the won fell to a decade low last week.
Look ahead
The Times: Renewable energy and climate change targets for 2020 will
be missed unless the National Grid connects new generators more quickly.
Bloomberg: CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, a unit of Credit Agricole, asked
500 senior staff to accept pay cuts
of up to 25 per cent next year to avoid sackings.
New York Times: Economists expect 200,000 Americans will have lost
their jobs in October when official figures are announced on November
7.
Unfinished business - last week wrapped up
Last Monday
Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, backed fresh “fiscal
stimulus ”, driving a share resurgence on both sides of the Atlantic.
The US Treasury wanted to steer some of its $250 billion (£145 billion) rescue
package to banks that are willing to buy
weaker rivals.
Tuesday
Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, warned that Britain was on
the brink of recession and faced an
extended and painful economic downturn.
The US Federal Reserve offered $540bn
(£326 billion) to finance purchases of short-term debt from money market
mutual funds.
Wednesday
Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, admitted Britain was entering
a recession as the pound and British shares plunged.
The White House called a summit of
world's key economies for November 15 as the global financial crisis causes
havoc from Budapest to Buenos Aires.
Thursday
Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, admitted
he left interest rates too low, spurring an unsustainable housing boom.
Western officials weighed co-ordinated
action to try to stabilise economies in developing countries from Latin
America to central Europe.
Friday
BG Group flagged a £2 billion ($3.2
billion) takeover of Queensland Gas, just weeks after it withdrew a bid for
a larger Australian coal-seam gas rival.
The US Government helped to finance a
$5.2 billion takeover of National City Corp by PNC Financial Services Group.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 2,333.28 down 4.8% (Friday close)
Dow 8,378.95 down 3.6% (close)
S&P 500 876.77 down 3.5% (close)
Nasdaq 1,552.03 down 3.2% (close)
Nikkei 7,603.78 down 0.6% (latest)
Hang Seng 12,074.41 down 4.3% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.5738/1.2529 euros (latest)
Euro $1.2562 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $62.40 up 35 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $64.30 up 15 cents (latest)
Gold $736.90 up $6.60 (latest)
New York
Reuters: US stocks dropped on
Friday on fears about deep global slowdown and corporate profits. The Dow,
S&P 500 and Nasdaq all hit their lowest marks since spring 2003. Tech stocks
fell on concern about profits. Apple fell 1.9 per cent, Microsoft
fell 1.6 per cent and IBM fell 2.7 per cent. Banks were hit by
concerns about bad loans and the discount purchase of the ailing bank National
City by PNC Financial Services Group. National City fell 24.7 per
cent, while PNC bucked the trend to rise 3.5 per cent. Falling oil prices
hurt energy stocks, with Chevron falling 4.3 per cent and Exxon
Mobil down 1.9 per cent.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks fell
for a fourth day in volatile trade, led by banks and technology shares. Mitsubishi
UFJ Financial Group, Japan’s biggest bank, fell 11 per cent after
reports it would have to raise funds. Among its rivals, Mizuho Financial
Group fell 13 per cent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group fell
11 per cent. Hyundai Department Store fell 15 per cent in Seoul. In
Taiwan, Hon Hai, the world's largest contract electronics
manufacturer, fell 6.9 per cent, Quanta Computer, the world's biggest
notebook-computer maker, fell 7 per cent and Cathay Financial Holding,
the nation's largest financial-services company, fell 6.9 per cent. New
Zealand, Singapore and Malaysian markets are closed for holidays.
Michael Beh
michaelwbeh@gmail.com
AGENDA
RESULTS
Lancashire (Q3)
Reckitt Benckiser (Q3)
Wolfson (Q3)
FINALS
Baqus
AGMs
City Of London Investment Group
McBride
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