Welcome to today's round-up of business news from The Times: what we're
saying, what they're saying
Top stories
The Times: The Financial Services Authority is assembling
a team of outside advisers to deal with a possible wave of corporate
crises in the insurance sector.
New York Times: Wall Street had one of its biggest
rallies in 69 years, with the Dow Jones rising almost 11 per cent - 9
per cent in the last two hours.
Financial Times: Output from the world’s oilfields is declining
faster than previously thought, the first authoritative public study of
the biggest fields shows.
Comment
Patrick Hosking in The Times: Unless money has been invested for longer
than 25 years, bonds will have beaten
shares ; the faith in equities is being tested.
Jeff Randall in the Daily Telegraph: History tells us that the bigger
the party, the longer it takes to
clear up the mess.
Lex in the Financial Times: The confidence of US consumers has not yet
even begun to crack .
Upside
The Times: BP, the British oil giant, reported a record three-month
profit of £6.4 billion ($10.2 billion), as the Prime Minister called for petrol
prices to fall .
New York Times: For a few minutes, Volkswagen was the world’s most
valuable company as Porsche’s takeover of the rival carmaker saw prices
soar and short sellers panic.
Bloomberg: Hungary will receive a €12.5 billion (£9.9 billion, $15.7
billion) loan from the International Monetary Fund.
Downside
The Times: Lloyds TSB will no longer let
borrowers switch from repayment mortgages to interest-only deals,
removing a lifeline for struggling homeowners.
Reuters: US consumer confidence dived
to a record low in October on the back of plunging home values and a
severe financial crisis.
New York Times: US credit card issuers are tightening
standards as credit card bad debt is tipped to hit $76 billion (£47
billion) for this year and next.
Mergers and shakers
Financial Times: Homeowners in some of central London’s wealthiest
areas are now feeling the full impact
of the property slump.
The Times: The Board of Australia’s Queensland Gas unanimously
recommended a £2 billion ($3.2 billion) buy-out offer from BG Group.
Bloomberg: San Miguel, the Philippines' biggest food and beverage
company, plans to buy a controlling stake
in Petron, the nation’s largest oil refiner.
Around Asia
Financial Times: The International Monetary Fund has less than a week
to prevent a full-blown financial crisis
in Pakistan, Germany’s foreign minister warned.
Financial Times: The crisis in Kuwait’s banking sector deepened as the
chairman of Gulf Bank resigned and Moody’s warned it
could downgrade the bank’s credit rating.
Bloomberg: Japanese companies plan
to cut production this month and next as the global financial crisis
increases the likelihood of a worldwide recession.
Look ahead
The Times: British retailers are facing a "very
challenging " run-up to Christmas after high street sales continued to
fall during October.
Daily Telegraph: ITV expects advertising revenues across its family of
television channels to fall 9 per cent
in November.
The Times: Honda will reduce
production at its British factories by another 10,000 cars and extend
its short-time working hours until March.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 3,926.38 up 1.9% (Tuesday close)
Dow 9,065.12 up 10.9% (close)
S&P 500 940.51 up 10.8% (close)
Nasdaq 1,649.47 up 9.5% (close)
Nikkei 8,109.34 up 6.4% (latest)
Hang Seng 13,101.39 up 4% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.6018/1.2592 euros (latest)
Euro $1.2721 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $62.25 up $1.96 (latest)
West Texas crude $64.65 up $1.92 (latest)
Gold $749.50 up $9.00 (latest)
New York
Reuters: Wall Street had its second-best day ever as investors,
convinced that central banks worldwide will cut rates even more, scooped up
stocks that had been driven down to their lowest prices in more than five
years. Big oil companies gave the Dow its biggest boost. Exxon rose
13.3 per cent and Chevron rose 13.5 per cent. Boeing rose 15.5
per cent after the aircraft manufacturer reached a tentative agreement with
its largest union to end a strike. Walmart, the world’s largest
retailer, rose 11.1 per cent. In telecommunications, Verizon rose
14.6 per cent and AT&T rose 13.2 per cent. Whirlpool, the
world’s biggest appliance maker, fell 8.3 per cent after slashing its
earnings outlook.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks gained
in early trade amid speculation Japan will cut interest rates and China will
take steps to boost equities. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan’s
biggest bank, rose 10 per cent, Mizuho Financial Group, the second
largest, rose 5.2 per cent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, the
third biggest, rose 7.2 per cent. Panasonic, the world's largest
maker of consumer electronics, rose 10 per cent. BHP Billiton, the
world’s largest miner, rose 5.7 per cent and Rio Tinto, the
third largest, rose 5.8 per cent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 4.9 per
cent to 81.52 in early trade. The Korea Exchange halted program trading
after index futures surged.
Michael Beh
michaelwbeh@gmail.com
London
Shares in Cable & Wireless fell almost 4 per cent, making a 30 per
cent drop in the past four weeks, on fears that mounting liabilities in its
pension fund will derail its demerger plan. C&W offloaded some pension
liabilities to Prudential last month, but that will take care of only the
5,000 former staff already in retirement. C&W still has to fund pensions of
another 10,000 staff and former staff who have yet to retire. The FTSE 100
rose 73.79 points to 3,926.38 in low volume ahead of expected interest rate
cuts in the US, which helped currencies such as sterling to rise against the
dollar. Aviva, the insurer, rose 5.6 per cent and BP, the oil
major, gained 5.4 per cent, aided the mood with reassuring trading
statements.
Robert Lindsay
robert.lindsay@thetimes.co.uk
AGENDA
INTERIMS
Advent Capital
Worldspreads Group
RESULTS
CSR (Q3)
Shire (Q3)
FINALS
Namakwa Diamonds
TRADING STATEMENTS
Cairn Energy
Photo-Me International
Stagecoach
AGMs
Photo-Me International
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