Welcome to today's round-up of business news from The Times: what we're
saying, what they're saying
Top stories
The Times: Banks and building societies responded to Britain’s
150-basis-point interest rates cut with a scramble
to prevent new borrowers taking advantage of it.
The Times: The IMF predicts that the world's developed economies are
set to endure their first full-year
contraction since the Second World War.
Daily Telegraph: US President-elect Barack Obama has appointed a team
of economic advisers including renowned investor Warren Buffett and
Google boss Eric Schmidt.
Comment
Anatole Kaletsky in The Times: The Bank of England’s boldness ensures
the nightmare of a deep and prolonged depression will remain
an imaginary horror .
Floyd Norris in the New York Times: Barack Obama’s success as president may
depend on him following the path of Ronald Reagan and taking short-term
pain to fix long-term problems.
Damian Reece in the Daily Telegraph: The Bank of England has been
forced into panic measures when it could have acted earlier and more
decisively.
Upside
The Times: UK interest rates are
below those in the 15-nation eurozone for the first time since the
single European currency was introduced in 1999.
The Times: Blackstone Group, the world’s second-largest private equity
firm, called the bottom of the
credit crunch as it reported an unexpectedly large loss.
Financial Times: VW’s chief production manager made
more than €1 million (£800,000, $1.3 million) trading the carmaker’s
shares during a controversial price spike.
Downside
The Times: Royal Worcester, the manufacturer of porcelain and bone
china established in 1751, has gone
into administration .
The Times: Man Group shares fell
almost a third after the world's largest listed hedge fund manager
admitted that turbulent markets had savaged its investments.
New York Times: Health care’s reputation for being recession-proof has taken
a hit , with hospitals reporting a fall in paying patients.
Mergers and shakers
The Times: BSkyB and Virgin Media will pay
each other £30 million ($47 million) a year to carry the other’s
television channels, finally settling their dispute.
Daily Telegraph: Friends Provident will
appoint Evelyn Bourke, a financial controller with rival life assurer
Standard Life, as chief financial officer.
Daily Telegraph: Yahoo boss Jerry Yang made a direct
plea to Microsoft to buy the embattled search engine, after Google
abandoned an advertising deal.
Around Asia
New York Times: Japanese households are pouring
their savings into shares, believing the Tokyo market, at a 26-year
low, offers buying opportunities.
Financial Times: Toyota, Japan’s largest carmaker, reported
second-quarter profits plunged by
69 per cent and said it would barely make money in the second half.
Bloomberg: The Bank of Korea cut
interest rates by 25 basis points, the third reduction in a month.
Look ahead
The Times: An Irish Government corporation plans
to spend €4 billion (£3.2 billion, $5 billion) building power plants
in Britain by 2020.
The Times: It will cost the
Government £800 million ($1.2 billion) to fund the compensation of
240,000 British depositors with Icesave, the collapsed Icelandic bank.
Bloomberg: General Motors, the troubled auto giant, will seek
government aid to survive through 2009, not to help a merger with rival
Chrysler.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 4,272.41 down 5.7% (Thursday close)
Dow 8,695.79 down 4.9% (close)
S&P 500 904.88 down 5% (close)
Nasdaq 1,608.70 down 4.3% (close)
Nikkei 8,512.29 down 4.4% (latest)
Hang Seng 13,544.72 down 1.8% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.5568/1.2281 euros (latest)
Euro $1.2676 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $56.62 down 81 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $60.19 down 58 cents (latest)
Gold $727.40 down $4.80 (latest)
New York
Reuters: US stocks fell again,
creating the worst two-day slide since October 1987. Retailers posted the
worst monthly sales figures in 30 years. Discount retail chain Target fell
6 per cent, mid-priced department store chain J.C. Penney fell 1.5
per cent and luxury retailer Saks fell 5.3 per cent. In after-hours
trading, entertainment company Walt Disney fell 9 per cent after
missing profit expectations. Technology firm Qualcomm fell 6 per cent
in regular trading and another 3.8 per cent after the bell on a
weaker-than-expected outlook. Oil giant Chevron was the biggest drag
on the Dow, falling 6.4 per cent. US-listed stock of media giant News Corp
fell 15.6 per cent on a lower profit forecast. Among carmakers, General
Motors fell 13.7 per cent, Ford fell 5.3 per cent and Toyota
US-listed stock fell 16.5 per cent.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks fell
for a second day in early trade. BHP Billiton, the world's biggest
miner, fell 7.4 per cent and Rio Tinto, the third-largest, fell 9.8
per cent as metal and oil prices slumped. Australian oil producer Woodside
Petroleum fell 6.4 per cent. Toyota, the world's second-biggest
automaker, predicted its lowest profit in nine years. Its shares were not
traded as orders to sell exceeded those to buy. Its truck-making unit Hino
Motors fell 13 per cent. Smaller rival Honda fell 14 per cent. Inpex,
Japan's largest oil explorer, fell 11 per cent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index
fell 3.4 per cent to 85.65 in early trade, adding to Thursday's 6 per cent
decline.
Michael Beh
michaelwbeh@gmail.com
London
Shares were hammered yesterday as a sharper than expected interest-rate cut
scared investors about just how bleak 2009 could prove to be. Stocks were
also hit by growing concern about the global economy, a string of bad
corporate news and fears that the cut of 150 basis points in UK interest
rates to 3 per cent would not be passed on by the stricken banking system.
The FTSE 100, which got off to a bad start after heavy losses in the US and
Asia overnight, plunged 5.7 per cent, losing 258.32 points, to 4,272.41.
Mining stocks were, for a second successive day, responsible for most of the
loss, on global growth worries, although there were heavy losses across the
board, with only six blue chip stocks ending the session higher. Man Group
was the index's heaviest faller, down 31.2 per cent, as its funds under
management slumped due to market turmoil. Vedanta Resources was the
worst hit miner, falling 20.5 per cent, after the India-focused group
reported a sharp drop in first half profits. Marks & Spencer was
the biggest riser, up 3.3 per cent due to the rate cut.
Robert Lindsay
robert.lindsay@thetimes.co.uk
AGENDA
INTERIMS
Finsbury Worldwide Pharmaceutical Trust
Hornby
Robert Wiseman
RESULTS
British Airways (Q2)
Rentokil International (Q3)
PRELIMINARIES
Lowland Investment Co
FINALS
JP Morgan Chinese IT
Lok'n Store
AGMs
Abermarle & Bond
Dechra Pharma
Galliford Try
TRADING STATEMENTS
Rentokil
Stanelco
TRAFFIC FIGURES
British Airways
easyJet monthly passenger statistics
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