Welcome to today's round-up of business news from The Times: what we're
saying, what they're saying
Top stories
The Times: British home sales plunged
to a new low and one building society said that its mortgage lending
had fallen by 70 per cent over the past six months.
New York Times: American Express, the credit card giant, will become
a bank holding company , giving it access to cheap money from the US
Federal Reserve.
Daily Telegraph: Several large shareholders in HBOS dismissed
a bid by Sir Peter Burt and Sir George Mathewson to derail the bank’s
takeover by Lloyds TSB.
Comment
David Wighton in The Times: The bankruptcy of Circuit City, the No.2 US
electronics retailer, is a chilling
foretaste of what may await Britain.
Damian Reece in the Daily Telegraph: The Scottish knights’ rebel plan
for HBOS is highly risky and will
lose the one deal that is on the table.
Lex in the Financial Times: The stimulus package should keep China’s
growth above 6 per cent but don’t count
on it saving the rest of the world too.
Upside
The Times: Santander, the Spanish Bank that owns Abbey and Alliance &
Leicester, announced a surprise rights
issue of €7.2 billion (£5.9 billion, $9.1 billion).
New York Times: The US Government will
buy a $40 billion (£26 billion) stake in ailing insurance giant
American International Group.
New York Times: McDonald's same-store sales rose 8.2 per cent last
month, beating the world’s largest fast food chain’s own
predictions .
Downside
The Times: In a dark day , US
electronics retailer Circuit City went bankrupt, delivery company DHL axed
10,000 jobs and car giant GM’s shares fell to a 62-year low.
Reuters: US mortgage giant Fannie Mae may need another
$100 billion (£64 billion) in federal funds after losing $29 billion
(£19 billion) last quarter.
The Times: Profits at Starbucks, the ubiquitous coffee chain, fell
97 per cent in the fourth quarter on weaker demand and store closures.
Mergers and shakers
The Times: Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, called on the world’s
leading nations to fight the recession
together by giving financial boosts to their economies.
The Independent: Cable & Wireless, the UK's second largest business
phone provider, beat profit forecasts but shelved
its planned demerger .
Nikkei: Japan’s Mitsubishi Rayon is in final talks to buy Lucite
International, the British chemical producer, for ¥150 billion (£985
million, $1.5 billion).
Around Asia
The Times: The South Korean Government has moved to a “wartime”
footing and promised the nation will not have another financial crisis.
Bloomberg: Australian business confidence plunged last month to a record
low , suggesting the economy may fall into a recession for the first
time since 1991.
Financial Times: Saudi Arabia’s state mining company and Rio Tinto, the
world’s third largest miner, are
reviewing a $10.5 billion (£6.7 billion) aluminium project.
Look ahead
Bloomberg: The International Energy Agency is expected
to cut its 2009 oil demand forecast for a third month in its report on
Thursday.
The Times: ScottishPower plans to
build wind farms around the UK to generate 6,000 megawatts in a joint
venture with Vattenfall, Sweden's state-owned power company.
Reuters: Credit crisis losses
will total $1.4 trillion (£900 billion), of which $800 billion (£515
billion) has been realised so far, Goldman Sachs, the US bank, predicts.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 4,403.92 up 0.9% (Monday close)
Dow 8,870.54 down 0.8% (close)
S&P 500 919.21 down 1.3% (close)
Nasdaq 1,616.74 down 1.9% (close)
Nikkei (latest)
Hang Seng (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.5599/1.2282 euros (latest)
Euro $1.2701 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $57.34 down $1.74 (latest)
West Texas crude $60.52 down $1.89 (latest)
Gold $743.80 down $2.70 (latest)
New York
Reuters: US stocks fell on low
volumes as concern about individual companies stifled early enthusiasm for a
Chinese stimulus plan. Goldman Sachs fell 8.5 per cent after an
analyst predicted the former investment bank would post its first quarterly
loss. Auto giant General Motors fell 22.9 per cent on analysts’
warnings. Coffee chain Starbucks fell 3 per cent in after hours trade
on disappointing results. Google fell 3.7 per cent as analysts
savaged the search engine giant. McDonald’s reported
higher-than-expected sales and shares in the world’s largest fast food chain
rose 1.8 per cent.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks
dropped in early trade as the worsening global economy prompted a series of
companies to reduce profit expectations. Citizen, the world's largest
watchmaker, fell 9.9 per cent after lowering profit forecasts. National
Australia Bank, Australia’s largest, fell 9.4 per cent after selling
shares at a discount. Toyota, Japan’s largest carmaker, fell 3.8 per
cent and Honda, the second-largest, fell 4.9 per cent. The MSCI Asia
Pacific Index fell 2.9 per cent to 87.67 in morning trade.
Michael Beh
michaelwbeh@gmail.com
London
Standard Chartered lost 5 per cent amid fears it would be pressured to follow
Santander's £5.9 billion discounted share issue to bring its capital safety
cushion into line with European and global rivals.
The FTSE 100 ended up a modest 38.96 at 4,403.92 on low volume. China
announcing a big infrastructure stimulus package drove short-sellers to
close positions on badly battered miners making Anglo American the
top performer up 12 per cent or 156p or £15.06. Xstrata rose 11
per cent and even Rio Tinto 9 per cent despite cutting its iron ore
production by 10 per cent.
China and Asia worries also weighed on Kingfisher and Tesco after
Tesco, down 6 per cent, revealed that sales were now stalling there.
Kingfisher, which is the biggest DIY retailer in China was the blue chips’
worst peformer down 6 per cent
Property stocks were also under the cosh after Hammerson, down 21p at 678p,
said occupiers were showing “caution” in signing up to taking new space.
There are growing fears retail tenant rent defaults. Liberty
Robert Lindsay
robert.lindsay@thetimes.co.uk
AGENDA
INTERIMS
3i
Aveva
Babcock International
British Land
Dairy Crest
Electrocomponents
JP Morgan Chinese IT
Northern Foods
Vodafone
VT
FINALS
Gartmore Smaller Co's
OTHER RESULTS
Cascal NV (Q2)
Cookson Group (Q3)
Intercontinental Hotels (Q3)
Premier Farnell (Q3)
Yell (Q2)
TRADING STATEMENTS
Cookson
CRH
Safestore Hldgs
Taylor Wimpey
AGMs
A&J Mucklow
Artisan
JPMorgan Mid Cap Investment Trust
Kofax
EGMs
Neteller
Protherics
Xchanging
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