Welcome to today's round-up of business news from The Times: what we're saying, what they're saying

Top stories

The Times: A High Court ruling that dividends from foreign subsidiaries should be tax free could cost the Treasury £5 billion ($7.7 billion).

Financial Times: The Financial Services Authority altered the deposit protection scheme to ensure savers do not lose out when building societies merge.

The Times: JD Sports Fashion is considering a bid for fashion sportswear rival JJB Sports.

Comment

David Wighton in The Times: Things are so bad that investors seem to have stopped punishing companies for slashing their dividends.

Jeff Randall in the Daily Telegraph: Just as the rest of us are learning to live within our means, the Prime Minister and Chancellor are letting rip .

Philip Stephens in the Financial Times: What began as a series of pragmatic responses by governments and central banks is moving the boundary between state and market.

Upside

The Times: UBS, the Swiss banking giant, ordered executive bonuses worth SwFr70 million (£38 million, $58 million) to be forfeited and the partial end of client secrecy.

New York Times: US retailers have already embarked on a price-cutting frenzy that is expected to continue through a tough holiday season.

The Times: Britain’s average house price fell 0.4 per cent, or £430 ($660), during November, the slowest decline in a year.

Downside

The Times: Court-appointed managers have began seeking buyers for Woolworths, the high street retail chain, and MFI, the discount furniture chain.

The Independent: Jaguar Land Rover sacked 850 workers at its West Midlands car plant just hours before industry chiefs pleaded for government help.

The Times: Equitable Life, the UK’s oldest mutual insurer, halted the sale of its £6 billion ($9 billion) with-profits fund after a year of trying to find a buyer.

Mergers and shakers

The Times: Robert Lerwill, the chief executive of Aegis, was ousted after a boardroom spat that revived hopes of a tie-up with Havas, a rival advertising group.

The Independent: Sir Philip Green, the retail tycoon, has dropped his plans to launch a takeover bid for Moss Bros, the menswear retailer and suit hire group.

Daily Telegraph: RDF Media, the television production company, will be sold to its management and a Dutch investment vehicle for £52 million ($80 million).

Around Asia

Financial Times: China’s top economic planner said the nation’s economic downturn has accelerated and could lead to high unemployment and social unrest.

Bloomberg: Japan’s recession deepened last month as companies cut production, consumers spent less and fewer people looked for work.

Financial Times: Panasonic, the Japanese consumer electronics maker, slashed its operating profit forecast by 40 per cent on falling sales and prices.

Look ahead

The Times: DSG International, the owner of Currys and PC World, hopes for a post-Christmas spending splurge after reporting its first half-yearly loss in 20 years.

Financial Times: Eurozone official interest rates are almost certain to be slashed by at least half a percentage point on Thursday, December 4.

Bloomberg: Rio Tinto may have its credit rating downgraded because of the mining giant’s high level of debt and falling commodity prices.

MARKETS

FTSE 100 2,427.97 up 2.3% (Thursday close)

Dow 8,726.61 up 2.9% (Wednesday close, market closed Thursday for Thanksgiving)

S&P 500 887.68 up 3.5% (Wednesday close)

Nasdaq 1,532.10 up 4.6% (Wednesday close)

Nikkei 8,421.09 up 0.6% (latest)

Hang Seng 13,846.40 up 2.2% (latest)

Currencies

Sterling $1.5390/1.1934 euros (latest)

Euro $1.2896 (latest)

Commodities

Brent crude $52.97 down 16 cents (latest)

West Texas crude $53.52 down 92 cents (latest)

Gold $813.90 up $2.60 (latest)

New York

Reuters: Wall Street was closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

Asia

Bloomberg: Asian commodity stocks rose on expectations government rescue plans would boost demand. BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest miner and Australia’s top oil producer, rose 5.5 per cent on higher oil prices. Woodside Petroleum, Australia's second-largest oil producer, rose 5.3 per cent and Mitsui, which generates the most profit from oil among Japan's trading companies, rose 8.7 per cent. Komatsu, the Chinese excavator maker, rose 5.5 per cent and Doosan Infracore, South Korea's biggest construction-equipment maker, rose 1.9 per cent. Panasonic, the consumer electronics maker, fell 10 per cent after slashing its profit forecast. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.5 per cent to 81.90 in morning trade.

Michael Beh

michaelwbeh@gmail.com

London

Randgold Resources, Tate & Lyle, Amlin, the Lloyd’s insurer, and Serco, the public sector outsourcer, all look poised to enter the FTSE 100 index at the quarterly reshuffle next month.

Randgold, up 208p at £25.16, is much admired because its productive mine in Mali, Africa has potential for expansion.

Fresnillo, the recently floated Mexican silver and gold miner, up 13.1p at 148.1p, is almost certain to fall out of the FTSE 100. Two oil services firms - John Wood Group up 5p at 211.25p and Petrofac, up 0.25p at 336.75p and Stagecoach, up 11p at 169.6p, at current valuations of around £1 billion are likely to drop out of the blue chip index.

Miners were once again the top performers, with heavily shorted Xstrata up 12 per cent and Kazakhmys, the copper miner, gaining 11 per cent. In the FTSE 250, BlueBay Asset Management dived 30 per cent to 70p on a profit warning as it said it would have to close one of its key funds, triggered, it is understood, by a flood of redemptions.

Robert Lindsay

robert.lindsay@thetimes.co.uk

AGENDA

INTERIMS

DSG

Goldshield

Hyder Consulting

RPC Group

FINALS

JPMorgan Asian Investment Trust

Standard Life European Private Equity Trust

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