KILL THE COMPETITION
Welcome to today's round-up of business news from The Times: what we're saying, what they're saying, from Michael Beh
Thursday, September 17, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: A group of Barclays' bankers set up a Cayman Islands company to manage $12.3 billion ($7.5 billion) of the investment bank's most toxic debt.
New York Times: Subpoenas were issued to five board members of Bank of America as part of the investigation into the bank's takeover of Merrill Lynch.
The Times: One in five of Britain's young people is jobless as total unemployment reached its highest level for 14 years.
Comment
David Wighton in The Times: British Airways took too long to deal with the unions and might miss the chance presented by the downturn to restructure.
David Prosser in The Independent: If 2009 has been the year of the recession, 2010 is likely to be the year in which the bill arrives.
David Pauly on Bloomberg: When a judge asked why Bank of America executives and lawyers weren't being sued, shareholders everywhere must have begun to applaud.
Upside
The Times: Next, the high street fashion chain, raised its full-year profit forecast after reporting better-than-expected interim growth.
The Daily Telegraph: Rolls-Royce, the engineering firm, will collaborate with EDF, the French utility group, on the construction of four new nuclear reactors.
Wall Street Journal: France softened its stance on restricting bankers' pay and bonuses ahead of the G20 summit.
Downside
The Times: Ben Bradshaw, the Culture Secretary, called for the BBC licence fee to be cut and the broadcaster's dramatic expansion to be halted.
Wall Street Journal: The founders of Skype, the web communication service, filed a copyright suit against eBay, the online auction site.
The Times: Union leaders told British Airways cabin crew to "hold firm" against the airline's attempts to cut their pay.
Mergers and shakers
The Times: KKR, the private equity group, will invest heavily in Eastman Kodak, helping to raise $700 million (£425 million) for the US photography group.
The Daily Telegraph: Balfour Beatty, the engineering and construction group, plans a surprise rights issue of as much as £350 million ($577 million).
The Times: Andy Duncan quit as chief executive of Channel 4 after failing to secure a financial bailout for the state-owned broadcaster.
Around Asia
Wall Street Journal: Toyota, the Japanese car maker, is preparing a $1 billion (£600 million) marketing blitz to increase US sales.
Bloomberg: Japan's manufacturers turned optimistic for the first time in almost two years as demand for services rose for a second month in July.
Nikkei: Nippon Life Insurance, Japan's biggest life insurer, will invest $500 million (£300 million) in Prudential Financial, the US's second-biggest life insurer.
Look ahead
The Independent: Room rates at UK hotels will fall to 2005 levels over the next year.
Reuters: US unemployment will peak in early 2011 because of a slow recovery from the economic crisis, predicts Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist.
Bloomberg: The UK government may have to squeeze its budget by 2.9 percent a year from 2011, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,124.13 up 1.6% (Wednesday close)
Dow 9,791.71 up 1.1% (close)
S&P 500 1,068.76 up 1.5% (close)
Nasdaq 2,133.15 up 1.5% (close)
Nikkei 10,391.32 2% (latest)
Hang Seng 21,734.73 up 1.6% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.6486/1.1196 euros (latest)
Euro $1.4724 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $71.61 down 6 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $72.45 down 6 cents (latest)
Gold $1019.20 down $1.00 (latest)
New York
Reuters: US stocks rose for a third day following economic data that suggested a stronger-than-anticipated global recovery. Shares of multinational companies gained. General Electric rose 6.3 per cent and Exxon Mobil rose 1.2 per cent. Adobe Systems, the maker of Photoshop and Acrobat software, fell 6.4 per cent and its takeover target software maker Omniture rose 26.3 per cent. Mining company Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold rose 1.2 per cent on higher oil and gold prices.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks rose in early trade after commodity prices jumped. BHP Billiton, the world's largest miner, rose 1.7 per cent after saying a surge in shipments of coking coal to China is "sustainable". Mitsubishi, an ally of BHP's in producing the raw material for steel, rose 2.5 per cent. Woodside Petroleum, Australia's second-largest oil producer, rose 3.5 per cent and Mitsui, Japan's second-largest trading company, rose 3 per cent on higher oil and metals prices. Toyota, the world's largest car maker, rose 1.6 per cent and rival Nissan rose 3.4 per cent on speculation demand for cars will pick up in the US. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.8 per cent to 118.54 in morning trade.
Michael Beh
michaelwbeh@gmail.com
