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
Tuesday, September 15, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: Andy Duncan resigned as the chief executive of broadcaster Channel 4 ending a bloody and long-running boardroom dispute.
The Daily Telegraph: Bank credit and the M3 money supply in the US contracted at levels comparable to the onset of the Great Depression in the past three months.
The Times: Barack Obama, the US President, proposed sweeping reforms for the banking sector.
Comment
Ian King in The Times: For all his finger-wagging and promises of serious financial reform, the US President has done remarkably little so far.
David Prosser in The Independent: Perhaps we could worship at shrines other than GDP growth, as the French are now considering.
Brendan Moynihan on Bloomberg: Wall Street's business model is masked by the complexity of its innovations - or maybe it's all just financial origami.
Upside
The Times: More UK real estate agents reported a rise in property values last month and lending to homebuyers is up for the first time since 2007.
Financial Times: Nicolas Sarkozy, France's president, urged other countries to adopt new measures of economic output which included happiness.
Wall Street Journal: Smaller private-equity firms are seeking investment opportunities in Germany's mid-size businesses.
Downside
The Times: Workplace stress caused by restructuring was blamed for a series of suicides at France Télécom, the telecommunications group.
Wall Street Journal: A US judge threw out the Securities and Exchange Commission's settlement with Bank of America, the owner of Merrill Lynch.
The Daily Telegraph: The UK Government paid £26.5 million ($44 million) so far for advice in setting up the state-backed insurance scheme for toxic debt.
Mergers and shakers
The Times: Mike Brown, the managing director of Heathrow Airport, will leave his post after just over a year to return to London Underground.
Wall Street Journal: Intel, the computer chip giant, unveiled a management shake-up that sets up a three-horse race for the future chief executive.
The Times: Denis O'Brien, the rebel shareholder in Independent News & Media, attempted to block a bail-out of the newspaper group behind The Independent.
Around Asia
The Times: Reva, the Indian budget electric car maker, and General Motors, the troubled US car giant, may create a joint venture company.
Wall Street Journal: The Australian government wants Telstra, the nation's largest telecommunications company, to separate its wholesale and retail arms.
Bloomberg: Singapore employers sacked fewer workers last quarter and increased job vacancies.
Look ahead
The Times: Proposals for big financial institutions to write "living wills" will be announced in the Queen's speech in November.
Wall Street Journal: The Euro zone economy will stop contracting in the third quarter but continues to face risks, the European Commission predicts.
The Independent: The Gorgon field off Western Australia, the world's second biggest oil and gas project, will produce liquefied natural gas from 2014.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,018.85 up 0.2% (Monday close)
Dow 9,626.80 up 0.2% (close)
S&P 500 1,049.34 up 0.6% (close)
Nasdaq 2,091.78 up 0.5% (close)
Nikkei 10,223.61 up 0.2% (latest)
Hang Seng 20,932.20 down 1.1% (Monday close)
Currencies
Sterling $1.661/1.1366 euros (latest)
Euro $1.4614 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $67.40 down 4 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $68.83 down 3 cents (latest)
Gold $1002.00 up 90 cents (latest)
New York
Reuters: US stocks rose on optimism about potential merger activity. AES rose 4.5 per cent on reports that China's sovereign wealth fund was in talks to take a stake in the power company. Sprint Nextel rose 10.1 per cent on reports Germany's Deutsche Telekom was considering a bid for the telecom firm. Among banks, which benefit from M&A activity, JPMorgan Chase rose 2.9 per cent and was a leading gain on the Dow. Shares of US tyre makers rose after tariffs were placed on imports. Goodyear Tire & Rubber rose 3 per cent and Cooper Tire & Rubber rose 7.1 per cent. On the Nasdaq, Dendreon rose 15.1 per cent on speculation the biotech firm is a takeover target.
Asia
Bloomberg: Stocks in Asia fluctuated in morning trade as phone and finance companies fell and mining shares rose. Telstra, Australia's largest phone operator, fell 4.6 per cent after the government said the company should split its retail and wholesale businesses. Aiful, the consumer lender, fell 7.9 per cent in Tokyo, on an analyst's downgrade. Rio Tinto, the world's No. 3 miner, rose 1.1 per cent after agreeing to sell a stake in a cable division. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed at 115.82 in morning trade.
Michael Beh
michaelwbeh@gmail.com
London
Mining stocks dragged down the London market yesterday after investor concerns that too much speculative money has entered the sector. After spending most of the day under the 5,000 mark, the FTSE 100 rallied before close to finish the day up 7.38 points to 5,018.85 as the banking sector rebounded later in the day.
Long-term worries about commodity prices, with copper prices down for the fourth day in a row amid concerns about over-supply, did not do the sector any favours. Aluminium, nickel and zinc all fell on the possibility of higher exports by China, the world's biggest user of industrial metals.
Catherine Boyle
Catherine.Boyle@newsint.co.uk
