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, October 8, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: Ladbrokes, the bookmaker, joined the race for new equity with a £300 million ($480 million) rights issue.
Daily Telegraph: The price of gold hit a record high for a second consecutive day, touching $1,048 an ounce as concerns for the dollar's prospects and inflationary fears grew.
New York Times: The US Justice Department started a preliminary investigation into whether IBM abused its monopoly position in the market for mainframe computers.
Comment
David Wighton in The Times: The Financial Services Authority, the regulator with the big stick, was left looking like a poodle with a feather duster.
David Prosser in The Independent: Justin King's assessment is that Sainsbury's has to party while it can.
Damian Reece in Daily Telegraph: Tories can take a few tips on getting tough on white-collar crime.
Upside
The Times: A million homeowners with mortgage payment protection insurance to receive an average £60 refund after action by the City regulator.
Financial Times: Alcoa, the US's biggest aluminium producer, surprised Wall Street by returning to profitability in the third quarter after three consecutive quarters of losses.
The Times: A breach of European state aid rules by Germany could save the jobs of some Vauxhall workers facing redundancy.
Downside
The Times: Royal Mail reported to have lost £25 million ($40 million) contract with Amazon as a second wave of strikes loomed.
The Independent: Sainsbury's posted a slowdown in second-quarter sales as chief executive Justin King warned of falling inflation.
The Times: Rural landowners stand to lose almost £100 million ($160 million) in income as mobile phone companies begin to decommission more than 13,000 masts.
Mergers and shakers
The Times: Sir Crispin Davis quit tussle for chairman of ITV, leaving Sir Michael Bishop as clear favourite.
The Independent: Microsoft, the US software giant, close to allowing rival browsers in after a 10-year struggle with the EU.
The Times: Lord Bilimoria promised to pay back creditors who lost £70 million ($112 million) when Cobra Beer went into administration.
Around Asia
Financial Times: HSBC in advanced talks to buy ING's Asian private banking operations and the Asian assets of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Bloomberg: Australia's jobless rate fell for the first time in five months as traders bet the central bank would raise interest rates again next month.
Financial Times: Versace, the Italian fashion house, closed its three directly owned shops in Japan, highlighting the consumer slump in luxury markets.
Look ahead
The Times: Lloyds pushing £15 billion ($24 billion) rights issue with shareholders to avoid the Government's Asset Protection Scheme.
Bloomberg: Minsheng, China's first privately owned bank, weighing a plan to increase its stake in UCBH Holdings, California's fourth-largest bank.
Daily Telegraph: British mobile operators Vodafone and O2 left in the dark on their role in the launch of Amazon's Kindle reader in the UK.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,108.90 down 0.6% (Wednesday close)
Dow 9,725.58 down 0.1% (close)
S&P 500 1,057.58 up 0.3% (close)
Nasdaq 2,110.33 up 0.3% (close)
Nikkei 9,849.41 up 0.5% (latest)
Hang Seng 21,329.94 up 0.4% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.6002/1.0848 euros (latest)
Euro $1.475 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $67.93 up 73 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $70.11 up 54 cents (latest)
Gold $1,050.20 up $5.80(latest)
New York
Reuters: The Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq indexes edged up on Wednesday with investors responding positively to early earnings results as the quarterly reporting period got under way. After the close, stock futures edged higher as aluminium company Alcoa released its results, marking the onset of major earnings announcements. Shares jumped 5.8 per cent in after-hours trade. During the regular session, Costco rose 1.9 per cent after the retailer posted profits that topped forecasts. On the Nasdaq, Verisk Analytics surged 23.7 per cent in its trading debut, a day after it raised $1.88 billion in the biggest initial public offering by a US company since March last year. Google was among Nasdaq's top performers, up 3.8 per cent after the company's chief executive said the worst of the advertising recession was over. Declining shares included telecommunications companies.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks advanced in morning trade for a third day, led by banks and mining companies, after Australian employers unexpectedly added workers last month and Alcoa reported earnings that beat analyst estimates. National Australia Bank climbed 3.4 per cent after the statistics bureau said the country's jobless rate fell. Alumina, Alcoa's partner in the world's biggest producer of the material used to make aluminum, climbed 4.6 per cent in Sydney. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and Nippon Yusen, Japan's two largest shipping lines, climbed more after than 6 per cent being upgraded at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 1 per cent to 118.29 in morning trade.
Myles McIvor
mjclub@bigpond.com.au
