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
Monday, October 19, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: Banks are being threatened with a windfall tax on profits amid mounting criticism on the return to huge bonuses.
The Daily Telegraph: Short-selling in Lloyds Banking Group doubled, raising fears the state-backed bank's shares will collapse when it launches a fund-raising.
The Times: The UK government's debt is £2,200 billion ($3,600 billion), three times official figures, said the Centre for Policy Studies, the centre-right think tank.
Comment
Gerard Lyons in The Times: Today is anniversary of Black Monday. In 1987 the newspapers were full of pictures of traders in panic. Sound familiar?
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in the Daily Telegraph: Britain has twice averted disaster over the past century by a timely - if humiliating - crash in sterling.
Wolfgang Münchau in the Financial Times: The big difference between 2003 and now is that this bubble will burst sooner.
Upside
The Times: London house prices rose by 6.5 per cent in the past month.
The Financial Times: The weak pound and wealthy foreign shoppers contributed to an increase in retail sales in London last month.
The Times: The US Air Force approved further development of a high performance jet engine with low operating costs by Rolls-Royce, the engine maker.
Downside
The Times: The number of business passengers using Heathrow, the world's busiest international airport, fell by 5 per cent last year.
Bloomberg: Hermitage Capital Management, the UK hedge-fund, asked Russian authorities to probe a string of "fraudulent" tax refunds.
The Times: Habitat was put up for sale by the Kamprad family, the loss-making retailer's Swedish owners.
Mergers and shakers
The Times: National Express, the transport company, received another takeover approach from Stagecoach despite its rival walking away from a bid last month.
Wall Street Journal: The initial public offering prospectus for Hyatt Hotels includes a warning about the feuds within the Pritzker family, the owners.
The Daily Telegraph: Gerald Ronson, the chief executive of Heron International, cut his own pay from £12.9 million ($21 million) to £1.7 million ($2.8 million).
Around Asia
Bloomberg: Temasek Holdings, Singapore's government-owned investment company, plans to sell 10-year bonds denominated in US dollars.
Wall Street Journal: Lotte Shopping, the South Korean retailer, agreed to pay $630 million (£1 billion) for Times, the Chinese supermarket chain.
Bloomberg: The need for the Bank of Japan's emergency credit-easing programs is decreasing as companies find it easier to raise funds.
Look ahead
The Times: Marks & Spencer, the retailer, will open a store in Marbella, the playground of the Costa del Sol, this autumn.
The Daily Telegraph: The UK's budget deficit will leave the pound weak until at least 2014, according to a report from Ernst and Young.
Wall Street Journal: Switzerland will lower hurdles to European Union imports from January, a move expected to benefit Swiss consumers by lowering prices.
Unfinished business - last week wrapped up
Last Monday
UK markets rose to a 12-month high, breaking the 5200 barrier, but the pound fell to its lowest level against the Euro since March.
The US government shelved plans to raise $200 billion (£127 billion) in new taxes on multinational companies after businesses complained.
Tuesday
Magna International, the new owner of car maker Vauxhall, backed down on onerous redundancy plans, securing the jobs of 5,000 British workers.
Intel, the world's biggest chip-maker, posted a net profit in the third quarter and gave an upbeat forecast for the run-up to Christmas.
Wednesday
The Dow Jones industrial average, America's blue-chip index, broke through 10,000 points for the first time in more than a year.
JPMorgan Chase, the global banking conglomerate, reported profits of $3.59 billion (£2.25 billion) and set aside $7.3 billion (£4.5 billion) to pay staff.
Thursday
Citigroup, the Wall Street Bank, failed to replicate the trading and investment banking success reported by rival JPMorgan Chase.
Google, the internet search engine, reported an 8 per cent jump in net revenues after an across-the-board recovery in online advertising.
Friday
CIT and a group representing its bondholders agreed to changes to the commercial finance company's proposed restructuring plan.
Iraq's cabinet ratified a contract with oil companies BP and China National Petroleum to develop the super-giant Rumaila field.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,190.24 down 0.6% (Friday close)
Dow 9,995.91 down 0.7% (close)
S&P 500 1,087.68 down 0.8% (close)
Nasdaq 2,156.80 down 0.8% (close)
Nikkei 10,142.83 down 1.1% (latest)
Hang Seng 21,909.41 down 0.1% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.631 1.0975 euros (latest)
Euro $1.486 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $76.90 down 9 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $78.56 up 3 cents (latest)
Gold $1051.50 steady (latest)
New York
Reuters: US stocks fell after disappointing results from General Electric and Bank of America demonstrated the road to economic recovery will be bumpy but indexes gained for the second straight week. Financial services giant Bank of America fell 4.6 per cent, and General Electric, which sells products from aircraft engines to refrigerators, fell 4.2 per cent on disappointing results. Search engine Google rose 3.8 per cent on better-than-expected results. Computer maker IBM fell 5 per cent on mixed results. Major companies reporting this week include Apple, Texas Instruments, Caterpillar and Wells Fargo. Trading volume was moderate on the New York Stock Exchange.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks fell in morning trade after disappointing earnings reports raised concern about the strength of the global economic recovery. Casio, the maker of the world's first water-proof mobile phone, fell 7.4 per cent in Tokyo after reversing its full-year forecast to a loss. Yaskawa Electric, which makes industrial robots, fell 3.6 per cent after reporting a net loss. Fast Retailing, the Japanese retail holding company, fell 3.4 per cent on an analyst's downgrade. Australia & New Zealand Banking, Australia's No. 4 bank, fell 3.1 per cent and rival Westpac fell 1.9 per cent on reports Australia's economic recovery will be slower than expected. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.7 per cent to 118.76 in morning trade.
Michael Beh
michaelwbeh@gmail.com
