Welcome to today's round-up of business news from The Times: what we're saying, what they're saying, from Michael Beh
Friday, October 23, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: Sir Philip Green, the retail tycoon, likely to introduce food and beauty products into the Bhs department store chain.
\http://tinyurl.com/yh2lpmw
New York Times: The Federal Reserve to crack down on banker pay packages to discourage risky practices.
http://tinyurl.com/ykbkwoc
The Times: Three more days of nationwide postal strikes loom as the Government intensified its efforts to get the parties to independent arbitration.
http://tinyurl.com/yhrgtp5
Comment
David Wighton in The Times: Today's preliminary national third-quarter output figures will show whether UK came out of recession.
http://tinyurl.com/yfcw9ns
Damian Reece in Daily Telegraph: Lord Turner treads a fine line between stifling risk and economic activity.
http://tinyurl.com/yj62kw8
David Prosser in The Independent: Proof that Barack Obama's administration gets it in a way that our own Government simply does not.
http://tinyurl.com/yf9tvy2
Upside
New York Times: Amazon.com shares surged after its third-quarter profit soared 62 percent, showing consumers were opening their wallets to the online retailer.
http://tinyurl.com/yfc9gfk
Daily Telegraph: Britain's biggest pub companies relieved after an Office of Fair Trading ruling in their favour.
http://tinyurl.com/yg3n5qe
New York Times: Credit Suisse posted a $2.4 billion (£1.4 billion) profit in a quarter with strong earnings at its investment banking unit helping it rebound.
http://tinyurl.com/yzx3hyg
Downside
The Times: Anglo American, the mining group, to cut 2,700 white-collar jobs and raise $10 billion (£6 billion) by selling assets.
http://tinyurl.com/yz2md7p
Daily Telegraph: Nokia, the world's biggest mobile phone maker, suing Apple over iPhone patents.
http://tinyurl.com/ygf9gm9
The Times: Land Registry confirmed 1,500 jobs would go as the government department shut five regional offices.
http://tinyurl.com/yf5u6vw
Mergers and shakers
The Times: BP, the oil group, poised to battle US rival ExxonMobil for one of Africa's biggest offshore oilfields.
http://tinyurl.com/yjn57dk
Daily Telegraph: Lloyds Banking's two leading property bankers leaving as it prepared for the unwinding of its commercial property loan book.
http://tinyurl.com/ylakgnt
The Times: Jean-Marie Messier, the former Vivendi Universal boss, sent for trial in France on charges of share manipulation.
http://tinyurl.com/yklqe33
Around Asia
The Times: China confirmed it was on the road to economic recovery with GDP 8.9 per cent higher in the third quarter.
http://tinyurl.com/yjlv934
Bloomberg: Electric cars developed by GM and BMW may help South Korean battery makers grab market share from Japanese rivals.
http://tinyurl.com/yk2sbfb
Bloomberg: Dubai World, grappling with $40 billion (£24 billion) of debt, may be able to sell bonds to repay loans.
http://tinyurl.com/yjh8mto
Look ahead
The Times: Figures out today expected to show the recession has ended but the Bank of England Deputy Governor warned of a slow road to recovery.
http://tinyurl.com/ykelvbm
Daily Telegraph: Debenhams chief executive predicted price-cutting on the high street would be as deep this Christmas as last year.
http://tinyurl.com/yhbzotk
The Times: The FSA to take hard line on capital allocation in upcoming meetings with banks about their remuneration policies.
http://tinyurl.com/yzfjctq
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,207.36 down 1% (Thursday close)
Dow 10,081.31 up 1.3% (close)
S&P 500 1,092.91 up 1.1% (close)
Nasdaq 2,165.29 up 0.7% (close)
Nikkei 10,323.45 up 0.6% (latest)
Hang Seng 22,438.90 up 1% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.6644/1.1076 euros (latest)
Euro $1.5027 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $79.54 up 3 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $81.09 down 10 cents (latest)
Gold $1060.50 up $1.90 (latest)
New York
Reuters: US stocks rose on Thursday after several companies reported solid earnings that lent credence to the idea corporate profitability has stabilised. Financials were among the top gainers after insurer Travelers raised its full-year outlook and jumped 7.7 per cent. J Crew Group soared 15.2 per cent after the clothing retailer raised its outlook for the third and fourth quarters, citing stronger-than-expected sales and margin trends expected to last throughout the year. Dow components 3M, AT&T and McDonald's rose after their profits beat expectations. Regional bank PNC Financial Services spiked 12.7 per cent after reporting far better-than-expected quarterly earnings.
http://tinyurl.com/yj9ev2c
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks advanced in morning trade as earnings reports from Australia to South Korea to Japan boosted speculation the global economy was exiting recession. Wesfarmers, Australia's second-largest retailer, surged 7.2 per cent after first-quarter sales of food and liquor climbed. Kia Motors, South Korea's No. 2 automaker, gained 3.5 per cent after posting a record quarterly profit. Daiwa House Industry and Tokyu Land climbed at least 4 per cent in Tokyo after reporting higher-than-forecast earnings. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.6 per cent to 119.89 in morning trade. Kirin, Japan's largest beverage maker, rose 3.9 per cent. Morgan Stanley boosted its investment rating on the stock from equal weight, citing solid sales.
http://tinyurl.com/yjp4epw
Myles McIvor
mjclub@bigpond.com.au
LONDON
Telecoms groups provided investors with one of the only bright spots on an otherwise dismal day for the FTSE 100 yesterday.
Shares in Vodafone rose 3.4 per cent after receiving a boost from Citigroup, which said that most of the bad news for the mobile group was already in the market and that its interim results, due next month, could focus investors' minds on a return to growth and firm trading. BT gained 1.5p after UBS said it expected it to have a solid second quarter.
Overall, the FTSE 100 dropped 50.49 points to 5,207.36, with brokers taking the view that the market's impressive rally was starting to lose steam.
The mining sector was on the back foot all day after Chinese GDP data, while robust, failed to impress. Kazakhmys fell 2.4 per cent.
Peter Stiff
Peter.Stiff@the-times.co.uk
