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 26, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: Bradford & Bingley, the bank that was partly nationalised, will divide its balance sheet into "good" and "bad" assets to repay UK taxpayers.
http://tinyurl.com/ygdb6mv
The Daily Telegraph: Leading City fund managers demanded that regulators prevent bonuses from being awarded out of profits made on the back of taxpayer support.
http://tinyurl.com/yhxyasb
Wall Street Journal: Capmark Financial Group, one of the largest commercial-real-estate lenders in the US, filed for bankruptcy protection.
http://tinyurl.com/yljgf4o
Comment
George Buckley in The Times: How long will it be until G7 central banks, such as the Bank of England, follow suit and raise interest rates?
http://tinyurl.com/yg4qb46
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in the Daily Telegraph: This is a rare chance to buy into food production cheaply, a sector that will dominate the rest of our lives.
http://tinyurl.com/yjtj7st
Stephen King in The Independent: If the economy fails to recover, what is left in the policymakers' arsenal? As things stand, the answer is "not much".
http://tinyurl.com/yfjmslq
Upside
The Times: UK estate agents reported an increase in the number of landlords buying property to let in the past three months.
http://tinyurl.com/yjmzb4p
The Daily Telegraph: The swine flu pandemic will result in a £1.5 billion ($2.4 billion) boost for the UK's two drug giants GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca.
http://tinyurl.com/ygf8u7n
Wall Street Journal: The hedge fund industry is on the brink of recouping all its investment losses sustained during the credit crunch.
http://tinyurl.com/yhqy32z
Downside
The Times: Plans by the Crown Estate to treble its revenues from offshore wind parks angered energy companies.
http://tinyurl.com/yl5zeoh
Wall Street Journal: The UK economy contracted for a sixth consecutive quarter, underscoring the country's lagging position compared with other leading nations.
http://tinyurl.com/ykehpay
The Times: Bonuses paid to the heads of the UK's top companies shrank by nearly a third, but many directors clawed back the losses through salary increases.
http://tinyurl.com/ygveel3
Mergers and shakers
The Times: The management of Goldshield, the generic drugs developer, upped its bid to £178 million ($290 million) and rejected rival AIT Investment's offers.
http://tinyurl.com/ylc7wp2
The Daily Telegraph: Investors rejected a request by BC Partners for a one-year extension to the private equity firm's €5.9 billion (£5.4 billion, $8.9 billion) fund.
http://tinyurl.com/ylha8sf
New York Times: Jeffry Picower, a prominent philanthropist accused of reaping profits from Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, died.
http://tinyurl.com/yzyp4mt
Around Asia
Wall Street Journal: Japan and China presented competing visions of a European Union-style trade bloc in Asia at a regional summit.
http://tinyurl.com/yl2bf7v
Financial Times: China resumed approvals for institutions to buy overseas securities under its offshore investment regime after a 17-month hiatus.
http://tinyurl.com/ygj3hyb
Wall Street Journal: South Korea's economy delivered a surprise in the third quarter, by growing at the fastest pace in seven-and-a-half years.
http://tinyurl.com/ykghvhu
Look ahead
The Times: Mail volumes will decline by up to 40 per cent in the next three or four years, predicts Adam Crozier, Royal Mail's chief executive.
http://tinyurl.com/yh22qh3
New York Times: The Walt Disney Company will introduce Keychest, its new system for tracking ownership of digital entertainment, in the coming weeks.
http://tinyurl.com/yftkmxd
The Times: InterContinental Hotels Group, the world's biggest hotel company, will open a six-storey luxury hotel in London before the 2012 Olympic Games.
http://tinyurl.com/yjubfh7
Unfinished business - last week wrapped up
Last Monday
Apple's profits rose by 47 per cent on record sales of its iPhones and Macintosh computers.
http://tinyurl.com/ygtz3ps
National Express, the besieged transport company, asked rival Stagecoach for further financial details of its merger proposal.
http://tinyurl.com/yg3ju9a
Tuesday
Yahoo, the internet company, more than tripled its nett income in the third quarter.
http://tinyurl.com/yz63ag2
Qatar Holdings, the sovereign wealth fund, gained a £615 million ($1 billion) cash profit from its part in rescuing Barclays, the UK bank.
http://tinyurl.com/yhjau38
Wednesday
Talks to avert a national postal strike broke down and the union accused Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, of colluding with Royal Mail's executives.
http://tinyurl.com/yhnqmt2
Cadbury, the UK confectioner, posted strong third-quarter sales figures, bolstering defence against a takeover by Kraft, the US food group.
http://tinyurl.com/yl66gjj
Thursday
Amazon.com shares surged after its third-quarter profit soared 62 percent.
http://tinyurl.com/yfc9gfk
Credit Suisse posted a $2.4 billion (£1.4 billion) profit, crediting strong earnings at its investment banking unit for its rebound.
http://tinyurl.com/yzx3hyg
Friday
The investment manager who led the California Public Employees' Retirement System into a money-losing land venture resigned.
http://tinyurl.com/ylclnwm
SABB bank, HSBC's Saudi affiliate, reported a 19.8 per cent drop in third-quarter net profit, hit by an increase in provisions for bad loans.
http://tinyurl.com/yl388bg
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,242.57 up 0.7% (Friday close)
Dow 9,972.18 down 1.1% (close)
S&P 500 1,079.60 down 1.2% (close)
Nasdaq 2,154.47 down 0.5% (close)
Nikkei 10,382.89 up 1% (latest)
Hang Seng 22,589.73 up 1.7% (Friday close, closed Monday for a holiday)
Currencies
Sterling $1.6306/1.0836 euros (latest)
Euro $1.5047 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $78.46 down 46 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $79.96 down 54 cents (latest)
Gold $1056.70 up 30 cents (latest)
New York
Reuters: US stocks fell as industrial companies' weak results overshadowed robust earnings from tech and retail heavy-weights. Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the second-biggest US railroad, fell 6.5 per cent on an analyst's downgrade. Union Pacific, the largest US railroad, fell 5.6 per cent. Technology bellwether Microsoft rose 5.4 per cent and online retailer Amazon.com rose 26.8 per cent after reporting good results. Broadcom, which makes chips for everything from cellphones to TV set-top boxes, fell 7.3 per cent on disappointing quarterly results. Silicon maker MEMC Electronic Materials fell 10.1 per cent on disappointing results. Oilfield services company Schlumberger fell 5 per cent after it warned natural gas drilling activity would remain weak until late 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/yfwb2ng
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks rose in early trade on improved earnings prospects for automakers. Toyota Industries, a component manufacturer controlled by Toyota, the world's biggest automaker, rose 5.9 per cent in Tokyo, on better-than-expected results. Toyota rose 0.8 per cent, and rival Honda, rose 2.5 per cent on a weaker yen. Kia Motors, a large South Korean carmaker, rose 2.7 per cent on an analyst's upgrade and larger rival Hyundai rose 3.7 per cent. BHP Billiton, Australia's No. 1 oil producer, and Mitsui & Co., the Japanese trading house which counts commodities as its biggest source of profit, both fell 1 per cent on lower oil prices. Acom, Japan's largest consumer lender by market value, fell 2.7 per cent on disappointing results. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.5 per cent to 120.07 in early trade. Hong Kong and New Zealand markets are closed for holidays.
http://tinyurl.com/yjn3aft
Michael Beh
michaelwbeh@gmail.com
