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, November 5, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: Bob Wigley, the prominent City financier, emerged as a leading candidate in the saga to find a chairman of ITV, the broadcaster.
Wall Street Journal: The US Federal Reserve affirmed its plan to keep interest rates "exceptionally low" for a long time despite signs of economic recovery.
The Daily Telegraph: Staff at the Royal Bank of Scotland threatened widespread resignations following publication of the bank's stringent bonus policy.
Comment
Ian King in The Times: Reading consumer confidence is difficult enough at the best of times, but at present it must be almost impossible for retailers.
David Blanchflower in the Daily Telegraph: The Bank of England dithered over increasing qualitative easing, but there is still time to put things right.
Mark Gilbert on Bloomberg: The ad-hoc combination of quantitative easing, government stimulus packages and zero-interest-rate policies has distorted markets beyond recognition.
Upside
The Times: Vauxhall's 4,500 workers are likely to escape redundancies after General Motors, its American parent, scrapped the sale of the British carmaker.
Wall Street Journal: Incentive bonuses on Wall Street are set to rise by about 40 per cent this year.
The Independent: Marks & Spencer, the UK retail chain, posted an unexpected rise in half-year profits to almost £300 million ($495 million).
Downside
The Times: Costa, the coffee shop chain owned by Whitbread, could find itself in hot water with advertising authorities.
The Daily Telegraph: The UK is "skint" and the next government could be forced to raise VAT, warned Sir Stuart Rose, the executive chairman of Marks & Spencer.
The Times: The split of Northern Rock, the troubled bank, will leave thousands of mortgage borrowers imprisoned within the lender's so-called bad bank.
Mergers and shakers
The Times: Neel Uberoi, a dentist, and his work experience stockbroker son, Matthew Uberoi, face jail for a £110,000 ($182,000) insider trading scam.
New York Times: Andrew Cuomo, New York's attorney general, filed a lawsuit against Intel accusing the world's largest chip maker of coercion and bribery.
The Times: Mitchells & Butlers, the pub and restaurant operator, is seeking a new non-executive director with a view to them taking over as chairman.
Around Asia
Financial Times: China forced Panasonic, the electronics maker, to sell its assets in Japan to gain approval to buy Sanyo Electric, the battery maker.
Wall Street Journal: Macau's gambling revenue rose 42 per cent in October from a year earlier to a record $1.6 billion (£1 billion).
Wall Street Journal: Novartis, the Swiss drug maker, agreed to buy an 85 per cent stake in Zhejiang Tianyuan Bio-Pharmaceutical, the Chinese vaccine maker.
Look ahead
New York Times: The World Bank forecasts the Chinese economy will grow at 8.4 percent this year and 8.7 per cent next year.
Wall Street Journal: Lloyds, the UK banking group, could have to pay a company to acquire its retail bank if it doesn't find a buyer within four years.
Reuters: A greater number of US consumers plan to go shopping on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, this year.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,107.89 up 1.4% (Wednesday close)
Dow 9,802.14 up 0.3% (close)
S&P 500 1,046.50 up 0.1% (close)
Nasdaq 2,055.52 down 0.1% (close)
Nikkei 9,730.68 down 1.2% (latest)
Hang Seng 21,452.94 down 0.8% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.6522/1.113 euros (latest)
Euro $1.4845 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $78.52 down 37 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $80.00 down 40 cents (latest)
Gold $1088.60 up $1.30 (latest)
New York
Reuters: US stocks rallied but lost steam after the Federal Reserve said it would keep rates near zero for "an extended period". After the bell, network equipment vendor Cisco Systems rose 3.1 per cent on better-than-expected results. Managed care company Wellcare Health Plans rose 6.7 per cent on better-than-expected results. Intel, the world's largest chip maker, rose 1.3 per cent even after it was accused of paying kickbacks to maintain its market dominance.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks fell in early trade, led by consumer companies and banks. Samsung Electronics, Asia's biggest maker of chips and mobile phones, fell 1.9 per cent in Seoul on reports Korean production slowed this month. Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction fell 5.8 per cent on analysts' downgrades. ANZ Banking Group fell 1.4 per cent in Wellington on a rising New Zealand jobless rate. Sanyo Electric, the battery maker, fell 13 per cent as rival Panasonic started a bid for the company at a discount. Acom, Japan's largest consumer finance lender by market value, rose 5.6 per cent on an analyst's upgrade. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.4 per cent to 114.93 in morning trade.
Michael Beh
michaelwbeh@gmail.com
London
Many Americans have their troubles, but fewer of them, it seems, are drowning their sorrows. Perhaps they can no longer afford it. Whatever the reason, the golden age of growth in the US spirits market is unlikely to return, according to Barclays Capital. The gloomy prediction drove down Diageo, the drinks group, by 1 per cent yesterday. The broker said that the Smirnoff maker was a hostage to changing trends in America, such as lower prices, and that its expectations for the current quarter may be over-optimistic.
Elsewhere, however, there was cause for celebration as the FTSE 100 advanced 70.68 points to 5,107.89, with strong gains for the mining and retail sectors. Higher metal prices pushed Fresnillo up 9.2 per cent and an upbeat trading statement helped Marks & Spencers up 6 per cent.
Cadbury was the biggest faller, losing 1.4 per cent, after underwhelming results from Kraft and comments from the US food group that it will not overpay for the confectionery business.
Peter Stiff
Peter.Stiff@the-times.co.uk
