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, November 9, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: Kraft, the American food company, is poised to start a hostile takeover bid for Cadbury at or slightly above the offer it made in September.
The Daily Telegraph: Wal-Mart, the US retailer, sold Asda, the UK supermarket, for £6.9 billion ($11.5 billion) to Corinth Services, a Leeds-based investment vehicle.
Wall Street Journal: UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner clashed over potential bank taxes at a G20 finance meeting.
Comment
William Rees-Mogg in The Times: The real struggle between gold and paper is a struggle for power.
Stephen King in the Independent: Unlike the developed nations, emerging nations spend on investment goods and not on the ephemera associated with consumption.
Roger Bootle in the Daily Telegraph: The financial crisis has not so much been overcome as transferred from the private sector to the public sector.
Upside
The Times: A new nuclear waste storage facility will be built deep underground in the UK at a cost of £18 billion ($30 billion).
The Daily Telegraph: Barclays, Britain's second biggest bank, will announce bumper profits of £1.5 billion ($2.5 billion) for the three months to September.
The Independent: Total sales at Brighthouse, the rent-to-own retailer, rose 15.6 per cent as consumers queued up to buy household items over a number of years.
Downside
The Times: Three of the City's leading stockbrokers accused Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, the state-backed banks, of "corporate bullying".
Financial Times: Long-dated oil prices rose to within a whisker of $100 a barrel, in a sign that investors are expecting high prices after the recession.
The Times: UK job losses will continue this quarter, but at the slowest pace since the beginning of the recession.
Mergers and shakers
The Times: Sir Philip Hampton, chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland, will join the board of Anglo American, the mining group.
The Daily Telegraph: Axa Group, the insurance giant, will launch a €2 billion (£1.8 billion, $3 billion) rights issue.
Wall Street Journal: Northrop Grumman, the US defence technology firm, will sell its TASC consultancy unit to private-equity firms General Atlantic and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.
Around Asia
The Times: China launched an inquiry into allegations that US carmakers dumped government-subsidised cars on to the Chinese market.
Wall Street Journal: AXA Asia Pacific Holdings rejected a cash and equity takeover proposal from rival Australian wealth-management firm AMP.
Bloomberg: India's fast economic growth will allow it to be among the first Group of 20 nations to wind back fiscal stimulus.
Look ahead
The Times: A deal to sell USwitch, the price comparison website, for less than half what its owner paid for it is likely to be made before Christmas.
Financial Times: The European Union's public debt could rise to 100 per cent of gross domestic product by 2014, predicts the European Commission.
The Times: Senior executives from General Motors, the US carmaker, will come to London this week to present their business plans for the future of Vauxhall.
Unfinished business - last week wrapped up
Last Monday
Ford Motor Company posted a surprise third-quarter profit of $997 million (£610 million), its first profitable quarter in North America in more than four years.
Rival tool and equipment makers Stanley Works and Black & Decker agreed to merge in an all-stock transaction valued at $4.5 billion (£2.75 billion).
Tuesday
General Motors, the US car maker, scrapped plans to sell its Opel and Vauxhall brand to Magna International, the Canadian car-parts maker.
Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett's investment vehicle, agreed to buy the remaining stake in Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the railroad company.
Wednesday
Marks & Spencer, the UK retail chain, posted an unexpected rise in half-year profits to almost £300 million ($495 million).
The US Federal Reserve affirmed its plan to keep interest rates "exceptionally low" for a long time despite signs of economic recovery.
Thursday
A Christmas truce was agreed by both sides in the postal dispute and two planned 24-hour walkouts were called off.
The Government took control of the troubled East Coast rail franchise as National Express faced a battle to keep its remaining two franchises.
Friday
Regulators closed United Commercial Bank, a big San Francisco bank with branches in China, and its banking operations were acquired by East West Bancorp.
The US jobless rate unexpectedly jumped to 10.2 per cent last month, a level not seen since 1983.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,107.89 up 1.4% (Friday 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 21,468.04 down 0.7% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.6678/1.1188 euros (latest)
Euro $1.4907 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $76.72 up 85 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $78.28 up 85 cents (latest)
Gold $1100.20 up $4.50(latest)
New York
Reuters: US stocks rose slightly, shrugging off government data showing the unemployment rate hit 10.2 per cent. General Electric rose 6.2 per cent after two analysts' upgrades. Insurance giant Travelers Cos rose 2.5 per cent and rival XL Capital rose 3.8 per cent on an upgrade by Goldman Sachs. Bailed-out insurer American International Group fell 9.7 per cent after it said its main insurance business remained weak. Online retailer Amazon.com rose 4.6 per cent on an analyst's upgrade. Department store operator Macy's rose 6.4 per cent on an analyst's upgrade.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks fell in morning trade as South Korea said it was "unclear" whether the economic rebound would be sustained. Samsung Electronics, Asia's biggest maker of chips and mobile phones, fell 2.9 per cent on reports South Korea's factory production fell in October. Doosan Heavy Industries fell 8.6 per cent on analysts' downgrades. Telecom of New Zealand, the country's largest phone company, fell 2.4 per cent on high unemployment data. Sanyo Electric, the world's biggest maker of rechargeable batteries, fell 20 per cent as rival Panasonic started a bid for the company at a discount. Acom, Japan's largest consumer lender by value, rose 7.6 per cent on an analyst's upgrade. Transurban Group, owner of toll roads in Australia and Virginia, rose 19 per cent on speculation it will receive a higher takeover bid. In Tokyo, Promise rose 15 per cent and Takefuji rose 19 per cent on analysts' upgrades. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.4 per cent to 114.85 in morning trade.
Michael Beh
michaelwbeh@gmail.com
