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 12, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: Better unemployment figures indicated the worst of the recession was over as Mervyn King predicted a long, hard haul to recovery.
The Times: Ian Smith forced out of Reed Elsevier, the information giant, after eight months as chief executive; leaves with a £1.1 million ($1.8 million) payoff.
Financial Times: Gold hit a new peak while Wall Street and London stocks drove to fresh highs for the year.
Comment
David Wighton in The Times: Cuts in public spending, plus tax rises, should give the Bank of England some leeway in setting interest rates next year.
Damian Reece in Daily Telegraph: Has the economic weather turned? We await the Chancellor's forecast.
David Prosser in The Independent: Time is running out for the Government to extend the stamp duty concession.
Upside
The Times: A rush by investors to take up the offer by Lloyds to swap debt into equity may increase its capital-raising by another £1.5 billion ($2.5 billion).
New York Times: Strong data in factory output and retail sales underscored China's rebound; its economy on track to grow more than 8 percent in 2009.
The Times: Marks & Spencer reported as identifying locations in Western Europe for its Simply Food outlets.
Downside
The Times: The Office of Fair Trading found one in four estate agents lied to homebuyers about properties or failed to comply with consumer protection laws.
Daily Telegraph: Barrick Gold says world gold supply is running out despite record prices and efforts by mining companies to discover fresh sources of ore.
The Independent: Opec, the oil producing cartel, warned rising oil prices could dampen the steadily strengthening demand for crude.
Mergers and shakers
The Times: Robert Benmosche, the new AIG chief, assured staff he would stay at the insurer despite his frustration at government-imposed cuts to executives' pay.
The Times: Fifty, the high-roller casino and private members' club, to seek administration after failed sale attempts.
The Times: Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest computer maker, pounced on networking equipment maker 3Com Corp for $2.7 billion (£1.6 billion).
Around Asia
The Times: China moved to head off a currency row with President Obama by hinting it had allowed the renminbi to rise after keeping the exchange rate on ice for 16 months.
Financial Times: India probing private banking accounts, including two linked to tycoon Anil Ambani, in the widening UBS investigation.
The Times: Nakheel, Dubai's leading property company, in talks with Dubai World, its heavily indebted parent, over the repayment of a $3.5 billion (£2.1 billion) Islamic bond.
Look ahead
The Times: British Airways and Iberia close in on a long-awaited merger with Sky News saying an announcement could be made as early as Friday.
New York Times: Motorola, the mobile phone pioneer, said to be exploring a split into three separate companies, to raise cash and pay down debt.
The Times: The Government considering an exemption for nuclear electricity from the climate change levy, a tax on industrial energy consumption.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,266.75 up 0.7% (Wednesday close)
Dow 10,291.26 up 0.4% (close)
S&P 500 1,098.51 up 1% (close)
Nasdaq 2,166.90 up 0.7% (close)
Nikkei 9,915.25 up 0.4% (latest)
Hang Seng 22,597.26 down 0.1%(latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.6595/1.1067 euros (latest)
Euro $1.4995 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $77.95 unchanged (latest)
West Texas crude $79.33 up 5 cents (latest)
Gold $1120.30 up $5.70 (latest)
New York
Reuters: The Dow and the Standard & Poor's 500 index closed at 13-month highs on Wednesday as an upbeat forecast from a top homebuilder and data from China pointed to a strengthening global economy. Luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers forecast revenue that was sharply higher than expected. It jumped 16.4 per cent. Data before the open showed Chinese factory output rose to a 19-month high in October After the closing bell, network equipment maker 3Com rose 34 per cent after Hewlett-Packard agreed to buy it for $2.7 billion. During the regular session, Wal-Mart, up 1.3 per cent, gave the biggest lift to the Dow. Dragging on the market, Macy's, the department store operator, tumbled 8.1 per cent after it gave a gloomy outlook on same-store sales for the fourth quarter. Applied Materials rose 2.1 per cent after it reported quarterly results.
Asia
Bloomberg: In morning trade Asian stocks rose for a fifth day, led by banks and car makers, on speculation central banks will support the economic recovery by keeping borrowing costs down. Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's largest bank by market value, gained 1.2 per cent as Federal Reserve policy makers signalled interest rates would remain at a record low. Rio Tinto, the world's No. 3 mining company, climbed 1.6 per cent in Sydney as metal prices advanced. Mitsui, which gets 30 per cent of sales from commodities, climbed 2.2 per cent in Tokyo. Honda, Japan's second-biggest car maker, jumped 2.3 per cent after Goldman Sachs recommended buying the stock. National Australia Bank, the country's biggest lender to businesses, added 1.1 per cent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.4 per cent to 119.25 in morning trade.
Myles McIvor
mjclub@bigpond.com.au
LONDON
Shares in Legal & General rose more than 5 per cent yesterday amid market speculation that Resolution was eyeing up the insurer, with a view to breaking it up. The FTSE 100 advanced 36.20 points to 5,266.75, after trading for its highest levels in almost a year earlier in the session. The mining sector made ground after data showed Chinese factory output hit a 19-month high in October and as weaker dollar buoyed metals prices. Kazakhmys gained 3 per cent and Randgold Resources was the top gainer, up 6 per cent, as gold hit a new high. Reed Elsevier was the biggest faller, down 4 per cent, and arguably the biggest talking point of the day after the shock resignation of Ian Smith, the publishing and events group's chief executive, who was only appointed in March. Execution, a broker, said the news raised more uncertainty on the amount of incremental investments needed to restructure the business.
Peter Stiff
Peter.Stiff@the-times.co.uk
