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
Tuesday, November 17, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: Lord Myners, the City Minister, said bankers who do not want to forgo contracts that flout new pay rules should get out of the mainstream industry.
The Daily Telegraph: General Motors, the troubled US car maker, will begin to repay the $52 billion (£31 billion) it borrowed more than five years early.
The Times: The dollar fell to a 15-month low despite Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, throwing his support behind a strong dollar.
Comment
David Wighton in The Times: The big beasts of investment are stirring - the Institutional Shareholders Committee has published a code of conduct.
Jeremy Warner in the Daily Telegraph: There is agreement between the US and China on the course of China's economy, but big differences on pace and timing remain.
James Moore in The Independent: The Financial Services Authority can't really do much about the amount bankers are paid and it doesn't really want to.
Upside
The Times: The UK economy emerged from recession in the last quarter, said Andrew Sentance, a member of the Bank of England's rate-setting committee.
The Daily Telegraph: Persimmon, the only listed UK housebuilder not to raise new equity after the slump in house prices, ruled out the need for fund-raising.
New York Times: US retail sales increased by a higher-than-expected 1.4 per cent in October from September, helped by a strong demand for cars.
Downside
The Times: City regulators fined Regal Petroleum, the oil explorer, a record £600,000 ($1 million) for issuing misleading statements to the stock market.
The Daily Telegraph: The pension deficits of a number of large companies have been underestimated by a combined €300 billion (£268 billion, $450 billion).
The Times: Asos, the online fashion retailer, blamed the Royal Mail strike for slowing sales growth.
Mergers and shakers
Wall Street Journal: Alvaro de Molina, the head of GMAC Financial Services, the giant, taxpayer-supported US auto lender, was ousted in a surprise move.
Financial Times: Lehman Brothers, the troubled investment bank, claimed $10 billion (£5.9 billion) in a lawsuit against Barclays Capital, the UK bank.
Reuters: Time Warner, the media conglomerate, will spin off its AOL internet unit, to shareholders on December 9.
Around Asia
Wall Street Journal: Taiwan and China clinched long-awaited pacts that will help open their financial industries to each other's companies.
The Times: Japan's surprise rebound from recession has a "darker side" because its current growth rates will be impossible to maintain.
Wall Street Journal: TCL, China's biggest television manufacturer by output, and the Shenzhen government made a deal to build a new generation LCD production line.
Look ahead
The Times: The amount that UK shoppers spend at Christmas is set to fall by £535 million ($900 million) this year, the first drop in two decades.
The Independent: UK retailers want EU countries to vote against a further 15 month extension to tariffs on leather shoes from Asia this week.
Reuters: Coca-Cola, the softdrink giant, plans to double the revenue generated by the company and its bottlers to $200 billion (£119 billion) by 2020.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,382.67 up 1.6% (Monday close)
Dow 10,406.96 up 1.3% (close)
S&P 500 1,109.30 up 1.5% (close)
Nasdaq 2,197.85 up 1.4% (close)
Nikkei 9,777.42 down 0.1% (latest)
Hang Seng 22,937.67 steady (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.6808/1.1234 euros (latest)
Euro $1.4961 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $78.44 down 32 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $78.59 down 31 cents (latest)
Gold $1137.90 down $1.30 (latest)
New York
Reuters: US stocks rose broadly after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reinforced expectations that interest rates would stay low to spur growth. Oil giant Exxon Mobil rose 2.7 per cent on higher oil prices. Among industrial stocks, machinery maker Caterpillar rose 2.8 per cent, engine maker Boeing rose 3.6 per cent and steel maker AK Steel Holding rose 7.9 per cent. Gold miner Newmont Mining rose 2.8 per cent on higher gold prices. On the Nasdaq, chipmaker Intel rose 2.2 per cent after it raised its quarterly dividend.
Asia
Bloomberg: Most Asian stocks fell in morning trade after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned that "significant economic challenges remain." Westpac, Australia's biggest bank, fell 2.5 per cent and rival Commonwealth Bank fell 2.7 per cent, after the nation's central bank said it was considering the pace of interest-rate rises. Hynix Semiconductor, the chip maker, fell 6.6 per cent on reports creditors will sell up to 15 per cent of the company. Mitsubishi, Japan's biggest commodities trader, rose 1.3 per cent in Tokyo and Alumina rose 3.4 per cent in Sydney on higher commodities prices. Canon, the Japanese electronics maker, rose 2.4 per cent after agreeing to buy Oce, the world's largest maker of wide-format printers. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.3 per cent to 118.98 in morning trade.
Michael Beh
michaelwbeh@gmail.com
