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 23, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: Thames Water, the UK's largest water company, is ready to challenge the price controls to be set by Ofwat, the industry regulator.
The Daily Telegraph: Richard Lambert, director general of the CBI, called for a new breed of institution to finance small and medium-sized businesses.
The Times: Short-selling hedge funds and banks that control the bulk of National Express' voting rights, may decide the future of the transport company.
Comment
Jim O'Neill in The Times: With a bit of luck, the emotional state of the UK shall return to a more balanced state of affairs in 2010.
Roger Bootle in the Daily Telegraph: Next year is going to be tough, and for retailers it will be as tough as, or even tougher than, for the rest of us.
Albert Hunt on Bloomberg: If Goldman and JPMorgan hand out record bonuses next month, it will underscore why they are hated by Main Street.
Upside
The Times: Confidence among British businesses rose to a six-year high.
The Independent: Junior oil and gas stocks recouped last year's losses and new entrants are eyeing the market.
The Times: Woolworths could return to the high street under a plan by Shop Direct group, the owner of Littlewoods, to establish a chain of 200 stores.
Downside
The Times: Seventeen present and former executives of EADS, Europe's aerospace and defence giant, face questioning in France's biggest insider-trading inquiry.
The Daily Telegraph: Britain's biggest banks would have to raise tens of billions more pounds to achieve complete independence from state support.
Wall Street Journal: The US government agency overseeing the economic-stimulus program stood by its job creation estimate, despite admitting inaccuracies.
Mergers and shakers
The Times: Kraft Foods, the US food giant, may raise its offer for Cadbury, the confectioner, if a rival offer emerges from Nestlé, the Swiss food group.
The Times: Lloyds Banking Group is in talks with Execution, the stockbroker, about building a sizeable presence in the UK equity-broking market.
The Times: Investors in Trident North Atlantic Fund, managed by J O Hambro Capital Management, reacted angrily after it was put into liquidation.
Around Asia
Wall Street Journal: Reliance Industries, the Indian energy and materials giant, bid for Lyondell Basell Industries, the world's third-largest chemical maker.
Financial Times: BBVA, the Spanish bank, will lift its strategic stake in China Citic Bank, the mainland Chinese bank, by €1.1 billion (£990 million, $1.6 billion).
Bloomberg: Sands China, the Macau casino operator, raised HK$19 billion (£1.5 billion, $2.5 billion) in a Hong Kong initial public offering.
Look ahead
The Daily Telegraph: Sir David Walker, the City grandee, will unveil his final recommendations on corporate governance at the banks this week.
The Independent: The UK Ministry of Defence plans to order 120 aircraft over a 10-year period.
Bloomberg: China Minsheng Banking, the nation's first privately owned lender, will begin trading this week in Hong Kong.
Unfinished business - last week wrapped up
Last Monday
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.
City regulators fined Regal Petroleum, the oil explorer, a record £600,000 ($1 million) for issuing misleading statements to the stock market.
Tuesday
Goldman Sachs apologised for its role in the global financial crisis and announced a $500 million (£299 million) pledge to small businesses.
More than 14,700 US taxpayers disclosed secret foreign bank accounts under a tax evasion amnesty program.
Wednesday
The appointments of Marc Bolland and Archie Norman to Marks & Spencer and ITV caused tremors in the stock market.
Grant Thornton, Britain's fifth-largest accounting firm, slipped further behind the Big Four after reporting a 4 per cent fall in revenue to £378 million ($630 million).
Thursday
Legal & General, the UK's third-largest insurer, identified John Stewart, the former deputy chief executive of Barclays, as its new chairman.
The telecoms arm of Tesco, the UK's biggest retailer, unveiled plans to offer bundled broadband and home phone packages for the first time.
Friday
Fuller, Smith & Turner, the pubs and brewing group, reported an 18 per cent rise in first-half profits but warned of tougher times ahead.
The fall in UK car production slowed in October, to its slowest rate of year-on-year decline so far this year.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,251.41 down 0.3% (Friday close)
Dow 10,318.16 down 0.1% (close)
S&P 500 1,091.38 down 0.3% (close)
Nasdaq 2,146.04 down 0.5% (close)
Nikkei 9,497.68 down 0.5% (Friday close, Monday closed for a holiday)
Hang Seng 22,583.53 up 0.6% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.6522/1.1068 euros (latest)
Euro $1.4928 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $78.00 up 80 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $78.25 up 78 cents (latest)
Gold $1163.30 up $16.50 (latest)
New York
Reuters: US stocks fell for a third straight day as investors took weaker-than-expected results from computer maker Dell and homebuilder DR Horton as a sign that the recovery would be anemic. Dell fell 10 per cent and DR Horton fell 15.4 per cent. For the week, the Dow rose 0.5 per cent, the S&P 500 fell 0.2 per cent and the Nasdaq fell 1 per cent. Trading was choppy with the monthly expiration of November options. Energy giant Chevron fell 0.7 per cent on lower oil prices. The Dow's losses were curbed by buying of defensive stocks. Softdrink maker Coca-Cola rose 1.1 per cent and drug company Merck rose 3.2 per cent. Investment bank Goldman Sachs fell 1.6 per cent after large shareholders asked for more profits for investors.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks rose in early trade as higher metal prices boosted mining companies. Newcrest Mining, Australia's biggest gold producer, rose 3 per cent on higher gold prices. Rio Tinto, the world's third largest miner, rose 2 per cent on higher metal prices. James Hardie, the biggest seller of home siding in the US, rose 7.8 per cent after forecasting full-year earnings at the top range of analyst estimates. Korea Exchange Bank rose 3.8 per cent after Hana Financial Group, owner of the third largest bank by asset value in South Korea, said it would consider a bid. The MSCI Asia-Pacific Excluding Japan Index rose 0.3 per cent to 408.72 in morning trade. Markets in Japan are closed for a national holiday.
Michael Beh
michaelwbeh@gmail.com
