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
Wednesday, November 25, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS were given a secret £62 billion ($102 billion) in bridging loans last year.
The Times: The Federal Reserve raised its outlook for US economic growth next year to up 3.5 per cent and said unemployment appeared to be peaking.
The Times: Cuts loom to Britain's £4 billion nuclear clean-up budget with rein-in drawn up for contaminated sites including Sellafield and Dounreay.
Comment
David Wighton in The Times: Many at Lloyds thought the HBOS takeover was disastrous. Now it turns out they were sold the deal on incomplete details.
David Prosser in The Independent: This bank error is not in your favour.
Damian Reece in Daily Telegraph: While Mervyn King was looking all innocent, he was pushing £61.6 billion out of the Bank of England's back door.
Upside
The Times: Launching Britain's largest rights issue, Lloyds sought £13.5 billion from its 2.8 million shareholders to avoid costly state insurance of its bad debt.
Reuters: American International Group to pay chief executive Robert Benmosche $7 million (£4.2 million) compensation after it laid to rest concerns that he may quit the post.
The Times: Royal Dutch Shell seeking an equity stake in a giant Russian gas field that could supply all of the world's needs for a decade.
Downside
The Times: Data showed business investment tumbled for the fifth straight quarter between July and September, raising concerns about the sustainability of the economic recovery.
Daily Telegraph: The City watchdog fined Nomura International, the Japanese bank, £1.75 million ($3 million) for allowing rogue trades to be booked unnoticed.
The Times: Saab could be near the end of the road after General Motors, its US parent, said a deal to sell the troubled Swedish carmaker had fallen through.
Mergers and shakers
The Times: The BBC's internal regulator banned Worldwide from mergers and acquisitions but allowed it to retain Lonely Planet.
The Times: Facebook, the social networking site, dampened speculation of a public offering after giving existing shareholders more control.
The Times: Simon Lane, group finance director at William Hill, resigns soon after overseeing a £300 million ($500 million) bond issue.
Around Asia
The Times: China's banking sector poised for a 300 billion yuan (£26 billion) capital-raising effort to finance its year-long lending binge.
The Times: Hong Kong stock exchange to decide tomorrow whether to grant listing to Rusal, the world's largest producer of aluminium.
New York Times: In a nation of which 60 per cent are Muslim, brewers tread softly when it comes to increasing alcohol sales.
Look ahead
The Times: Relax Group, the debt management company, put into administration by one of its rivals' chief executive, with a deal expected this week.
The Independent: Spain's Cosmen family bought another tranche of National Express shares, upping the pressure at Friday's board vote on a proposed rights issue.
Financial Times: The abrupt resignation of MAN's chief executive could herald a closer tie-up for the German truck and engineering group with Volkswagen.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,323.96 down 0.6% (Tuesday close)
Dow 10,433.71 down 0.2% (close)
S&P 500 1,105.65 down 0.1% (close)
Nasdaq 2,169.18 down 0.3% (close)
Nikkei 9,405.18 unchanged (latest)
Hang Seng 22,529.77 up 0.5% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.6616/1.1089 euros (latest)
Euro $1.4984 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $76.49 up 3 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $75.90 down 12 cents (latest)
Gold $1175 up $7.60 (latest)
New York
Reuters: US stocks fell on Tuesday on lacklustre economic data in a session marked by low volume and choppy trading, but losses eased after the Federal Reserve raised its expectations for growth in 2010. Stocks fell early in the session as revised government data on gross domestic product showed the US economy grew at a slower-than-expected pace in the third quarter. Hewlett-Packard led the Dow industrials lower a day after the technology bellwether said in its results that the US economy remained challenging. Hewlett-Packard fell 1.6 per cent a day after the blue-chip computer and printer maker reported a quarterly profit that matched its preliminary results. Its rival Dell fell 3.2 per cent. Financial stocks showed weakness throughout the session. JPMorgan Chase slid 1.9 per cent and ranked among the heaviest weights on the blue-chip Dow industrials.
Asia
Bloomberg: Japanese stocks fluctuated in morning trade as carmakers advanced after a government report showed the nation's exports declined more slowly than estimated, while shipping lines and property developers slumped. Honda, a carmaker that gets 81 percent of its sales abroad, added 1.8 per cent, while bigger rival Toyota gained 1.2 per cent. Nippon Yusen, Japan's biggest shipping line, lost 1.7 per cent after a gauge of transport fees declined for a third day while rival Mitsui O.S.K. Lines lost 1 per cent. Mitsui Fudosan, Japan's largest property developer, sank 2 per cent after closely held Anabuki Construction filed for bankruptcy.
Myles McIvor
