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 30, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: Abu Dhabi and the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates set up an emergency liquidity facility for lenders to help Dubai, the stricken Gulf state.
Wall Street Journal: More US shoppers started the Christmas shopping season than a year ago, but they spent less each and favoured lower-priced items.
The Times: Global Infrastructure Partners, the buyers of Gatwick, are expected to send in a team of "fixers" to help to overhaul the airport's operations.
Comment
George Magnus in The Times: China's economic path is likely to be punctured sooner or later by a credit or asset crisis.
Henry Mintzberg in the Wall Street Journal: The best way to fix the problems with executive bonus payments is to not pay any bonuses.
Tony Quinlan in The Daily Telegraph: The danger with the proposed regulation of derivatives trading is that it lumps everyone into the same camp.
Upside
The Times: The Co-operative Group, the mutually owned retailer, entered the price-cutting war by introducing an aggressive price-lowering campaign.
Financial Times: Several oil and natural gas companies in the US and Europe boosted their chief executives' remuneration last year.
The Times: Royal Bank of Scotland, the state-backed bank, dramatically improved the borrowing terms for its 1.2 million small business customers.
Downside
The Times: UK businesses in the services sector suffered a surprise drop in sales and consumer confidence fell for the first time in more than a year.
New York Times: A $75 billion (£45 billion) US taxpayer-financed effort aimed at stemming mortgage foreclosures is foundering.
Financial Times: Thirty global financial institutions make up a list that regulators are earmarking for cross-border supervision exercises.
Mergers and shakers
The Daily Telegraph: JP Morgan and Bank of America, the investment banks, may lend Hershey, the US confectioner, $7 billion (£4.2 billion) to help it buy Cadbury.
Financial Times: Promethean, the UK-based maker of interactive whiteboards, plans an initial public offering valuing it at £500 million ($825 million).
The Daily Telegraph: Saab, the Swedish car maker, is in talks with at least two potential buyers after the collapse of its sale to sports car maker Koenigsegg.
Around Asia
The Times: China is poised to vault ahead of India and become the world's biggest gold consumer.
New York Times: The multipurpose networks of Huawei Technologies, a Chinese telecoms equipment maker, catapulted it to No. 2 in the world.
The Times: Atlantis Resources, a small British-based tidal energy company, won a landmark contract to attempt to harness the power of the sea around India.
Look ahead
The Daily Telegraph: HSBC, the British-based bank, will close its vaults to hundreds of US retail gold investors next July.
Wall Street Journal: Greece will try to sell at least €25 billion (£23 billion, $16.7 billion) worth of bonds to Chinese banks next year.
The Independent: North America, Europe and Japan will reduce their share of global GDP to a third by 2016, predicts the Conference Board, an international business network.
Unfinished business - last week wrapped up
Last Monday
Lloyds Banking Group raised £9 billion ($15 billion) as investors flocked to the bank's pioneering CoCos, or contingent capital, bond offer.
US home resales increased by 10.1 per cent in October, far more than expected.
Tuesday
American International Group paid chief executive Robert Benmosche $7 million (£4.2 million) compensation after it laid to rest concerns that he may quit the post.
The City watchdog fined Nomura International, the Japanese bank, £1.75 million ($3 million) for allowing rogue trades to be booked unnoticed.
Wednesday
UK bankers celebrated a landmark court victory over unauthorised overdraft fees and saw off the threat of a crackdown on pay.
Dubai announced a six-month standstill on the debt repayments of Dubai World, the government's corporate arm.
Thursday
The crisis with Dubai's state corporation sent shares plunging, battered currencies and wiped £14 billion ($23 billion) from the value of British banks.
Borders UK, the bookshop chain, went into administration, putting 1,150 jobs at risk and raising the prospect of a firesale before Christmas.
Friday
Abu Dhabi, wealthy capital of the United Arab Emirates, planned to assist debt-laden neighbor Dubai on a case-by-case basis.
Anheuser-Busch InBev walked away from a planned sale of its German beer brand Beck's to Bain Capital, the US buyout firm.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,245.73 up 1% (Friday close)
Dow 10,309.92 down 1.5% (close)
S&P 500 1,091.49 down 1.7% (close)
Nasdaq 2,138.44 down 1.7% (close)
Nikkei 9,298.93 up 2.4% (latest)
Hang Seng 21,717.76 up 2.8% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.6578/1.101 euros (latest)
Euro $1.5057 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $77.48 up 30 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $76.54 up 49 cents (latest)
Gold $1176.80 up $1.30 (latest)
New York
Bloomberg: Most US stocks fell this week as speculation Dubai will default on its debt spurred concern that the recovery in the global financial system will stall. Among financial companies, Morgan Stanley fell 5 per cent, Bank of America fell 3.9 per cent and Goldman Sachs fell 3.4 per cent. Aluminium producer Alcoa fell 3.6 per cent and Dow Chemical, the nation's biggest chemical maker, fell 1.3 per cent on lower commodity prices. Halliburton, the world's second-largest oilfield-services provider, fell 2.6 per cent on lower oil prices. AT&T, the biggest US phone company, rose 3.7 per cent and drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb rose 3.8 per cent as investors sought defensive stocks. Trading volumes were low.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks rose in early trade as the United Arab Emirates' pledge of support for banks eased concerns that losses from Dubai World's possible default will escalate. Finance companies were the biggest boost on reports Australia's biggest banks don't expect "material" losses from Dubai. National Australia rose 5 per cent, Commonwealth Bank rose 3.7 per cent, ANZ Bank rose 3.7 per cent and Westpac rose 3 per cent. Fortescue Metals, Australia's third-biggest iron ore producer, rose 4 per cent on an analyst's upgrade. Sony, the maker of PlayStation gaming consoles, rose 4 per cent and Nissan, the car maker, rose 4 per cent after the yen fell against the dollar. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 2.5 per cent to 116.79 in morning trade.
Michael Beh
michaelwbeh@gmail.com
