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
Friday, December 18, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: Investment banks, upset at the Government's attacks on City bonuses, hold up a £1 billion ($1.6 billion) fund for small business.
The Independent: The market reacted angrily to Citigroup's botched $20.5 billion (£12.5 billion) fundraising, driving the banking giant's share price sharply lower.
The Times: A High Court judge ruled British Airways strike illegal, but Unite vowed to keep on fighting and threatened a long battle.
Comment
David Wighton in The Times: Banks have been allowed to get away with fees that look astronomical in relation to the work done.
Floyd Norris in New York Times: Greece is suffering mightily from having joined the euro zone.
Kamal Ahmed in Daily Telegraph: The question now is, what should British Airways and the unions do to pull themselves out of this ridiculous mess?
Upside
The Times: The Irish Republic climbed out of recession in the third quarter, leaving the UK as one of the few countries yet to return to economic growth.
New York Times: BlackBerry maker Research In Motion reported a 58 percent increase in quarterly profit as demand helped fend off growing competition.
The Times: A United Arab Emirates minister claimed Dubai's debt crisis was over, citing Abu Dhabi's bailout of its neighbour as proof of national unity.
Downside
The Times: Gala Coral, one of Britain's biggest casino operators, to slash the number of casino inspectors to cut costs and cash in on electronic surveillance.
The Independent: Tube Lines faced a £1.35 billion ($2.2 billion) shortfall in the next phase of its contract to upgrade and maintain the London Underground.
The Times: The UK financial watchdog fined Toronto Dominion, the Canadian bank, £7 million ($11.3 million) for a second breach of trading rules.
Mergers and shakers
The Times: EADS, Europe's aerospace and defence giant, and 17 of its executives cleared of insider dealing charges by France's stock market watchdog.
New York Times: As expected, the Senate banking committee approved the nomination of Ben S. Bernanke for a second four-year term as chairman of the Federal Reserve.
The Times: Some of the City's most influential shareholders demand a competition inquiry into the fees charged by investment banks on takeover deals.
Around Asia
Bloomberg: Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa may be prepared today to expand monetary easing should a rising yen and deflation threaten recovery.
Financial Times: China Pacific Insurance, China's third-largest insurer, raised $3.1 billion (£1.9 billion) in a Hong Kong initial public offering.
Bloomberg: Analysts say National Australia Bank, which offered $A13.3 billion ($11.8 billion) for Axa Asia Pacific, has "much deeper pockets" than AMP and would win any bidding war.
Look ahead
The Times: The Bank of England heaped fresh pressure on banks to curb staff bonuses as it calculated lower bonuses could have avoided the taxpayer-funded rescue.
The Times: National Bank Australia to consider consolidation of its Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks in an attempt to create a British retail banking competitor.
Daily Telegraph: A group of former Lehman Brothers employees working to wind-up the investment bank in line to share in a $50 million (£31 million) Christmas bonus pot.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,217.61 down 1.9% (Thursday close)
Dow 10,308.26 down 1.3% (close)
S&P 500 1,096.08 down 1.2% (close)
Nasdaq 2,180.05 down 1.2% (close)
Nikkei 10,057.11 down 1.1% (latest)
Hang Seng 21,347.63 down 1.2% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.6168/1.1266euros (latest)
Euro $1.4352 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $73.07 down 30 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $72.70 up 5 cents (latest)
Gold $1105.10 down $2.30 (latest)
New York
Reuters: US stocks fell on Thursday as the dollar's rebound spurred a safe-haven trade, cutting demand for riskier assets, while a soft profit outlook from economic bellwether FedEx sank transportation shares. Financial services stocks took a beating after influential banking analyst Meredith Whitney cut her earnings estimates on Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. The market shuddered after FedEx forecast third-quarter profit below analysts' expectations, pushing its stock down 6.1 per cent. Whitney trimmed earnings estimates for Goldman and Morgan for 2010 and 2011. Goldman Sachs dropped 2.5 per cent while Morgan Stanley shed 4 per cent. Citigroup tumbled 7.3 per cent after the bank's stock and bond offering attracted weak demand and priced much lower than expected, prompting the U.S. Treasury to delay a plan to sell its Citigroup stake, sometime within the next 12 months. Research In Motion jumped 10.8 per cent in extended trade on Nasdaq after the BlackBerry maker reported better-than-expected quarterly results.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks fell in morning trade after claims for unemployment benefits in the US unexpectedly increased, FedEx forecast lower-than-estimated profit and international regulators said banks must hold more capital. BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company, dropped 1.8 per cent in Sydney after metal prices declined. Mizuho Financial, Japan's No. 3 bank by market value, and Seoul-based Woori lost at least 2 per cent. Telstra, Australia's largest telephone company, retreated 2.8 per cent after cutting annual sales forecast. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.2 per cent to 118.15 in morning trade.
Myles McIvor
mjclub@bigpond.com.au
London
Home Retail Group was one of the biggest blue chip fallers as the FTSE lost almost 2 per cent yesterday.
The Argos and Homebase group, down 4.2 per cent, came under pressure after Credit Suisse said its own research showed Argos's current prices were down 6 per cent compared with last year, which was likely to put pressure on the retailer's margins. HRG was also hit, along with the rest of the sector, by worse than expected retail sales.
Overall, the FTSE 100 dropped 102.65 points to 5,217.61 as investors took profits on Wednesday's gains after the US Federal Reserve reminded investors overnight that special measures to support the financial world would come to an end at some points.
Financials were worst hit, with concerns about new stricter capital rules and a weak interest in a share offer by Citigroup also on investors' minds. Lloyds Banking Group was the biggest faller, losing 8.1 per cent. Lower metal price hit miners such as Xstrata, down 5.2 per cent.
Peter Stiff
Peter.Stiff@the-times.co.uk
