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, January 22, 0730 GMT
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Top stories
The Times: US President Barack Obama declared war on Wall Street with plans to limit the size of banks and bar them from the most cavalier trading practices.
Wall Street Journal: Google, the search giant, reported revenue growth of 17 per cent in the fourth quarter.
The Times: Goldman Sachs, the banking giant, put a lower limit on pay and bonuses for 2009 but still paid about £300,000 ($486,000) to each of its workers.
Comment
David Wighton in The Times: At this stage it is simply impossible to judge the significance of President Obama's bank regulation plans.
Jeremy Warner in The Daily Telegraph: In normal times, the chairman of Goldman Sachs might be celebrated for his largess to the taxman and to charity.
Hamish McRae in the Independent: China is now the world's second-largest economy - or rather, if it isn't, wait a few weeks and it will be.
Upside
The Independent: UK manufacturing output rose last quarter for the first time in two years, according to CBI, the employers' body.
The Times: Allen & Overy, one of the City's "magic circle" law firms, will allow its top partners to work part-time to encourage more women into the role.
The Independent: UK authorities opened an investigation into gold merchants who buy jewellery through the post amid claims of "shockingly" poor value for money.
Downside
The Times: Unions announced a blockade of the Opel factory in Antwerp after General Motors, the parent company, decided to close it and cut all 2,600 jobs.
New York Times: Gains made this year on US stock markets were erased as shares fell on concerns over plans to limit the activities of banks.
The Independent: Businesses and homebuyers are loaning more funds but banks continue to fail to pass on ultra-low finance provided by the Bank of England.
Mergers and shakers
The Times: Merlin Entertainments Group, the Madame Tussauds and Alton Towers operator, bought a Florida theme park in the lead up to its expected floatation.
The Daily Telegraph: BSkyB, the pay-TV giant, was ordered to substantially reduce its stake in rival ITV by the Court of Appeal.
The Times: Ranjit Boparan, the poultry processing magnate, bought the Harry Ramsden's fish and chips chain and plans to expand the empire.
Around Asia
The Times: China's gross domestic product rose by 10.7 per cent in the fourth quarter, compared with the final three months of 2008.
Bloomberg: Toyota, the car maker, will recall about 2.3 million vehicles in the US to fix sticking accelerator pedals.
The Times: The value of hesokuri, the stashes of "bellybutton money" secreted by Japanese housewives, has plunged by 20 per cent since 2008.
Look ahead
Wall Street Journal: Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, the US banks, are likely to reduce bankers' pay for 2010 as a result of the UK tax on bonuses.
The Daily Telegraph: United Utilities, the water group, will lower its dividend and make more job cuts, as it reduces customer bills over the next five years.
Wall Street Journal: The US Federal Reserve will end its dollar "swap" program with foreign central banks by the end of January.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,335.10 down 1.6% (Thursday close)
Dow 10,389.88 down 2% (close)
S&P 500 1,116.48 down 1.9% (close)
Nasdaq 2,265.70 down 1.1% (close)
Nikkei 10,573.01 down 2.7% (latest)
Hang Seng 20,514.58 down 1.7% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.6207/1.1472 euros (latest)
Euro $1.4127 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $74.50 down 8 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $75.89 down 19 cents (latest)
Gold $1095.00 down $8.20 (latest)
New York
Reuters: US stocks suffered their worst one-day drop since October as President Barack Obama proposed tough restrictions on banks that would squeeze profits. Major banks slid. Goldman Sachs fell 4.1 per cent despite posting better-than-expected results, and JPMorgan Chase fell 6.6 per cent. Morgan Stanley fell 4.2 per cent, Citigroup fell 5.5 per cent and Bank of America fell 6.2 per cent. After the market closed, Google, the search giant, fell 4.8 per cent and credit card company American Express fell 1.7 per cent on disappointing results. Energy stocks fell on lower oil prices. Exxon Mobil fell 2 per cent and Chevron fell 2.4 per cent.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks fell in early trade on concern tax changes will hurt profits at Australian miners and a stronger yen will crimp the value of Japanese exporters' overseas sales. BHP Billiton, the world's biggest miner, fell 2.7 per cent and rival Rio Tinto fell 3.2 per cent on reports an Australian tax review recommends replacing royalty charges on mining projects with a national resource rate. Toyota, which gets 32 percent of revenue in North America, fell 2.5 per cent after it said it will recall vehicles in US and the yen rose to a one-month high versus the dollar. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.8 per cent to 122.83 in early trade.
Michael Beh
michaelwbeh@gmail.com
London
The mining sector played its part in another big sell off of the FTSE yesterday amid fears of higher taxes on mining projects in Australia.
Reports from Down Under suggested the Australian tax review panel had recommended with scraping the state-based royalty taxes on mining projects and replacing them with a national resource rent tax, which could be set as high as 40 per cent.
Shares in Rio Tinto dropped 5 per cent and BHP Billiton fell 3 per cent.
The FTSE 100 lost 85.70 points to 5,335.1 amid downbeat economic data and as news of President Obama's curbs on financial institutions started to hit the market in late trading.
Banks continued to lose ground, with Royal Bank of Scotland the biggest faller, down 7.1 per cent, amid concerns about new regulations.
Peter Stiff
Peter.Stiff@the-times.co.uk
