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
Tuesday, February 23, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: Eric Daniels, Lloyds' chief executive, waived his bonus for second year in a row, following bonus refusals by other banking chiefs.
Wall Street Journal: A US congressional panel accused Toyota of misleading the public about safety problems as the car giant received subpoenas from a federal grand jury.
The Times: The UK's biggest energy companies face pressure to cut prices after their average profits per household leapt 40 per cent this winter.
Comment
David Wighton in The Times: Those bankers really are just like sheep. Someone starts waiving his bonus - and soon they are all doing it.
Matthew Lynn on Bloomberg: The UK, the birthplace of Keynes, the guru of government intervention, will also become the deathbed of Keynesian economics.
Michael Skapinker in the Financial Times: Banks lost society's respect, but now there are signs that they understand they need to win it back.
Upside
The Times: London's airports reported their best retail income figures for more than a decade, offsetting lower passenger numbers.
Wall Street Journal: A $150 million (£97 million) settlement between Bank of America and the US Securities & Exchange Commission was unhappily approved.
The Times: GlaxoSmithKline, the drug maker, will create 1,000 jobs in the UK in order to cut tax to 10 per cent on revenues from patents developed in the UK.
Downside
The Daily Telegraph: Oil prices rose to $80 a barrel as a major strike gripped the French oil industry and concern grew over Iran's nuclear programme.
Financial Times: Industrial action hit airlines as British Airways cabin crew voted to strike and Lufthansa persuaded its pilots to defer a walkout.
The Independent: Skipton, the UK building society, faces a legal challenge over its decision to ignore a mortgage rate guarantee.
Mergers and shakers
The Times: Stephen Thomas, the chief executive of Luminar, will step down from the board of Britain's biggest nightclub operator.
Wall Street Journal: Brookfield Asset Management, the Canadian property giant, plans to take a large stake in General Growth Properties, the US mall owner.
The Times: Sports Direct made a swoop on a 29 per cent stake in rival Blacks Leisure, the troubled retailer, allowing it to vote against a rescue package.
Around Asia
Wall Street Journal: Taiwan and Thailand reported their fastest growth in several years on the back of surging trade, private consumption and tourism.
The Times: Morgan Stanley plans to sell its stake in CICC, the Chinese investment bank, to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and TPG Capital for $1 billion (£645 million).
Wall Street Journal: Reliance Industries, the Indian conglomerate, raised its offer for LyondellBasell Industries, valuing the chemical maker at $14.5 billion (£9.4 billion).
Look ahead
The Daily Telegraph: Hammerson, the UK property company, will focus on France rather than the UK this year because it believes the country's economy is stronger.
The Times: Albemarle & Bond, the pawnbroker, plans to double its number of outlets in the next five years to 250.
The Daily Telegraph: Europe's biggest banks may need to raise €240 billion (£211 billion, $326 billion) a year for the next three years to fund businesses.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,352.07 down 0.1% (Monday close)
Dow 10,383.38 down 0.2% (close)
S&P 500 1,108.01 down 0.1% (close)
Nasdaq 2,242.03 down 0.1% (close)
Nikkei 10,280.33 down 1.2% (latest)
Hang Seng 20,179.06 down 1% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.5501/1.1394 euros (latest)
Euro $1.3605 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $78.08 down 53 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $79.76 down 55 cents (latest)
Gold $1111.80 down $1.30 (latest)
New York
Reuters: US stocks finished flat as investors held back before congressional testimony by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. After the bell, upscale retailer Nordstrom fell 5 per cent after it reported a disappointing quarterly profit. The stock had ended regular trading up 1.2 per cent. During the regular session, energy giant Chevron fell 1.5 per cent and rival Exxon Mobil fell 0.7 per cent. Oilfield services company Schlumberger fell 3.7 per cent while its takeover target Smith International rose 8.8 per cent. Among banks, JPMorgan Chase rose 2.1 per cent and Bank of America rose 2.1 per cent on hopes a healthcare overhaul would take some of the intense regulatory scrutiny off the banks. Biosciences firm Millipore rose 22.4 per cent after it received an unsolicited bid from Thermo Fisher Scientific. Thermo Fisher fell 2.3 per cent. Among health insurers, WellPoint rose 1.7 per cent, Humana rose 5.6 per cent and UnitedHealth Group rose 3.6 per cent on reports of a higher-than-expected payment rate next year.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks fell in morning trade, led by mining companies and automakers. BHP Billiton, the world's largest miner, fell 1 per cent in Sydney on lower metal prices. Newcrest Mining, Australia's biggest gold producer, fell 1 per cent on lower gold prices. Mitsubishi, a Japanese trading house that gets about 40 percent of sales from commodities, fell 1.6 per cent on lower commodity prices. Toyota, the car maker, fell 1.1 per cent on the eve of a US congressional hearing. Aristocrat Leisure, the slot machine maker, fell 4 per cent in Sydney after reporting a second-half loss. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.7 per cent to 117.48 in morning trade.
Michael Beh
London
With little economic or company news either here or on Wall Street to lend support, the FTSE 100 broke its five-day winning streak. The leading index dipped 6.1 points to 5,352.07.
Retailers were again under pressure after the dismal weather chimed with equally gloomy retail sales and jobs data on Friday. Reasoning that fewer DIY enthusiasts would be braving the rain to head to its out-of-town B&Q stores, investors sold Kingfisher down 3.6p to 215.8p. Home Retail Group, owner of the Argos catalogue shops, fell 3.6p to 260.4p on similar concerns. Sanford Bernstein, the broker, trimmed its target price for Marks & Spencer shares to 390p from 410p. They lost 8.4p to 334p. British Airways continued to be dogged by concerns about industrial action. The flag carrier fell 3.4p to 207.2p.
Once again, it was miners and financial companies that underpinned the Footsie.
Gary Parkinson
