 | March 12, 2010 |
Kill the Competition: Sir Brian dies ... Lehman report ... BP fightFriday, March 12, 0730 GMTTop stories The Times: Sir Brian Pitman, the former Lloyds TSB chairman who was one of Britain’s most respected bankers, has died at the age of 78. http://tinyurl.com/yg3eg6r Wall Street Journal: A US federal judge released a scathing report on the collapse of Lehman Brothers that singles out senior executives for serious faults. http://tinyurl.com/yzm7scr The Times: BP, the oil giant, is preparing for a legal battle over an oilfield in the Caspian Sea which threatens its $7 billion (£4.6 billion) deal with Devon Energy. http://tinyurl.com/yhzgjok Comment David Wighton in The Times: What BP is doing in its Brazil deal is getting more from the stuff it knows while taking a big bet on stuff it doesn’t know. http://tinyurl.com/yeggupd Kamal Ahmed in The Daily Telegraph: Profits at Morrisons and John Lewis brought plenty of cheer but this could be the beginnings of an unsustainable consumer-led recovery. http://tinyurl.com/y8rlwo2 Hamish McRae in The Independent: Comfort yourself - recoveries do happen, even if they take a long time to get going. http://tinyurl.com/yczjm38 Upside The Times: Wm Morrison and Waitrose reported soaring annual profits as the UK retailers captured customers outside their core markets. http://tinyurl.com/yjg3cck Wall Street Journal: US households’ total net worth climbed 1.3 per cent at the end of 2009, the third straight quarterly rise. http://tinyurl.com/ygcu9vg The Times: Staff at John Lewis, the employee-owned retailer, were awarded a 15 per cent bonus in a £151 million ($227 million) payout. http://tinyurl.com/yf68tny Downside Wall Street Journal: US exporters reported serious delays as ship companies leave vessels idle and reduce the frequency of service between the US and Asia. http://tinyurl.com/ygsm349 The Daily Telegraph: UniCredit, Europe's second largest bank, warned investors that Britain is at serious risk of a bond market and sterling debacle. http://tinyurl.com/y982jnl The Independent: HSBC’s private bank in Switzerland admitted that the details of 24,000 accounts were stolen by an employee three years ago. http://tinyurl.com/yg5wvp5 Mergers and shakers The Times: Malcolm Calvert, a former Cazenove partner found guilty of insider dealing, was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment. ttp://tinyurl.com/yh3txkd Wall Street Journal: Farallon Capital Management, the giant hedge-fund firm, is shrinking and reorganising its investment operations and losing four senior managers. http://tinyurl.com/yhedna5 The Times: Old Mutual, the Anglo-South African group, unveiled a partial float for its US asset manager and a sale of the American life arm. http://tinyurl.com/yf6d3sh Around Asia The Times: AstraZeneca, the Anglo-Swedish drugs group, signed a partnership with Torrent Pharmaceuticals, a generic drugs maker with large factories in India. http://tinyurl.com/yzz27mf Wall Street Journal: Two senior Nomura Holdings bankers are the latest employees to leave the Japanese bank since the guaranteed period for bonuses expired. http://tinyurl.com/ybh2j5s The Times: AgustaWestland, the helicopter maker, won a €560 million (£510 million, $890 million) contract to supply helicopters to India. http://tinyurl.com/yf2ojbb Look ahead Wall Street Journal: American International Group, the giant insurer, will recoup $5 million (£3.3 million) this year from retention payments for former workers. http://tinyurl.com/ygjfkqz New York Times: The luxury car market is recovering, but makers of the lower-priced cars could struggle for years to come, predict car makers BMW and Volkswagen. http://tinyurl.com/ye3op4c Wall Street Journal: Google could stop censoring its web-search results in China within weeks, but the search giant isn't planning to withdraw from the country entirely. http://tinyurl.com/ycmc92p MARKETS FTSE 100 5,617.26 down 0.5% (Thursday close) Dow 10,611.84 up 0.4% (close) S&P 500 1,150.24 up 0.4% (close) Nasdaq 2,368.46 up 0.4% (close) Nikkei 10,708.47 up 0.4% (latest) Hang Seng 21,200.12 down 0.1% (latest) Currencies Sterling $1.5049/1.1 euros (latest) Euro $1.3681 (latest) Commodities Brent crude $80.38 up 10 cents (latest) West Texas crude $82.20 up 9 cents (latest) Gold $1109.90 up $1.70 (latest) New York Reuters: The S&P 500 hit a 17-month closing high as rising bank shares led a late rally that lifted US stocks, more than offsetting worries China may move to cool its overheating economy. Citigroup rose 5.6 per cent on a positive outlook and was among the top gainers. Diversified manufacturer 3M fell 0.4 per cent after China reported increased inflation. Online retailer Amazon.com rose 2.4 per cent, leading gains on the Nasdaq. Other retailers also posted big gains a day ahead of the monthly retail sales data. http://tinyurl.com/yjr2uaq Asia Bloomberg: Most Asian stocks rose in morning trade as a weaker yen boosted Japanese exporters and drugmakers climbed on speculation proposed changes to the US health system will fail. Nissan, which gets most of its revenue outside Japan, rose 1.9 per cent in Tokyo. Takeda Pharmaceutical, Asia’s biggest drugmaker, rose 1.2 per cent in Tokyo, tracking gains by US health-related shares. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.1 per cent to 122.96 in morning trade. http://tinyurl.com/yjvhlj7 Michael Beh: michaelwbeh@gmail.com London The FTSE 100 drifted 23.31 points lower to 5,617.26 after China’s minister of commerce warned that inflation there would be a "big problem". That fanned fears that stimulus measures there could be curbed soon to cool the Chinese economy, which in turn would hit demand for natural resources. Miners were marked lower in response, as sentiment towards the sector was dented further by reports that China's biggest steel maker refused to pay as much as expected for iron ore. Kazakhmys fell 49p to £14.96 after Goldman Sachs replaced the Kazakh copper miner on its "conviction buy list" with Antofagasta, the Chilean copper miner, which then added 9p to £10.28. Antofagasta's earnings, Goldman reckoned, were poised to almost triple by 2013. Antofagasta was further helped by Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, which both turned more positive towards the shares.Worries about China, and another disappointing jobs report in America, curbed investors appetite for risk and unsettled the banks. HSBC fell 11.5p to 694.6p. But buyers were in good supply for retailers after Home Retail Group, owner of the Argos catalogue shop and Homebase DIY, nudged up its guidance for likely profits this year for the second time in three months. Home Retail added 4.2p to 272p and led Kingfisher, owner of B&Q, 7p higher to 223.7p. Next, the fashion chain, also improved 42p to £20.20, while Marks & Spencer advanced 4.6p to 353.7p. Gary Parkinson:Gary.Parkinson@thetimes.co.uk |
