 | March 15, 2010 |
Kill the Competition: Revelation holdup ... China retort ... Jobs restructureTop stories The Times: Further damaging revelations about the collapse of Lehman Brothers are being held up in the US courts by Barclays, the UK bank. http://tinyurl.com/yz2ts9sWall Street Journal: Wen Jiabao, China’s Premier, said that US efforts to boost its exports by weakening the dollar amount to "a kind of trade protectionism". http://tinyurl.com/yjwdcsa The Times: Gatwick told its planning and commercial staff to reapply for their jobs as part of an extensive restructuring of Britain’s second-largest airport. http://tinyurl.com/yf6bb25 Comment Bronwen Maddox in The Times: To say that confidence in Japan is long gone is an understatement. http://tinyurl.com/yzvuh8a Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in the Daily Telegraph: The long-simmering clash between China and the US is coming to a head, with dangerous implications. http://tinyurl.com/yeemf7a Sean O'Grady in The Independent: How to set up a European Monetary Fund and avoid a sequel to Greece. http://tinyurl.com/yjcadk8 Upside The Daily Telegraph: Eurozone finance ministers hope to agree on a €25 billion (£23 billion, $34 billion) aid package to ease the financial crisis in Greece. http://tinyurl.com/yek4o3h The Independent: Central London’s shops enjoyed a powerful rebound in underlying sales last month, but retailers outside the capital found life much tougher. http://tinyurl.com/yk4tcnq The Times: TalkTalk, the UK’s second-largest residential broadband provider, says it will switch its entire workforce from desktop PCs to Apple laptops. http://tinyurl.com/yjqm9v7 Downside The Times: Jarvis Hotels, the hotel operator, is in crunch talks with its banks after breaching its financial covenants. http://tinyurl.com/yfvbsq3 The Times: Anaemic economic growth over the coming months could spark another surge in unemployment, the Bank of England fears. http://tinyurl.com/yfqdyut The Times: The number of UK homes for sale rose to an 18-month high in March, bringing down the rate of increase in asking prices to the lowest level recorded. http://tinyurl.com/yh3azoa Mergers and shakers New York Times: Phillips-Van Heusen, the owner of Calvin Klein, is near a deal to buy Tommy Hilfiger, the clothing retailer. http://tinyurl.com/yj9razv The Times: Comic Relief, the charity, made a deal with Eckoh, a voice-recognition specialist, to use the company’s software in its next two campaigns. http://tinyurl.com/ylxkdsx The Daily Telegraph: BAE Systems, the defence firm, will use a jobs package to encourage the Government to rethink the winner of a £4 billion ($6 billion) arms contract. http://tinyurl.com/ygyy2wu Around Asia Wall Street Journal: Bank of America, the US banking giant, plans to seek approval from China to expand its operations there. http://tinyurl.com/yk7o9yl Bloomberg: Cnooc, China’s biggest offshore oil explorer, agreed to buy a 50 per cent stake in Bridas, the Argentine producer, for $3.1 billion (£2 billion). http://tinyurl.com/yz2mwmz Bloomberg: China Cosco Holdings, the nation’s largest container-ship operator, expects to win a planned rate increase in new contracts. http://tinyurl.com/yfca4qf Look ahead The Independent: Sainsbury, the retailer, will beat the UK's tax hike on high earners next month by paying its bonuses early. http://tinyurl.com/yku78po The Times: Lord Adonis, the UK Transport Secretary, wants British Airways and union members to return to negotiations before the strike planned for next weekend. http://tinyurl.com/yzarh64 The Independent: Many businesses are unaware of new rules about safeguarding personal data to come into force on 6 April. http://tinyurl.com/yfpq7fq Unfinished business - last week wrapped up Last Monday A landmark court ruling against a UK businessman based in the Seychelles left City traders rethinking plans to leave the UK for tax purposes. http://tinyurl.com/ydx3wrn E.ON, the German-owned utility, became the third big UK energy company to trim its gas prices, reducing them by 6 per cent for 2 million homes. http://tinyurl.com/yawjcz7 Tuesday Lord Mandelson became involved in a dispute about Washington’s handling of a $35 billion Pentagon procurement project. http://tinyurl.com/yj48wt6 Kevin Foster, who tricked thousands of their savings by promising high returns, was convicted of a £34 million ($50 million) Ponzi fraud. http://tinyurl.com/ykjqjvf Wednesday Charles Allen, the former ITV boss, was named to replace Elio Leoni-Sceti as executive chairman of EMI, the troubled music company. http://tinyurl.com/yduomw9 The Daily Telegraph: Malcolm Calvert, a former Cazenove partner, was found guilty of insider trading in UK companies ahead of takeovers. http://tinyurl.com/yl2dh94 Thursday Sir Brian Pitman, the former Lloyds TSB chairman who was one of Britain’s most respected bankers, died at the age of 78. http://tinyurl.com/yg3eg6r 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 Friday The UK government announced £270 million ($410 million) of loan guarantees for Vauxhall, the car maker, as part of the restructuring plans of GM Europe, its parent. http://tinyurl.com/ylekzpg It was revealed that a London law firm was linked to the concealment of billions of dollars of debt by Lehman Brothers, the investment bank. http://tinyurl.com/ydo7hlw MARKETS FTSE 100 5,625.65 up 0.2% (Friday close) Dow 10,624.69 up 0.1% (close) S&P 500 1,149.99 steady (close) Nasdaq 2,367.66 steady (close) Nikkei 10,732.73down 0.2% (latest) Hang Seng 21,045.71 down 0.8% (latest) Currencies Sterling $1.5162/1.1034 euros (latest) Euro $ 1.374 (latest) Commodities Brent crude $79.00 down 39 cents (latest) West Texas crude $80.80 down 44 cents (latest) Gold $1104.80 up $3.10 (latest) New York Reuters: US stocks were near break even on mixed consumer and retail data and with few economic data points or corporate earnings reports, the stock market struggled for direction. For the week, the Dow rose 0.6 per cent, the S&P 500 rose 1 per cent and the Nasdaq rose 1.8 per cent. Retailer Macy's rose 3.3 per cent on good national retail sales. Bank shares slid after having dominated the week's activity. Citigroup fell 5 per cent. Health insurer Aetna fell 2.6 per cent along with other health insurers. Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar rose 2.5 per cent after it said it could triple its US output of hydraulic excavators. Agricultural manufacturer CF Industries Holdings fell 3.9 per cent after Agrium, the agricultural retailer, abandoned its bid for the company. Agrium rose 8 per cent. http://tinyurl.com/yzb4w98 Asia Bloomberg: Asian stocks fell in morning trade for the first time in three days on concern China will boost steps to cool growth as inflation accelerates. PetroChina, China’s biggest oil company, fell 0.6 per cent and China Shenhua Energy, the nation’s biggest coal producer, fell 3.9 per cent. Newcrest Mining, Australia’s biggest gold producer, fell 1.5 per cent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.3 per cent to 122.78 in morning trade. http://tinyurl.com/yzk7uv8 Michael Beh: michaelwbeh@gmail.com |
