 | April 29, 2010 |
Kill the Competition: Spain downgraded ... HP buys ... Defence talksThursday, April 29, 0730 GMTTop stories The Times: The crisis affecting the eurozone worsened when Spain’s credit rating was downgraded less than 24 hours after Greece was sent into financial meltdown. http://tinyurl.com/2a7gfug Wall Street Journal: Hewlett-Packard, the computer giant, bought Palm, the smartphone maker, for about $1 billion (£660 million) in a surprise deal. http://tinyurl.com/2556hq3 The Times: The Iraqi Government is in talks to buy 24 Hawk trainer jets from BAE Systems, the British defence company, for up to £1 billion ($1.5 billion). http://tinyurl.com/2wbg8ed Comment Carl Mortished in The Times: If high eurozone borrowing costs are sustained for a long period, the Club Med holiday is well and truly over. http://tinyurl.com/2egss8x Jeremy Warner in The Daily Telegraph: If Europe does not act with decisiveness and determination, the doomsday machine will soon be back at full tilt. http://tinyurl.com/2u68aw8 John Gapper in the Financial Times: If the crisis proves anything, it is that the ratings agencies enjoy too much authority among investors and regulators. http://tinyurl.com/2ejelk6 Upside The Times: Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, announced a 49 per cent surge in first-quarter profits. http://tinyurl.com/2uvu37p The Independent: Royal Bank of Scotland, the state-backed bank, bowed to shareholder pressure to make bonus targets for its executives tougher. http://tinyurl.com/2vbekwz Wall Street Journal: US lawmakers ended the three-day standoff holding up action on the financial overhaul bill, allowing the Senate debate to proceed. http://tinyurl.com/26n28j4 Downside The Times: Virgin Atlantic was so scared of US regulators that the airline admitted running a cartel with British Airways in return for immunity to prosecution. http://tinyurl.com/233cxsg New York Times: Germany’s banks hold €28 billion (£24 billion, $37 billion) in Greek bonds, which exceeds the $11 billion (£7 billion) planned as part of an EU bailout. http://tinyurl.com/3ynrjrs The Times: Lloyd Blankfein, the boss of Goldman Sachs, instructed staff to hunker down, predicting more pain to come for the embattled bank. http://tinyurl.com/2che8wb Mergers and shakers The Times: Forth Ports, the owner and operator of six Scottish ports, rejected its third takeover offer in as many months from a group of its own shareholders. http://tinyurl.com/34zhjx3 Wall Street Journal: Continental Airlines convened a board meeting and planned a second one to discuss a potential merger with rival UAL’s United Airlines. http://tinyurl.com/2e6r7tb The Daily Telegraph: Guillaume Rambourg, the star Gartmore fund manager, was reinstated by his employer just weeks after he was suspended. http://tinyurl.com/277x2yd Around Asia Wall Street Journal: Toyota recalled 50,000 Sequoia sport-utility vehicles in the US in another safety issue for the Japanese car maker. http://tinyurl.com/2dbf8gv New York Times: Japanese lawmakers forced bureaucrats to defend their budgets at public hearings streamed live on the internet. http://tinyurl.com/2etwqbe Wall Street Journal: Japan Airlines will end flights on 45 routes this year as the carrier accelerates a cost-cutting program. http://tinyurl.com/2br7zuy Look ahead The Times: The US Federal Reserve will keep interest rates at rock bottom levels for "an extended period" even as the US economic recovery is getting stronger. http://tinyurl.com/2atjc3l The Independent: We7, the online music service, covered its streaming costs from advertising revenue last month and hopes to be in profit by the end of the year. http://tinyurl.com/2d25u75 Wall Street Journal: Apple, the iPad maker, aims to charge close to $1 million (£660,000) for advertisements on its mobile devices this year. http://tinyurl.com/2cp9xxg MARKETS FTSE 100 5,586.61 down 0.3% (Wednesday close) Dow 11,045.27 up 0.5% (close) S&P 500 1,191.36 up 0.7% (close) Nasdaq 2,471.73 steady (close) Nikkei 10,924.79 down 2.6% (Wednesday close, Thursday closed for a holiday) Hang Seng 20,922.46 down 0.1% (latest) Currencies Sterling $1.5174/1.1492 euros (latest) Euro $1.3203 (latest) Commodities Brent crude $86.06 down 10 cents (latest) West Texas crude $83.13 down 9 cents (latest) Gold $1166.00 down $5.80 (latest) New York Reuters: US stocks rose after the Federal Reserve pointed to signs of strength in the economy. Energy and financial shares were the top gainers. Banking giant JPMorgan Chase rose 2.5 per cent on news interest rates will be kept low. Energy firm Exxon Mobil rose 1.4 per cent after it raised its second-quarter payout. Chemical manufacturer Dow Chemical rose 5.9 per cent on better-than-expected profit. Comcast, the No.1 US cable operator, rose 1.9 per cent on good results. Networking product maker Broadcom rose 1.7 per cent a day after reporting a first-quarter profit. Generic drug maker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries fell 1.7 per cent after warnings from regulators about manufacturing violations. http://tinyurl.com/2g76pau Asia Bloomberg: Most Asian stocks rose in early trade, led by consumer-related companies, as reports of increased earnings in China overshadowed a downgrade of Spain’s debt rating. Suning Appliance, the large Chinese electrical appliance retailer, rose 3.1 per cent on good profit. China Merchants Bank, the sixth largest commercial bank in China, rose 2.6 per cent after first-quarter profit rose. ANZ Bank, the No.3 Australian bank, fell 1.4 per cent on concern over Europe’s debt problems. The MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index fell 0.2 per cent to 423.34 in early trade. Japanese markets are closed today for a national holiday. http://tinyurl.com/2f3674r Michael Beh michaelwbeh@gmail.com London On a seesaw day for stockmarkets, 888 Holdings shareholders took their money off the table. The internet gaming company tumbled 12.1p to 81.7p after cautioning that business has been disappointing since the start of April. Average daily revenue is running about 13 per cent lower than in the first three months of this year after punters wagered less in 888’s internet casino, poker and bingo games. Though the company in part blamed seasonal weakness across the industry, Barclays Capital reckoned the extent of the downturn suggested that there was "clearly a company-specific problem as well". BarCap noted that 888 has no chunky sports betting business, a big earner for some of its rivals. 888’s fall, the steepest by some way by any of Britain’s top 250 companies, came despite comments from Gigi Levy, the chief executive, that online poker could be legalised in America this year. Internet gambling was outlawed there in 2006. Overall, the FTSE 100 - 69.92 points lower at worst, 36.46 higher at best - closed 16.91 points easier at 5,586.61 on a day dominated by the ebb and flow of of Greece’s financial rescue. Traders headed home steeling themselves for another choppy session today after Standard & Poor’s, the debt ratings agency, turned more cautious towards Spain a bare three minutes before markets in London closed. Some 5.47 points of the Footsie’s fall were the result of bluechips being marked lower for starting to trade without the right to the next dividend payment. These included Tesco, 18p lower at 430.6p, and Centrica, owner of British Gas, which lost 15p to 296.2p. Banks, one of the most sensitive sectors to sentiment towards Greece, dipped. So too did miners after investors switched from commodities intothe dollar, perceived as a safer investment. However Sir John Parker, the new chairman of Anglo American, underscored his faith in the mining giant by buying almost £50,000-worth of shares at £28.75 each. They rose 6.5p to £28.07 Though oil prices eased, producers still rose on the coat tails of Royal Dutch Shell, whose B shares added 47.5p to £19.69 after an unexpected return to production growth. Gary Parkinson Gary.Parkinson@thetimes.co.uk |
