 | May 17, 2010 |
Kill the Competition: Prudential rights ... Pay rises ... Eurozone governanceMonday, May 17, 0730 GMTTop stories The Times: Prudential, the insurer, is poised to launch its long-awaited $21 billion (£15 billion) rights issue to fund its controversial takeover bid for AIA in Asia. http://tinyurl.com/2u7xsv6 The Daily Telegraph: Chief executive remuneration in UK companies in the FTSE 100 increased by an average of 6 per cent in the past year. http://tinyurl.com/36qpuex The Independent: Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, called for a "quantum leap" in the governance of the eurozone. http://tinyurl.com/22mvrkx Comment Anatole Kaletsky in The Times: The radicalism of the new Government’s reforms and their long-term effects on the structure of Britain’s economy may come as a shock. http://tinyurl.com/38thzgd Stephen King in The Independent: If creditors lose their faith in ordinary government bonds, the entire financial edifice could come crashing down. http://tinyurl.com/2fkqc8l Wolfgang Münchau in the Financial Times: At the end of the European Union’s programme of credit guarantees, the same factors that led to this crisis will be present. http://tinyurl.com/26r8ec3 Upside The Times: UK carmakers will produce nearly 50 per cent more vehicles a year within five years, but will still not match the number made in 2008. http://tinyurl.com/39or8lc Wall Street Journal: BP made a breakthrough in stemming the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico by using robots to insert a tube into an oil pipe on the ocean floor. http://tinyurl.com/3yv8uuy The Times: NHS hospitals built with private sector money are cleaner than hospitals built only with public sector financing, according to new research. http://tinyurl.com/326vokz Downside The Times: Fears for economic recovery in the UK are likely to be stoked by reports that businesses are reluctant or unable to recruit new staff. http://tinyurl.com/32bq2sx Wall Street Journal: Three years after General Motors won wage concessions from its union, the US car maker has yet to realise savings from key provisions. http://tinyurl.com/23psw2c The Daily Telegraph: Economists predict that higher petrol prices will help to drive the consumer prices index up to 3.5 per cent for April. http://tinyurl.com/3xzvjo9 Mergers and shakers The Times: Sir John Madejski, the Reading FC chairman, is in talks with lenders over the future of Sackville Properties, one of his biggest companies. http://tinyurl.com/39srbus New York Times: Universal Health Services, the US health insurer, is expected to win the bidding for Psychiatric Solutions, a large US operator of mental health care clinics. http://tinyurl.com/24oevdg Wall Street Journal: Groupon, a website offering daily deals at businesses in the US and Canada, is expanding into Europe by buying Berlin-based City Deal. http://tinyurl.com/2fjo8qa Around Asia The Times: PricewaterhouseCoopers, the UK professional services firm, plans to more than double fee income in the Middle East within two years. http://tinyurl.com/33uz4ug Wall Street Journal: Japanese core machinery orders rose 5.4 per cent in March from a month earlier as manufacturers and non-manufacturers increased spending. http://tinyurl.com/2dn7ryv The Times: Standard Chartered, the UK bank, is likely to plan a share listing in China once it has completed a ground-breaking flotation in India. http://tinyurl.com/2u26hno Look ahead The Times: The UK Government is preparing to concede defeat over a crackdown on hedge funds at tomorrow’s meeting of European Union finance ministers. http://tinyurl.com/2vkx4mp The Times: Top partners at Clifford Chance are set to make more than £1 million ($1.4 million) this year as the City law firm rebounds from the financial crisis. http://tinyurl.com/2vppvxm The Times: City investment banks are working on plans to guarantee billions of pounds in bonuses over the next few weeks to beat an expected crackdown by the new Government. http://tinyurl.com/25pyvjl Unfinished business - last week wrapped up Last Monday Markets soared, the euro firmed against the US dollar and Greece survived to fight another day after a €750 billion (£645 billion) European bailout package. http://tinyurl.com/24658ym BP, Transocean and Halliburton executives turned on one another over who bore ultimate responsibility for the April 20 oil rig explosion. http://tinyurl.com/26cofmv Tuesday Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, a board director of easyJet, publicly criticised Andy Harrison, the budget carrier’s "overrated" chief executive. http://tinyurl.com/2auadsj The pound broke through the $1.50 mark as David Cameron’s coalition Government took charge. http://tinyurl.com/2e2agjh Wednesday The immediate £6 billion ($9 billion) cut in public spending proposed by the new Government won support from Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England. http://tinyurl.com/35n6tex Spain imposed drastic wage cuts to slash the budget deficit, complying with European Union demands for further austerity. http://tinyurl.com/2v8pe2u Thursday Sterling plunged after worse-than-expected UK trade figures dented hopes that the economic recovery was gaining traction. http://tinyurl.com/3yujpek US stock markets fell as investors were spooked by news of a blast in Athens and the spectre of criminal charges against nine banks. http://tinyurl.com/36k829w Friday Guy Hands, the private equity tycoon, raised enough investment to avoid EMI, the beleaguered label, defaulting on its loans. http://tinyurl.com/3yp9wmk Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Easyjet’s founder, stood down from the board to battle for a complete change of strategy at the budget airline. http://tinyurl.com/2adp5f2 MARKETS FTSE 100 5,262.85 down 3.1% (Friday close) Dow 10,620.16 down 1.5% (close) S&P 500 1,135.68 down 1.9% (close) Nasdaq 2,346.85 down 2% (close) Nikkei 10,270.08 down 1.8% (latest) Hang Seng 19,832.03 down 1.6% (latest) Currencies Sterling $1.4376/1.1685 euros (latest) Euro $1.2303 (latest) Commodities Brent crude $76.76 down $1.17 (latest) West Texas crude $70.40 down $1.21 (latest) Gold $1236.80 up $9.00 (latest) New York Reuters: US stocks fell on a combination of weak earnings from retailers, Senate backing for limits on credit card fees and concerns over the sustainability of European public debt. Credit card company Visa fell 9.9 per cent and rival MasterCard fell 8.6 per cent on fears new laws could hurt profits. For the week, the Dow rose 2.3 per cent, the S&P 500 rose 2.2 per cent and the Nasdaq rose 3.6 per cent. Among retailers, Nordstrom fell 3.7 per cent and JC Penney fell 2.2 per cent on disappointing forecasts. Dillard rose 7.9 per cent on better-than-expected results. Graphics chip maker Nvidia fell 11.5 per cent a day after it forecast sales below estimates. http://tinyurl.com/23mq694 Asia Bloomberg: Asian stocks fell in early trade as the euro declined against the yen on concern European measures to reduce fiscal deficits will hurt the region’s economic growth. Canon, which receives 31 per cent of its revenue from Europe, fell 1.9 per cent in Tokyo. BHP Billiton, the world’s largest miner, fell 3.4 per cent in Sydney on lower commodity prices. Posco, Asia’s third-biggest steelmaker, fell 2.3 per cent in Seoul. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 1.6 per cent to 118.10 in early trade. http://tinyurl.com/22jhd7c Michael Beh michaelwbeh@gmail.com |
