 | May 24, 2010 |
Kill the Competition: Flights cancelled ... Low US rates ... Guarantee liftedMonday, May 24, 0730 GMTTop stories The Times: Hundreds of British Airways flights were expected to be cancelled because of a cabin crew strike despite an eleventh-hour peace overture from the Unite union. http://tinyurl.com/2b62w2h Wall Street Journal: International money seeking a safe haven pushed US mortgage rates to the lowest levels of the year and back near 50-year lows. http://tinyurl.com/25nkbxb The Times: The Government’s unlimited guarantee on deposits at Northern Rock, the UK bank, will be lifted on all variable-rate accounts. http://tinyurl.com/26oov2f Comment Bronwen Maddox in The Times: China’s leaders are less likely to slam the brakes on their roaring economy after being hit by the turmoil in Europe. http://tinyurl.com/2ey8dbn Stephen King in The Independent: It's difficult to decide the balance between market and non-market outcomes within states. It's even trickier across nations. http://tinyurl.com/2bq9lq9 Roger Bootle in The Daily Telegraph: The weak link is not so much the European Central Bank, but rather the whole European economic and political systems. http://tinyurl.com/2bouwcp Upside The Times: Supermarkets are entering the branded sportswear market after more than a decade of resistance. http://tinyurl.com/26vyga6 The Daily Telegraph: The Office for National Statistics is widely expected to raise its initial assessment of GDP growth for the first quarter of the year. http://tinyurl.com/275ht39 The Independent: Tidjane Thiam, the boss of Prudential, will put £1.5 million ($2.2 million) of his own money into the rights issue to fund its bid for AIG's Asian business. http://tinyurl.com/2f923ct Downside The Times: The cuts needed to repair the national finances could tip the country back into recession, warned Andrew Self, a leading economist. http://tinyurl.com/2bfc9tq Wall Street Journal: The US Justice Department decided to abandon a criminal probe against current and former executives at insurer American International Group. http://tinyurl.com/2enkmrs The Daily Telegraph: Spainish authorities stepped in to rescue Cajasur, one of the country's largest regional lenders. http://tinyurl.com/2dggzhm Mergers and shakers The Times: Emerson, the US energy firm, secretly canvassed the shareholders of Chloride, its UK rival, to gauge support for a takeover bid ahead of an expected fall in profits. ttp://tinyurl.com/29optjs The Daily Telegraph: Stephen Green, the chairman of HSBC, will step down from the bank within a year. http://tinyurl.com/2vklgrj The Times: The City watchdog scuppered a move by John Hyman, a leading Morgan Stanley banker, to Nomura, the Japanese bank. http://tinyurl.com/275tq4v Around Asia The Times: The leaders of Sony and Samsung, the world’s largest consumer electronics groups, will meet to discuss a possible partnership on LCD flat screens. http://tinyurl.com/2elmqlu Wall Street Journal: China's plan to upgrade its electricity network sparked intense competition among General Electric, Siemens and other foreign companies. http://tinyurl.com/28nsqpo Wall Street Journal: Reliance Industries and Reliance ADA Group, the firms owned by India's billionaire Ambani brothers, scrapped agreements preventing them from entering the same sectors. http://tinyurl.com/27hd97h Look ahead The Times: A cycle rental and storage scheme, backed by Abellio Group, whose parent company runs the Dutch railway, will open in Leeds in July. http://tinyurl.com/2c2qn7x Wall Street Journal: US Senate will conduct hearings this week examining the proposed merger of United Airlines parent UAL and Continental Airlines. http://tinyurl.com/242ksmq The Times: Spire Healthcare, owned by private equity firm Cinven, could be floated for nearly £1 billion ($2.2 billion) next year. http://tinyurl.com/2dqd3gv Unfinished business - last week wrapped up Last Monday Tidjane Thiam apologised to Pru shareholders as the insurer pushed ahead with largest rights issue in corporate history. http://tinyurl.com/2fxzvmg BA granted a High Court injunction to stop cabin crew strikes by the Unite union, delaying the first of four five-day strikes. http://tinyurl.com/2cumnye Tuesday US regulators announced new circuit breakers for individual stocks to tame market volatility in response to the May 6 "flash crash". http://tinyurl.com/282a954 The euro hit a new low against the dollar after Germany announced a surprise ban on naked short selling and a new tax on banks. http://tinyurl.com/2acrqcf Wednesday Markets fell and fears of a fresh financial meltdown rose in reaction to Germany’s surprise ban on risky trading practices by speculators. http://tinyurl.com/35vxm56 Democratic Senators stalled sweeping US legislation overhauling regulation of financial markets. http://tinyurl.com/35cmh58 Thursday Stock markets tumbled on both sides of the Atlantic and the euro came under new selling pressure as concerns mounted over the stability of the currency. http://tinyurl.com/2vyohm7 National Grid, the large UK utility firm, stunned the City by announcing a £3.2 billion ($4.6 billion) rights issue. http://tinyurl.com/2bdopzb Friday Germany's parliament approved a $1 trillion (£690 billion) safety net to stabilize the euro. http://tinyurl.com/2vzauhs Terra Firma, the private equity firm, bought the Ardrossan Windfarm in Ayrshire, Scotland, from Scottish & Southern Energy. http://tinyurl.com/2vz5tlu MARKETS FTSE 100 5,062.93 down 0.2% (Friday close) Dow 10,193.39 up 1.3% (close) S&P 500 1,087.69 up 1.5% (close) Nasdaq 2,229.04 up 1.1% (close) Nikkei 9,750.30 down 0.4% (latest) Hang Seng 19,470.28 down 0.4% (latest) Currencies Sterling $1.4474/1.1572 euros (latest) Euro $1.2508 (latest) Commodities Brent crude $71.34 down 34 cents (latest) West Texas crude $70.12 up 8 cents (latest) Gold $1182.80 up $6.70 (latest) New York Reuters: US stocks snapped a three-day losing streak on speculation the financial regulation Bill won't be as onerous as some had feared. Investment bank JP Morgan Chase rose 5.9 per cent and was the Dow's top boost and Bank of America rose 4.7 per cent. Banking giant Goldman Sachs rose 3.3 per cent on rumours of a possible settlement with regulators over fraud charges. Computer maker Dell fell 6.8 per cent a day after reporting disappointing results. Trading volume was strong but choppy throughout the session. http://tinyurl.com/333xeju Asia Bloomberg: Asian stocks fell in early trade as concern grew that mounting government debt in Europe will hurt economic growth. The euro weakened against the yen, causing falls in exporters to Europe. Samsung Electronics, the consumer electronics maker, fell 0.5 per cent in Seoul and Olympus, the camera maker, fell 1.9 per cent in Tokyo. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, the Japanese shipping company, rose 3.6 per cent on higher shipping fees. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.3 per cent to 111.64 in early trade. http://tinyurl.com/2f7pnu2 Michael Beh michaelwbeh@gmail.com |
