 | May 3, 2010 |
Kill the Competition: Greece austerity ... Airlines merge ... Mining taxTop storiesThe Times: Greece agreed to a new package of austerity measures, clearing the way for a €110 billion (£96 billion, $146 billion) bailout loan. http://tinyurl.com/2ap5dpg Wall Street Journal: UAL's United Airlines and Continental Airlines agreed to merge in a deal that will create the world's largest airline. http://tinyurl.com/22ra3um The Times: A new Australian tax will force some of the biggest miners listed in London to hand over 40 per cent of profits made on their Australian operations. http://tinyurl.com/2c33z4m Comment Sathnam Sanghera in The Times: It really is strange how skilled labour is not valued, when vocational workers are said to feel more appreciated in their work. http://tinyurl.com/2d5uhn6 Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in The Daily Telegraph: Monetary union has delivered a "German Europe" after all. http://tinyurl.com/29hly77 Stephen King in The Independent: In reality, British society is increasingly at the mercy of events elsewhere in the world. http://tinyurl.com/24wjvcs Upside Wall Street Journal: Apple’s iPad 3G, its tablet computer with cellular capabilities, sold quickly in its debut weekend. http://tinyurl.com/2a9j8pn The Independent: Mitchells & Butlers, the pub and restaurant group, hired Sapient Corporate Finance, the advisory firm, to sell hundreds of pubs. http://tinyurl.com/2a4c59m Wall Street Journal: US auto sales continued to rise in April as attractive discounts brought more consumers into showrooms. http://tinyurl.com/2fpsn6t Downside The Times: The number of UK hotel companies going bust jumped by 61 per cent to 122 last year after a slump in business travel. http://tinyurl.com/2c8hg9w The Independent: Britain's housing-market recovery is in danger of grinding to a halt, Hometrack, a leading property analyst, warned. http://tinyurl.com/2bdqnh4 Wall Street Journal: The US banking regulator warned that planned laws forcing banks to spin off their derivatives businesses could destabilise the financial sector. http://tinyurl.com/2cpy2z4 Mergers and shakers The Times: Effective Cosmetics Retail, the cosmetics business previously owned by Virgin, was liquidated still owing £3.3 million. http://tinyurl.com/2cfs44v The Daily Telegraph: Glencore, the secretive Swiss firm, plans to merge with Xstrata to create a £55 billion ($84 billion) global mining and commodity-trading powerhouse. http://tinyurl.com/2dsoe3 Wall Street Journal: Norsk Hydro, the Norwegian aluminium producer, will pay $4.9 billion (£3.2 billion) to take over mining firm Vale's aluminum operations in Brazil. http://tinyurl.com/29v8suk Around Asia Wall Street Journal: China's central bank ordered the nation’s banks to set aside more of their deposits on reserve for the third time this year. http://tinyurl.com/2dn7q2n Bloomberg: Swire Properties, landlord to Societe Generale in Hong Kong, hopes to raise HK$21 billion (£1.8 billion, $2.7 billion) in a share offering. http://tinyurl.com/2873r6b Bloomberg: More than 433,000 people visited Shanghai’s $44 billion (£29 billion) World Expo on its first weekend. http://tinyurl.com/26l8qan Look ahead The Times: The Original Factory Shop expects to create up to 1,000 jobs this year as the non-food convenience retailer steps up its store opening programme. http://tinyurl.com/2gycjb3 The Independent: The European Parliament is expected to shift the deadline for power station emissions cuts applying to the UK from 2015 to mid-2019. http://tinyurl.com/239xz2u Bloomberg: Markit iTraxx SovX Asia Pacific index, Asia’s newest bond risk benchmark and only purely sovereign index, begins trading tomorrow. http://tinyurl.com/28yd2zk Unfinished business - last week wrapped up Last Monday A court heard that four British Airways executives fixed the price of fuel surcharges in a secret deal with rival airline Virgin Atlantic. http://tinyurl.com/22l4b8g Republicans delayed financial regulation legislation in the US Senate, throwing sweeping overhauls into a period of uncertainty. http://tinyurl.com/233lprf Tuesday US Senators extensively questioned senior Goldman Sachs executives who defended their actions in selling complex mortgage-related investments. http://tinyurl.com/2fwd8ga Investors fled financial markets on news that Greek Government sovereign bonds had been declared as junk by Standard & Poors, a leading rating agency. http://tinyurl.com/2ddgpo3 Wednesday 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 Hewlett-Packard, the computer giant, bought Palm, the smartphone maker, for about $1 billion (£660 million) in a surprise deal. http://tinyurl.com/2556hq3 Thursday Austerity measures will be so unpopular that the election winner will not get back into government for a generation, said the Governor of the Bank of England. http://tinyurl.com/2csl7dd The Greek Government agreed to a draft outline of a €24 billion (£21 billion, $32 billion) rescue package. http://tinyurl.com/29rrobs Friday Essar Energy joined the FTSE 100 after the Indian oil and gas firm’s share offer brought in £1.3 billion ($2 billion). http://tinyurl.com/2b46a2t Shareholders in Barclays, the investment bank, approved a salary and bonuses pool of £1.4 billion ($2.1 billion) after quarterly profits soared 62 per cent. http://tinyurl.com/3abqaem MARKETS FTSE 100 5,553.29 down 1.2% (Friday close) Dow 11,008.61 down 1.4% (close) S&P 500 1,186.69 down 1.7% (close) Nasdaq 2,461.19 down 2% (close) Nikkei 11,057.40 up 1.2% (Friday close, Monday closed for a holiday) Hang Seng 20,860.95 down 1.2% (latest) Currencies Sterling $1.526/1.1537 euros (latest) Euro $1.3227 (latest) Commodities Brent crude $87.46 up 2 cents (latest) West Texas crude $86.23 up 8 cents (latest) Gold $1179.00 down 1.70 (latest) New York Reuters: US stocks tumbled to close out the worst week since January as news of a criminal probe into Goldman Sachs, the investment bank, unnerved investors. Goldman Sachs fell 9.4 per cent. For the week, the Dow fell 1.2 per cent, the S&P 500 fell 2.5 per cent and the Nasdaq fell 2.7 per cent. The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continued to weigh on the market. Companies involved in the incident declined. Halliburton fell 3 per cent and Transocean fell 7.7 per cent. Among chip makers, Intel fell 2.8 per cent, Micron Technology fell 8.4 per cent and Advanced Micro Devices fell 6.8 per cent on fears about excess semiconductor supply. MEMC Electronic Materials, provider of silicon wafers to semiconductor makers, fell 18.6 per cent a day after reporting disappointing results. McAfee, the security software maker, fell 12.1 per cent on lower second-quarter forecasts. http://tinyurl.com/2ab2gbc Asia Bloomberg: Asian stocks fell in morning trade after China ordered banks to set aside more funds as reserves and Australia boosted taxes on commodity producers. Asia’s emerging-market currencies weakened and copper prices fell. BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest miner, fell 2.5 per cent and rival Rio Tinto fell 3.3 per cent after Australia announced a new tax on miners. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the world’s largest lender by market value, fell 1.6 per cent and China Construction Bank fell 1.4 per cent on news the reserve requirement for the China’s biggest banks would increase by 50 basis points. The MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index fell 0.9 per cent to 423.97 in early trade. Markets are closed today in Japan, China, Thailand and the Philippines. http://tinyurl.com/2bl4cpl Michael Beh michaelwbeh@gmail.com |
