KILL THE COMPETITION
Welcome to today's round-up of business news from The Times: what we're saying, what they're saying, from Michael Beh
Tuesday, October 6, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: The European Commission wants Royal Bank of Scotland, the state-backed bank, to cut 10 per cent of its customers as the price for receiving state aid.
Wall Street Journal: Condé Nast Publications, the publishing giant, will cut four magazines from its roster including Gourmet, the prestigious food title.
The Times: The City regulator put itself at odds with the banks over tough new rules on safety buffer requirements.
Comment
David Wighton in The Times: The mood in the boardroom is very downbeat, with many business leaders sharing the same concern - unemployment.
Jeremy Warner in the Daily Telegraph: It's easy for nations to co-operate when self and common interests coincide, but these interests are diverging again.
Sean O'Grady in The Independent: No one is going to price a barrel of West Texas Intermediate Crude in renminbi tomorrow, but you can see how that could change.
Upside
The Times: Investment in London commercial property grew in the last quarter, growing in two consecutive quarters for the first time since mid-2007.
The Independent: Britain's information technology industry will create almost 80,000 jobs over the next four years, said Steve Ballmer, the boss of Microsoft.
The Times: Britain's services sector expanded at its fastest rate in two years in September.
Downside
The Times: The European Commission is gaining support for a Europe-wide carbon tax on road fuel.
The Independent: Arab states launched secret moves with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading.
New York Times: Many of the world's biggest jet-leasing companies are sinking in debt and scrambling for cash.
Mergers and shakers
The Times: Sir David Pepper, the former head the UK's top-secret listening post, was appointed as a senior adviser to Thales, the defence and aerospace giant.
The Daily Telegraph: Louis-Pierre Wenes, the deputy chief executive of France Telecom, resigned amid the fallout of 24 staff suicides.
The Times: Aviva will float a stake in its Delta Lloyd insurance subsidiary in the Netherlands, potentially raising €1 billion (£915 million, $1.5 billion).
Around Asia
Wall Street Journal: Rusal, the Russian aluminum giant, filed an application for an initial public offering of shares with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Bloomberg: Hong Kong's luxury home registrations almost tripled in value last month.
Wall Street Journal: Japan Airlines suspended its talks with rivals Delta Air Lines and AMR's American Airlines until a Japanese government report is completed.
Look ahead
The Times: Bank of America, the large US bank, could find a chief executive to succeed Kenneth Lewis as early as this week.
Wall Street Journal: The Public Private Investment Partnership, the US program designed to buy troubled mortgage-tied securities, will launch next week.
Reuters: Caterpillar, the world's largest maker of earth-moving equipment, will raise prices on most of its machinery by up to 2 per cent next year.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,024.33 up 0.7% (Monday close)
Dow 9,599.75 up 1.2% (close)
S&P 500 1,040.46 up 1.5% (close)
Nasdaq 2,068.15 up 1% (close)
Nikkei 9,675.00 steady (latest)
Hang Seng 20,578.14 up 0.7% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.5961/1.0865euros (latest)
Euro $1.469 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $68.08 up 4 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $70.46 up 5 cents (latest)
Gold $1020.10 up $2.30 (latest)
New York
Reuters: US stocks rose as optimism about upcoming earnings gathered steam. Among financial stocks, Wells Fargo rose 6.9 per cent and JPMorgan Chase rose 4.6 per cent after Goldman Sachs upgraded the large-cap bank sector. Aluminium company Alcoa rose 4.7 per cent ahead of its earnings report. On the Nasdaq, network equipment maker Brocade Communications Systems rose 18.8 per cent on reports it had put itself up for sale. Voice traffic carrier iBasis rose 7.5 per cent after a rise in the buyout offer from Dutch telecoms group KPN.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks rose in morning trade led by companies reliant on overseas sales. Nissan, Japan's No. 3 carmaker, rose 2.5 per cent and rival Honda rose 1.5 per cent. Mazda, Japan's No. 4 carmaker, rose 6 per cent after it narrowed its full-year loss forecast. James Hardie Industries, the biggest seller of home siding in the US, rose 3.5 per cent in Sydney. Rio Tinto, the world's third-biggest miner, rose 2 per cent and larger rival BHP Billiton rose 1.4 per cent on higher oil and metals prices. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.6 per cent to 114.36 in early trade.
Michael Beh
michaelwbeh@gmail.com
London
The FTSE-100 index of leading shares broke back through the 5,000 level yesterday as positive US economic data and a rise in mining and banking stocks bolstered investor confidence.
The index added 35.63 points to 5024.33, a 0.7 per cent rise, despite treading water earlier in the day. The gain, which was driven by higher expectations for mining and banking profits next year, ends a four-day losing streak.
Peter Stiff
Peter.Stiff@the-times.co.uk
