Welcome to today's round-up of business news from The Times: what we're
saying, what they're saying
Top stories
The Times: World stock markets soared in their biggest
one-day advance for 19 years as countries across four continents bailed
out stricken banks.
The Times: President Bush will announce today Washington will use $250
billion (£143 billion) of its $700 billion (£400 billion) rescue fund to seize
stakes in nine of the US's biggest banks.
The Times: Thousands of Royal Bank of Scotland jobs, mostly in Britain,
are under threat as it cuts its
global markets and investment banking division.
Comment
David Wighton in The Times: The Government is trying to have it both
ways as Ministers solve the puzzle
of whether two of the country's biggest financial institutions are arms of
the state.
Steve Lohr in the New York Times: The United States has a culture that
celebrates laissez-faire capitalism as the economic ideal, yet the
practice has strayed at times in banking history.
Gerard Baker in The Times: Reviled and lampooned in his own country
over the past few months, Gordon Brown is now the toast
of the world for offering a thaw in the financial markets.
Upside
The Times: A £100 million ($175 million) loan by Britain to an
Icelandic bank could pave the way for a prompt
compensation deal for Icesave depositors in Britain.
The New York Times: Tumbling prices
for many of the world economy's raw ingredients provide the brightest
economic news on the horizon for consumers.
The Times: Shares in TUI Travel, the FTSE 100 owner of the Thomson and
First Choice brands, jumped after
its majority German owner said it was considering taking the company
private.
Downside
The Times: Three of British banking's senior figures fell
on their swords . Sir Fred Goodwin is quitting as Royal Bank of Scotland
chief executive while the chief executive and chairman of HBOS also
announced plans to leave.
Daily Telegraph: A member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy
Committee has warned the chances of
a severe downturn in the UK had risen over the past month.
Daily Telegraph: Barclays, pushing through its own fundraising without
government support, predicts state
ownership of rival banks will leave them "hobbled".
Mergers and shakers
The Times: Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's biggest bank, has
agreed in last-minute negotiations to pour £5 billion ($9 billion) into
Morgan Stanley, the embattled Wall Street investment bank.
The Times: Retailer Ocado, still to break into the black, is moving
into toys as it makes a play for a bigger part of the online retail
market.
The Times: Gordon Brown has created two
new kings of British banking: Stephen Hester will clean up the Royal
Bank of Scotland while Eric Daniels, of Lloyds TSB, becomes the
longest-serving chief executive of a British bank when Sir Fred Goodwin
leaves RBS.
Around Asia
The Times: Asian politicians and bankers could
meet this weekend in an Asian version of the meeting in Washington last
weekend.
Financial Times: China's trade surplus hit
a record $29.3 billion last month as exporters defied forecasts of
falling international demand - for the moment.
Bloomberg: Australia will fund a $A10.4 billion (£4.2 billion, $7.3
billion) spending package to boost
the economy with almost half on lump-sum payments to the elderly.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 4,256.9 up 8.3% (Monday close)
Dow 9,387.61 up 11.1% (close)
S&P 500 1,003.35 up 11.6% (close)
Nasdaq 1,844.25 up 11.8% (close)
Nikkei 9,355.56 up 13% (latest)
Hang Seng 16,883.57 up 3.5% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.7506/1.2789euros (latest)
Euro $1.3689 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $79.04 up $1.58 (latest)
West Texas crude $83.24 up $2.05 (latest)
Gold $851.50 up $9 (latest)
New York
Reuters: Wall Street roared
back from its worst week ever with one of its best single days yesterday as
governments pledged to pour cash into struggling banks to restore confidence
in a rocky global financial system. Bargain-hunting investors scoured the
wreckage from eight days of losses that had taken more than 20 per cent off
the value of the benchmark S&P 500. Health care, utility and energy stocks
rose the most in what was the first day of gains this month for the Dow and
S&P 500.
Morgan Stanley drove the rally in financial shares, soaring 87 per
cent, after Mitsubishi UFJ Financial completed its $9 billion
investment in the US bank as US government support helped nail down a
critical deal many investors had feared could fall apart. Wachovia
climbed 13.6 per cent after the Federal Reserve approved the $12.46 billion
takeover of the US bank by Wells Fargo & Co.
The Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index, one of the broadest measures of stocks,
posted its largest percentage gain yet, closing up 1040.13 points, or 11.4
per cent, to 10,160.63. General Motors jumped 33.1 per cent after
reports that the automaker had been in merger talks with rivals Chrysler
LLC and Ford, whose shares surged 20.1 per cent. Defensive and
consumer staples stocks rose as investors picked up shares in companies
generally considered better positioned to weather an economic downturn. Johnson
& Johnson rose 12.2 per cent. Among tech shares, Apple was up
13.9 per cent after Citigroup raised its recommendation on the US technology
hardware and equipment sector to "market weight" from "underweight". Microsoft
gained 18.6 per cent. Energy companies tracked the price of oil higher. Exxon
Mobil gained 17.2 per cent and Chevron climbed 20.9 per cent.
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks surged
in morning trade on the back of the bank stakes plan. Japan's Nikkei had its
biggest gain on record after US and European governments agreed to buy
stakes in banks. The Nikkei jumped 13.4 per cent in morning trade,
rebounding from the worst week in its 59-year history. Toyota,
Japan's largest automaker, jumped 15 per cent while Honda gained 16
per cent. Sony, the world's second largest consumer electric maker,
gained 17 per cent, the steepest gain on record while Mitsubishi UFJ
Financial Group climbed more than 14 per cent after securing an
additional $300 million in annual dividends for its investment in Morgan
Stanley. National Australia Bank added 9.8 per cent after the
Australian Government announced a $7.3 billion stimulus package. BHP
Billiton, the world's largest mining company, gained 5.4 per cent while
rival Rio Tinto advanced 6.1 per cent. Inpex, Japan's biggest
oil explorer, surged 7.9 per cent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 8.8 per
cent in morning trade.
Myles McIvor
mjclub@bigpond.com.au
London
HBOS fell 28 per cent, Lloyds TSB 14 per cent and RBS 8
per cent after all three banks issued effective profit warnings. Lloyds also
cut the size of its offer to take over HBOS.
Hammerson and Land Securities were down 0.8 and 0.5 per cent
respectively amid fears the property sector would be left without financiers
prepared to roll over their debts following the nationalisation of most of
the banks.
Taylor Wimpey lost 14 per cent amid fears nationalised banks would not
forgive its debt.
Trinity Mirror fell 5 per cent after a survey by the Institute of
Practitioners in Advertising showed marketing departments making massive
budget cuts in the third quarter. It was also hit by poor national newspaper
circulation figures released Friday and by Morgan Stanley warning its
earnings were one of the most exposed to its pension deficit.
Robert Lindsay
robert.lindsay@thetimes.co.uk
AGENDA
PRELIMINARIES
Bellway
Connaught
Imperial Innovations
Matchtech
Next Fifteen Communications Group
FINALS
Asian Citrus Holdings
INTERIMS
Cadbury
Whitbread
TRADING STATEMENTS
Burberry Group
Cadbury
Carphone Warehouse
Northern Rock - Q3
Private & Commercial Finance
SABMiller
SSL
AGMs
Northern Recruitment
EGMs
Spirent Communications
OTHER
Consumer Price Indices including inflation target - September
Producer Prices - September
House Price Index - Department for Communities and Local Government statistics
RICS Housing Market Survey
British Retail Consortium Retail Sales Monitor
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