Welcome to today’s round-up of business news from The Times: what we’re saying, what they’re saying, what you should be thinking
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The New York Times: Warren Buffett offered to shore up $800 billion (£408 billion) of municipal bonds guaranteed by MBIA, Ambac and FGIC — the biggest bond insurers — in return for a steep premium.
The Times: Alistair Darling made clear that there was no intention to tax foreigners domiciled in Britain on foreign income or gains not sent to the UK in his second recent big U-turn.
Financial Times: Bidders for Northern Rock were told to improve their offers or face the prospect of the ailing bank being nationalised.
From the commentators
Carl Mortished in The Times: What is Britain’s future: in services or in manufacturing? What is the Ultimate Selling Proposition of UK plc? The non-doms, human and corporate, want an answer.
Lex in Financial Times: Mr Buffett addresses the easy part. How to deal with the ‘bad book’ of bond insurance business remains as elusive as ever.
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Jeremy Warner in The Independent: The non-dom policy was a piece of flagrant populism, stolen from the Tories at a time when the Government was considering a snap election.
Good day
The Guardian: Credit Suisse reported record net earnings of SwFr8.55 billion (£3.97 billion) last year despite encountering severe problems in investment banking and asset management in the final quarter
The Independent: Omnifone, the British firm, launched a mobile phone with unlimited music download services direct to the handset, beating its big rivals Apple and Nokia.
The Guardian: A sharp increase in the number of female gamers has helped internet gaming company 888 Holdings to a 55 per cent increase in fourth-quarter revenues.
Bad day
The Times: The European Commission mounted a raid on offices of DSG International, the electricals retailer, as part of a multimillion-pound investigation into market abuse.
Reuters: General Motors said that it would offer a new round of buyouts to all of its US factory workers as it reported a fourth-quarter loss of $722 million (£368 million).
The Independent: CPI inflation rose marginally to 2.2 per cent in January, official figures showed, prompting renewed calls for aggressive interest rate cuts.
Mergers and shakers
The Times: Pickfords, Britain’s oldest and largest removals company, is on the verge of a fire sale to avoid a funding crisis that would put up to 1,300 jobs at risk.
The Wall Street Journal: The $6.1 billion (£3.1 billion) plan to bring Delphi, the auto-parts supplier, out of bankruptcy protection may be in jeopardy as lenders struggle to syndicate loans.
Reuters: The asset manager Legg Mason, Yahoo!’s second-biggest investor, urged Microsoft to raise its $42 billion (£21.4 billion) bid and warned the internet pioneer that it had few options left.
Around Asia
Bloomberg: Japan’s wholesale prices rose at the fastest rate in 27 years, led by higher oil and wheat costs that are spurring inflation as the economy cools.
The Nikkei: Fujifilm Holdings agreed to buy Toyama Chemical for as much as 154.6 billion yen (£736 million, $1.4 billion) to control a company developing the first new class of anti-flu drug in a decade.
Bloomberg: Asian currencies rose, with Taiwan’s dollar reaching a 20 month-high, on speculation investors are regaining their appetite for emerging-market assets.
Coming up
The Wall Street Journal: Jerker Johansson, a Morgan Stanley executive, is expected to be named chief executive of UBS’s investment-banking operation.
Financial Times: The shareholders of IKB are scheduled to meet on Wednesday to decide whether to approve a government-backed bailout or allow the German bank to fail.
The Daily Telegraph: The market will be watching Rio Tinto for signs of weakness this morning as it reveals annual profits that are expected to be marginally down on last year.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,910.00 up 3.5% (Tuesday close)
Dow 12,373.41 up 1.1% (close)
S&P 500 1,348.86 up 0.7% (close)
Nasdaq 2,320.04 down 0.02 of a point (close)
Nikkei 13,130.10 up 0.8% (latest)
Hang Seng 23,436.16 up 2.2% (latest)
Sterling $1.9586 (latest)
West Texas crude $92.91 up 13 cents (latest)
Gold $908.40 down $2.70 (latest)
New York
Reuters: The Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 rose after Warren Buffett’s rescue offer to bond insurers. The move allayed fears that banks would be forced to write down the value of assets insured by the firms. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.1 per cent and the S&P 500 gained 0.7 per cent. The Nasdaq lost 0.02 of a point.
Asia
Bloomberg: Shipping lines and commodity producers led Asian stocks higher for a second day on speculation that a rally in sea-cargo rates and metal prices will weather a global slowdown. BHP Billiton climbed to a one-week high after metal prices gained for a fifth day in London. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index had risen 1.2 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei was up 0.8 per cent in intraday trading.
Paul Larter
London
DSG International, the owner of Dixons, Currys and PC World, fell 0.75p to a 12 year low of 69p.
Credit Suisse, which correctly predicted DSG’s January warning, cut its profit forecasts amid fears of continued weak trading. EU competition officials raided its retail support centre as part of a Europe wide probe into Intel, the chip maker.
The FTSE 100 soared 202.3 to 5910 buoyed, alongside other European markets, by Warren Buffett declaring that his Berkshire Hathaway vehicle had offered to reinsure up to $800 billion (£408 billion) in municipal bonds for the troubled US bond insurers.
Barclays gained 26.5p to 455.75p, Old Mutual 6.9p to 123.4p, Legal & General 7p to 127.1p and HBOS 37p to 673p.
Even Resolution bounced up 13.5p to 685.5p after its 44p Monday fall triggered by predator Pearl delaying its takeover. Traders warned that FSA approval was a condition of the deal so there is little to stop Pearl pulling out of its 720p bid - agreed when the market was stronger - and then offering much less a year later.
Admiral Group lost 1.12p to 924p. It reinsures through Munich Re, whose Frankfurt shares were under pressure yesterday following AIG’s Monday warning.
Miners were helped by platinum touching a record high and copper rising. Lonmin was up 194p at £33, Vedanta Resources, with no South African exposure, gained 128p to £20.22. Rio Tinto lifted 283p to £55.23 ahead of results which are expected to be strong. Rank Group edged down 0.75p to 98.5p after JP Morgan said investors should take profit above 110p.
Robert Lindsay
AGENDA
INTERIMS
British Energy (Q3)
Computershare
Morse
FINALS
Bradford & Bingley
Lancashire Holdings
Liberty International
Reckitt Benckiser
Rio Tinto
Smurfit Kappa
AGMs
Holidaybreak
EGMs
None scheduled
TRADING STATEMENT
Umeco
ECONOMICS/COMMODITIES
UK RICS house price balance (0001 GMT)
Monthly oil report from International Energy Agency (0900 GMT)
UK labour market data (0930 GMT)
BoE Inflation Report (1030 GMT)
Weekly US fuel inventory data from the EIA (1530 GMT)
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