Welcome to today’s round-up of business news from The Times: what we’re saying, what they’re saying
Top stories
The Times: A leading economics think-tank released upbeat estimates for GDP growth in April and May and declared the end of the recession in Britain.
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New York Times: Kenneth R. Feinberg, a Washington lawyer, will oversee the pay of top executives at US companies that have received government assistance.
Daily Telegraph: The European Central Bank is watching 25 European banks in growing difficulties, fearing another wave of turmoil in 2010.
Comment
David Wighton in The Times: The positive signs in the economy may stem from the end of destocking , rather than an upturn in consumer demand.
Tom Stevenson in the Daily Telegraph: The Coppock indicator is the closest thing investors have to a signal that it’s safe to start buying again.
William Pesek on Bloomberg: If we are merely scaling the slope of a W-cycle, today’s bulls won’t be happy a few months from now.
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Upside
The Times: Chrysler, the bankrupt car maker, sold its assets to Fiat, the Italian carmaker, and will begin making small, fuel-efficient cars.
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Daily Telegraph: UK taxpayers’ £70 billion ($115 billion) investment in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group may be recouped by a new bond plan.
The Times: BP, the oil and gas giant, predicts global demand for oil will continue to fall in the coming years.
Downside
The Times: Royal Bank of Scotland plans to transfer thousands of its small business customers to a separate division because they are unprofitable.
Independent: Passenger numbers at Stansted fell 18.5 per cent last month, the largest drop for any of BAA’s seven UK airports.
The Times: J Sainsbury, Britain’s third-largest supermarket chain, lowered the cap on future executive bonuses despite performing strongly during the downturn.
Mergers and shakers
The Times: Northern Rock could be split into two businesses - retail deposit and mortgages - before the nationalised bank is sold.
Reuters: Palm, the maker of the new Pre phone and competitor to Apple’s iPhone, named former Apple executive Jon Rubinstein as its CEO .
The Times: Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways, will receive a 6 per cent pay rise despite the airline making record losses.
Around Asia
The Times: British groups BP, BG International and Premier Oil were shortlisted to bid for contracts to work on Iraq’s oil and gas fields.
New York Times: China is building stockpiles of commodities , causing increased prices, but this could limit the scale of global economic recovery.
Wall Street Journal: Japan has set an ambitious greenhouse-gas emissions target of 15 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020.
Look ahead
The Times: The competition investigation of the merger of ticketing giant Ticketmaster and live concert promoter Live Nation will be released in November .
Bloomberg: China’s auto stimulus package increased demand for new cars and customers face two-month waiting lists.
Reuters: Aircraft makers Boeing and Northrop are preparing to bid for the contract to build new US Air Force aerial tankers within weeks.
MARKETS
FTSE 100 4,436.75 up 0.7% (Wednesday close)
Dow 8,739.02 down 0.3% (close)
S&P 500 939.15 down 0.4% (close)
Nasdaq 1,853.08 down 0.4% (close)
Nikkei 9,993.26 steady (latest)
Hang Seng 18,849.32 up 3.4% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.641/1.1694 euros (latest)
Euro $1.4032 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $71.34 up 54 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $71.85 up 52 cents (latest)
Gold $956.10 up $1.40 (latest)
New York
Bloomberg: US stocks fell after a disappointing auction of 10-year Treasury notes. Continental Airlines, the fourth-biggest US carrier, fell 6 per cent and UAL, parent of United Airlines, fell 6.2 per cent on higher oil prices. Among finance companies, Wells Fargo, the second-largest US bank, fell 2.9 per cent and Morgan Stanley fell 5.6 per cent as yields on 10-year debt jumped to the highest since October. Wealth management and insurance company Ameriprise Financial fell 7.3 per cent after announcing a share sale. Citigroup, third-largest US bank, rose 2.1 per cent on a deal where common stock was swapped to preferred stock. CB Richard Ellis Group, the world’s largest commercial real estate broker, rose 14 per cent on a share sale.
Asia
Bloomberg: Most Asian stocks fell in morning trade, led by technology shares. Taiwan Semiconductor, the world’s largest supplier of made-to-order chips, fell 2.4 per cent on lower sales. Materials companies rose amid speculation steelmakers are ramping up production. Nippon Steel rose 4.6 per cent and Kobe Steel rose 2.7 per cent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has gained 17 per cent this year, lifting the average valuation of stocks in the gauge to 24 times estimated earnings. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.3 per cent to 104.26 in morning trade.
Michael Beh
London
PartyGaming rose 6 per cent as the US authorities cracked down on its US rivals for poker sites. 888 Holdings gained 6 per cent.
The FTSE 100 closed up 31.96 at 4436.75 as surging Chinese car sales and coal imports to fuel its steel mills helped lift commodity prices and mining and oil stocks and weakened the dollar.
BHP Billiton, up 39p at £15.34 was also helped by agreeing a 58 per cent cut in prices for coal with the world’s major steel mills which was not quite as deep as some had feared. Eurasian Natural Resources, the miner of ferrochrome used to make stainless steel, was one of the top performers, up 8 per cent after it posted in-line figures but showed that it was benefiting from the devalued Kazakhstan currency, the tenge. Thomas Cook lost 7 per cent as the company talked down the prospects of an imminent bid, with a placing of Arcandor’s 53 per cent stake looking more likely.
Robert Lindsay
AGENDA
Home Retail Group Plc trading
AEA Technology Plc prelims
Afren Plc AGM
Aminex Plc s/holders
Melrose Resources Plc AGM
Pacific Assets Trust Plc AGM
Polar Capital Technology Trust Plc prelims
Premier Farnell Plc Q1
Prezzo Plc AGM
W.S. Atkins Plc AGM
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