Welcome to today's round-up of business news from The Times: what we're saying, what they're saying, from Michael Beh
Monday, September 28, 0730 GMT
Top stories
The Times: The UK's big four auditing firms have been left exposed to negligence claims after the Government refused to limit further the damages they may face.
http://tinyurl.com/yauyoxu
The Daily Telegraph: Royal Bank of Scotland, the part-nationalised bank, was accused of bullying companies to sign it up for investment advice in return for loans.
http://tinyurl.com/y8od7ya
Financial Times: Inflation poses a greater threat to the UK than to any other developed country, market rates suggest.
http://tinyurl.com/y8pnork
Comment
Jamie Whyte in The Times: To ensure that bankers are paid just the right amount and not a penny more (or less), consider how lap dancers are paid.
http://tinyurl.com/ye6eepm
Roger Bootle in The Daily Telegraph: Thank heaven we didn't join the euro when Blair wanted us to.
http://tinyurl.com/y93q5d7
Caroline Baum on Bloomberg: Where are the bond trader gunslingers, ready at a moment's notice to punish the federal government for its profligate spending?
http://tinyurl.com/ydsglhw
Upside
The Times: Royal Bank of Scotland, the taxpayer-backed bank, plans to sell its asset management division but keep Coutts, the Royal Family's bank.
http://tinyurl.com/ya3wwuk
The Daily Telegraph: A clutch of Britain's leisure and retail companies are about to list on the stock market, potentially raising £10 billion ($16 billion).
http://tinyurl.com/ya6a4ej
The Times: Britain's business leaders urged whichever political party wins the general election to commit to balancing the country's books within six years.
http://tinyurl.com/yavytz6
Downside
The Times: Hedge funds and private equity groups beefed up their lobbying teams to fight proposed European legislation on disclosure.
http://tinyurl.com/ycutoww
The Daily Telegraph: The reform of Network Rail slowed after the chairman of the troubled transport firm declined to back proposals to reduce its 105 members.
http://tinyurl.com/yc78dk3
The Times: At least a quarter of the construction companies fined by the UK competition regulator for illegal collusion are preparing to fight the rulings.
http://tinyurl.com/ybkr7n7
Mergers and shakers
The Times: Orange, the mobile phone company, will announce a deal with Apple to sell its iPhone in the UK.
http://tinyurl.com/ya3ftoe
The Times: Ferrán Adrià, the culinary genius behind El Bulli, will head Spain's new tourist body to lure visitors back to the nation.
http://tinyurl.com/yeduluj
New York Times: Abbott Laboratories, the US drug maker, made a deal worth $6.6 billion (£4.2 billion) in cash for the drug unit of the Belgian company Solvay.
http://tinyurl.com/y8vv4ky
Around Asia
The Times: Rusal, the aluminium giant controlled by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, will float on the Hong Kong stock exchange at a value of $30 billion (£19 billion).
http://tinyurl.com/ycexdg8
Wall Street Journal: China's "green cities" powered by huge wind farms will use dozens of new coal-fired power plants as a backup.
http://tinyurl.com/y86ewjg
The Independent: China launched a formal inquiry into imports of chicken feet and wings from the US as the trade spat over tariffs intensified.
http://tinyurl.com/ye724em
Look ahead
The Times: ITV, the commercial broadcaster, will begin talks this week with front-runners for the job of chairman.
http://tinyurl.com/yc4bgh3
Independent: The International Monetary Fund summit will discuss the influence of developing economies over the world's financial affairs this week.
http://tinyurl.com/yc94sph
Bloomberg: British Airways, the UK carrier, is starting a business-class-only service from London to New York tomorrow.
http://tinyurl.com/yd5g3j7
Unfinished business - last week wrapped up
Last Monday
The financial condition of American International Group, the troubled insurance giant, stabilised because of the US government bailout.
http://tinyurl.com/nkx6we
Dell, the personal-computer maker, bought Perot Systems, which sells information-technology services, for $3.9 billion (£2.4 billion).
http://tinyurl.com/nv7nsf
Tuesday
The slide in the pound delivered Britain a surplus for the first time in living memory.
http://tinyurl.com/nurvxg
More than a hundred construction companies were fined nearly £130 million ($213 million) after illegally colluding in bids.
http://tinyurl.com/m53gmr
Wednesday
The US Federal Reserve decided to hold interest rates at close to zero per cent, but acknowledged that an economic recovery was under way.
http://tinyurl.com/m4v6ma
China Investment Corp., China's sovereign-wealth fund, invested $1.9 billion (£1.2 billion) in PT Bumi Resources, the Indonesian coal producer.
http://tinyurl.com/kv5nvh
Thursday
Waitrose, the employee-owned retailer, sealed a deal with Boots, the health retailer, to sell its food as it makes move into the convenience market.
http://tinyurl.com/ye7wcl9
US existing-home sales fell by 2.7 per cent in August after rising for four months.
http://tinyurl.com/yad22y3
Friday
Twenty-two large banks in Europe have accumulated credit losses of close to €400 billion ($587 billion, £370 billion).
http://tinyurl.com/yethyek
Toyota, the car maker, raised its global sales forecast for the year to March 2010 by 3 per cent.
http://tinyurl.com/ybv7sd5
MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,082.20 up 0.1% (Friday close)
Dow 9,665.19 down 0.4% (close)
S&P 500 1,044.38 down 0.6% (close)
Nasdaq 2,090.92 down 0.8% (close)
Nikkei 10,023.99 down 2.4% (latest)
Hang Seng 20,791.51 down 1.1% (latest)
Currencies
Sterling $1.5803/1.0828 euros (latest)
Euro $1.4595 (latest)
Commodities
Brent crude $64.90 down 21 cents (latest)
West Texas crude $65.83 down 19 cents (latest)
Gold $993.60 up $2.00(latest)
New York
Bloomberg: US stocks fell as disappointing data on durable goods orders and home sales overshadowed improvements in consumer confidence. Electrical and services giant General Electric fell 1.3 per cent, aluminium maker Alcoa fell 3.2 per cent and credit company American Express fell 2.3 per cent on a drop in bookings for goods meant to last several years. Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, fell 17 per cent on a disappointing sales forecast. Among finance stocks, Bank of America fell 2.2 per cent and Citigroup fell 1.1 per cent on speculation bailouts for large banks will end.
http://tinyurl.com/yczauur
Asia
Bloomberg: Asian stocks fell in early trade after orders for US durable goods unexpectedly dropped and the yen appreciated against the dollar. Toyota, the world's largest carmaker, fell 3.8 per cent, rival Honda fell 5.3 per cent and, in Australia, James Hardie Industries, the biggest seller of home siding in the US, fell 1.2 per cent. Mitsui OSK Lines, Japan's No. 2 shipping company, fell 6 per cent on disappointing results. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Japan's biggest listed bank, fell 2.6 per cent on an investment to brace unit UnionBanCal from loan losses. Astro, a maker of gaming machine software, fell 7 per cent in Taipei after residents voted against building casinos. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 1.7 per cent to 115.82 in morning trade.
http://tinyurl.com/yaxmlxa
Michael Beh
michaelwbeh@gmail.com
