...the main business headlines..........
Asian markets continue recovery
The FTSE 100 opened over one per cent higher after markets rose in Asia overnight, reported Bloomberg.com. The region responded as the South Korean government announced the region's largest financial rescue package. Hana Financial Group, owner of the country's fourth-biggest bank, "surged" in South Korea and the buying spread across the region with BHP Billiton climbing in Australia on speculation that OPEC will reach an agreement on curbing output. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 2.7 per cent in Tokyo afternoon trade.
Peregrine Worsthorne: City hacks are as guilty as the bankers 
Nationalisation: why stop at the banks?
ING latest to receive cash injection
Dutch banking and insurance group ING took a 10bn euro injection of capital from the Dutch government on Sunday, reported the Financial Times. The funds were needed after the group reported its first quarterly loss and it shareprice plumbed new depths. The government is to buy subordinated bonds, which will increase the insurer's key Tier 1 capital, but have no voting rights and do not contribute to dilution for ordinary shareholders. The Dutch government was at pains to emphasise that the company was not on the verge of failure.
Nationalisation: why stop at the banks?
UK ‘already in recession’
The chief economist at Ernst & Young claims that the UK is already in a recession which will last for a year, reported the Independent. In the forecast from the closely-watched Ernst & Young item Club, which uses the same model as the Treasury, Peter Spencer says that the economy will contract for three more quarters before bottoming "in the second half of next year" and recovering only weakly in 2010. As a result GDP will decline by one per cent in 2009, the first negative growth since 1992, and will increase by one per cent in 2010.
GM, Ford and Chrysler: a nationalisation too far?
Newsdesk: economic slump 'sets in for next three years'
French bankers resign over scandal
Top executives at French bank Caisse d’Epargne resigned last night after it lost £500m in a derivatives trading scandal, said the Daily Telegraph. Chairman Charles Milhaud accepted “full responsibility” for the debacle and the chief executive and finance head left the company too. The team of traders responsible for the derivatives losses were fired, after allegedly ignoring trading limits. Nearly half France's savers use the bank, which is in merger talks with Banque Populaire to create the country’s second-biggest retail bank.
Nationalisation: why stop at the banks?
Banks drag feet on repossessions
The government is meeting resistance in its efforts to help homeowners avoid repossession, reported the Financial Times. Judges are opposing requests from justice secretary Jack Straw to give those in default on their mortgages more time to pay or to be permitted to change the repayment terms. At present credit card borrowers are offered "stronger protections" in UK law than mortgage holders, allowing them too request modified terms from the courts, while home loan criteria are "much more restricted".
Americans: Sheriff Dart defies the banks
In pictures: America's new Depression
Prudential considers AIG bid
Prudential, Britain's second-biggest insurance company, is looking at selling a 20 per cent stake in order to fund a bid for part of AIG, reported the Times. The group has appointed Credit Suisse to advise it in talks with potential investors in Asia and the Gulf as it looks to expand through the purchase of "parts of AIG's business in Asia". The businesses are being divested as a result of the insurer's $85bn emergency bail-out by the US government. Prudential reports its third-quarter new business figures tomorrow.
America enters a new Depression
...in brief..................
Chinese growth drags and gold spending surges
Chinese growth fell to single digit levels in the third quarter for the first time in four years. Annual GDP growth in the third quarter fell from 10.1 per cent in the second, forcing the government to take measures like tax cuts and increased spending to improve growth…………
Newsdesk: China growth rates fall
Retailer Marks & Spencer has started consultation with staff as it looks at cutting up to 100 jobs in its store design and development and property teams, said the Daily Telegraph. The cuts come in the wake of the 6.1 per cent drop in like-for-like sales reported earlier this month…………
M&S's Sir Stuart Rose: from hero to zero
Private-equity group CVC has joined forces with Swiss Re, the world’s largest reinsurer, to bid for the insurance division of Royal Bank of Scotland, said the Times. The bid would involve Direct Line and Churchill, and would value the combined unit at “more than £6bn”…………
HSBC is said to be considering whether or not to buy back its Canary Wharf headquarters at up to £300m less than the amount that Spanish property company Metrovacesa paid last year. The company has been adversely affected by the property slump in Spain…………
It has emerged that Sir Alan Sugar, who declared a 3.88 per cent stake in high street retailer Woolworths last week, has not taken delivery of the shares after all. The Stock exchange announced that the seller could not provide the shares, leading to speculation Baugur was involved…………
Spending on gold reached $2.8bn in the third quarter this year, as investors exited world stock markets. The World Gold Council reported that 145 tonnes of the metal were bought in the three months to September as the amount of gold held hit 1000 tonnes for the first time…………
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