Business News Headlines.
Markets fall as investors run scared
Markets fell in American and Asia as investors continued to worry about the state of the world economy. In the US the Dow Industrials Average fell 176 points on concerns over the health of automaker GM and corporate concerns spilled over into Asian trading with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index losing 1.7 per cent. Companies across the region declined, with Japan's Inpex down three per cent, as oil traded near its recent low, and Fortescue Metals slumping 11 per cent in Australia. In the UK the FTSE 100 index opened up nearly two cent on an improvement in US futures.
A trillion reasons to be gloomy about the economy 
Pound hits low on gilts sales
Sterling fell to a 12-year low against world currencies yesterday, including a new low against the euro, reported the Financial Times. Over the past two months there has been an exodus from gilts, corporate bonds, bills and mortgage securities, according to figures from Bank of New York Mellon, which has seen the pound weaken. The bank attributed the decline to worries about the UK economy, which is expected to see "the worst recession of all the G7 nations" and the cost to the government of its bank bail-out.
Cash was king - now gold is God
New Barclays funding hits problems
Some of the biggest shareholders in Barclays have threatened to vote against its £7bn Middle East capital raising unless it improves the deal, said the Financial Times. Investors including Legal & General and Aviva are "pushing" the bank to better the deal's terms or face up to a number of dissenting voices in the investment community. Barclays has indicated that it is now to consider the issue and on Friday members of the Association of British Insurers will meet senior Barclays executives, including its chairman.
Credit crunch bail-outs are a threat to democracy
5,000 job to go in UK slowdown
More than 5,000 job losses were announced yesterday by a variety of UK companies, as the City awaited new unemployment figures, reported the Independent. Virgin Media, Yell and GlaxoSmithKline all announced big staff cuts, with "almost every corner of the economy" experiencing problems. It is expected that official figures will show that the largest amount of people are out of work for a decade, a number "well on track to exceed 2m by Christmas". Some forecasters even expect the figure to top 3m by 2010.
The Mole: will brown be bounced into an early election?
InterContinental warns on trading
InterContinental Hotels Group has warned of a "sharp deterioration" in its trading in recent weeks, reported the Guardian. Chief executive Andy Cosslett said that early data showed global revenue per available room had declined 4.5 per cent in October, with its InterContinental brand worst hit, while Holiday Inn did better. It is also struggling to expand as franchisees "struggle to secure credit for hotel openings". Most of the group's hotels are owned by franchisees, who pay royalties, meaning expansion is key for the group.
Travel pages: featuring the world's best hotels
GM seen as too big to fail
The Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has added her voice to those who claim that troubled automaker General Motors is "too big to be allowed to fail", reported Bloomberg.com. She has added her support as a result of fears that to allow GM to fail would create a "domino effect" which would cost the economy millions of jobs. Analysts also believe that Ford and Chrysler would also be forced to the wall if GM failed. GM, Ford and Chrysler have indicated that they need $50bn of government loans to keep trading.
Are GM, Ford and Chrysler too big to fail?
...in brief..................
Merrill downbeat and Taylor Wimpey reveals poor business
The head of Merrill Lynch added his voice to those predicting economic gloom yesterday, when he likened the current slowdown to the period after the 1929 crash. At the company's annual conference he said that the US was contracting "very rapidly"…………
Richard Branson's Virgin Media is set to cut 15 per cent of its workforce over the course of the next four years, said the Independent. It says the restructuring is "critical", as the company struggles to improve profitability in the face of the slowdown in the UK economy…………
The US government yesterday unveiled an extensive programme of aid for struggling homeowners. Its "Streamlined Loan Modification" plan will force lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to change the rate and length of problem mortgages, from December 15th…………
America braced for next mortgage crisis
Supermarket giant Tesco has had to slow the rollout of its new Fresh & Easy business in the US, senior executives have told the Times. The slowdown in the American economy means that plans to expand within California "could be put on hold", as recession bites…………
Credit card companies have been criticised by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, over claims that they were exploiting vulnerable customers. He called for a "responsible approach" as some companies took the opportunity to raise rates, even as the base rate was declining…………
The Bank of England's desperate bid for relevance
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey has revealed that its order book has fallen 40 per cent for the first 44 months of the year. Average prices are 15 per cent down, in conditions which the company calls "extremely challenging", with its shares having fallen 93 per cent in the last year…………
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