BUSINESS HEADLINES.
US recovery sparks global gains
After shares in the US staged a recovery in the last hour of trading, markets in Asia gained, to erase some of their week's losses. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index closed 6.9 per cent higher yesterday, after a rebound in oil prices pushed up the price of energy stocks. In Asia the MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 1.2 per cent after a three-day slump of nearly nine per cent, with Tokyo's Nikkei 225 Index putting on 2.8 per cent and China's CSI 300 Index gaining 1.8 per cent. Miners and steelmakers moved ahead and in the UK the FTSE 100 reacted with a three per cent gain in early trading.
After the credit crunch, what next for the world? 
Barclays fails to re-price share deal
The group of Middle Eastern investors set to buy a tranche of shares in Barclays have refused to budge on the terms, reported the Daily Telegraph. The impasse is likely to lead to a "head-on collision" with a group of Barclays shareholders who believe that the deal to buy a 31 per cent stake for £5.bn hands control to the new investors. Now "time has almost run out" for Barclays, with chairman Marcus Agius to meet large shareholders at the Association of British Insurers. Few expect any changes to be reported, however.
People: bank crisis favours Amanda Staveley
Prime Minister calls for stimulus
Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged the world's biggest countries to take part in "urgent" fiscal stimulus moves last night, reported the Financial Times. He was in New York, having meetings with top economists, including Nobel economics prize winner Paul Krugman, who has called Brown the potential "saviour" of the global financial system. Krugman himself called for a $600bn injection into the US economy, which, if replicated in the UK, could result in a £60bn boost being announced in the pre-Budget report.
Newsdesk: Brown calls for coordinated action
Housing market worse than thought
Rightmove, the online estate agent, warned that house prices in the UK have fallen "far further" than official data suggest, reported the Independent. The company revealed that 300 agents were leaving it every month, suggesting things are worse than thought. While the latest figures from Halifax show that prices are down 15 per cent from the peak, Rightmove said that the falls were in fact "up to two-thirds higher". This 20-25 per cent drop from the peak "has not come out in the national indices". Rightmove is itself cutting a fifth of its workforce.
A trillion reasons to be gloomy about the economy
Easyjet and Virgin back Gatwick bid
Easyjet and Virgin Atlantic are joining forces to back a £2.5bn bid for Gatwick Airport, reported the Times. The airlines are in talks with financial backers, with the aim of forming a consortium which would see the carriers pledging to base large numbers of aircraft at Gatwick to "ensure its future income". BAA has had to put Gatwick up for sale, following a Competition Commission enquiry and the auction is expected to take place ahead of Christmas. The price is expected to be between £2bn and £2.5bn.
Pros and Cons: third runway at Heathrow
3000 post offices to be ‘saved’
Work and pensions secretary James Purnell has been credited with saving 3000 post offices by abandoning plans to offer a £1bn benefits contract to the private sector, said the Guardian. Purnell told the House of Commons that he was going to allow the Post Office to continue providing the service because of the "exceptional" circumstances of the global economic crisis. The account generates £200m of income per year, which Purnell called "a key part of the Post Office's income", as well as bringing in custom.
Time to send the Post Office to market
...in brief..................
Hedge fund managers in Congress and newspapers to close
Some of the highest-profile hedge fund managers in the world suggested to Congress yesterday that their funds ought to be more heavily regulated. However they stopped short of admitting blame for recent market moves, with George Soros blaming the "system itself"…………
How Porsche took the hedge funds to the cleaners
The pound fell sharply against the dollar again on Thursday, falling to a six and a half year low of $1.4792. Against the euro it fared no better, falling to £0.8470 against the European currency, as a series of poor economic numbers added to the gloom…………
Japanese bank Mizuho Financial Group, said it was to raise up to £3.1bn in preferred stock to boost its capital, reported the Financial Times. The move "reflects the deterioration in Japanese banks' capital bases" as the credit crisis has moved deep into Asia…………
Spain has responded "with shock bordering on panic" to the suggestion by Russia's deputy Prime Minister that Gazprom might buy a stake in energy firm Repsol, said the Independent. Alexander Zhukov announced that Gazprom would be interested in a 20 per cent stake…………
Asda, the UK's second biggest supermarket chain, said that like-for-like sales in the third quarter rose 6.9 per cent, excluding petrol. The figures are almost double those of Sainsbury's and Tesco, indicating that the group is growing at twice the pace of the UK market…………
Nearly 30 local newspapers are closing, as the industry faces its "biggest financial crisis for a generation", reported the Times. Publisher Trinity Mirror said that its titles became unprofitable as property advertising fell by 43 per cent between July and October…………
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