...........business headlines...........
Stocks fall on earnings worries
Shares fell in New York on Friday, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropping two per cent after a Morgan Stanley report advised investors to sell. Futures dropped another 1.9 per cent after the close and Asian markets lost ground too, with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index seeing a 3.5 per cent decline. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average slipped 3.8 per cent after Mizuho Financial Group’s shares were downgraded by Goldman Sachs and slid 8.8 per cent. In London the FTSE 100 was two per cent lower in early trade, after a 0.7 per cent drop on Friday.
Goldman and Morgan risk losing star traders 
Treasury brokers Dunfermline sale
The Treasury is expected to announce the sale of collapsed building society Dunfermline’s “less-toxic assets” later this morning, reported the Independent. The proposed rescue for Scotland’s biggest mutual “fell apart” at the weekend, leaving the government to take its commercial property loan book into public ownership and selling off its “healthier” assets. The potential buyers involved in discussions are thought to be Santander, National Australia Bank and Bank of Ireland along with Nationwide, Yorkshire and Skipton building societies.
What Britain could have bought with the £1.3 trillion banking bail-out
G20 pledges to avoid protectionism
Leaders of the world’s G20 economies, meeting in London this week, are set to “reiterate a pledge” to avoid protectionism, and complete “stalled” trade talks, reported the Financial Times. However a draft of the final communiqué does not contain “specific plans” for a fiscal stimulus package and will disappoint those calling for more global spending. Fiscal expansion has been resisted by some European countries like Germany which has issued “inflationary warnings”. However the draft is “still open to changes”.
Protectionism is certain to engulf the global economy
GM, Chrysler bankruptcy worry
General Motors and Chrysler must make “deeper concessions” to justify more taxpayer aid and bankruptcy could yet be their best hope, reported Bloomberg.com. The comments came from inside the Obama administration and calls for the resignation of the GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner were later met by his departure. He is to be replaced by current president and chief operating officer Fritz Henderson and most of the board will also be changed. Chrysler will get $6bn in aid on condition it “completes a partnership” with Fiat in 30 days.
Slash rates, save car plants: the arguments against
Tesco to open banks in stores
Tesco is to open 30 banking branches, likely to be branded “Tesco Bank”, within existing supermarkets before the end of 2009, reported the Financial Times. The UK’s biggest retailer is hoping to benefit from consumers’ “disenchantment” with traditional banks and is pushing “aggressively” into personal finance products. A pilot has been running in Glasgow since 1996 and the next branches are planned in Bristol, Blackpool and Coventry in April. However it will be 18-24 months before Tesco offers current accounts.
The continuing expansion of Tesco
Carphone Warehouse in Tiscali bid
Carphone Warehouse is considering a “last minute bid” for Tiscali’s UK broadband business, reported the Daily Telegraph. It follows the collapse of talks between the company and BSkyB, which would have seen the satellite broadcaster become the country’s third-biggest broadband provider. Carphone hopes to “snap up” Tiscali at a “bargain basement” price after walking away from talks last year. The Italian provider’s shares were suspended earlier this month after it warned that it would not be able to meet its interest payments.
The mobile web
...in brief..................
UK financial services sector to cut more jobs and Spain rescues lender
The UK’s financial services sector is set to cut “a further 15,000 jobs” in the next three months, as profitability declines “sharply”, reported the Independent. The forecast comes from the Confederation of British Industry, which says the industry is cutting jobs “at the fastest rate since 1993”…………
“Key” advertising agencies have pulled out of the pitch for the 2012 Olympics after being told they will have to “pay for the privilege”, reported the Daily Telegraph. The companies discovered that they would need to spend £10m if they wanted to be involved in development of the official campaign…………
Royal London, the UK’s biggest mutual life assurer, today revealed that £1.1bn has been “wiped” from its regulatory capital cushion over the past 12 months, reported the Times. The loss is down to “slumping markets” and the deal to buy Resolution assets from Pearl…………
Citigroup is seeking bids for Nikko Cordial, Japan’s third-largest brokerage, in a move that could raise “more than $5bn” for the embattled US bank, reported the Financial times. The overseas foray was “one of its most ambitious” but now it wants to find a buyer by the end of April…………
Blackstone Group, the world’s largest private-equity company, has “rebuffed” a call by regulators to disclose details of its performance, reported Bloomberg.com. Fortress Investment Group agreed to the request, although it did not provide exhaustive figures…………
The Spanish government has had to spend €9.4bn to rescue savings bank Caja Castilla La Mancha after it reported “liquidity problems”, said the Guardian. The move was Spain’s first intervention in a financial institution since 1993 but it said it was an “isolated incident”…………
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