- U.S. Super Storm’s Record Flooding Lands Blackout Blow (Bloomberg)
- Sandy Carves a Path of Destruction Across the U.S. East Coast (WSJ)
- Losses May Exceed Those of 2011 Storm (WSJ)
- Hurricane Sandy Threatens $20 Billion in Economic Damage (Bloomberg)
- Huge fire in Sandy's wake destroys dozens of NYC homes (Reuters)
- Possible levee break in New Jersey floods three towns (Reuters)
- Apple Mobile Software Head Forstall Refused to Sign Apology (WSJ)
- Stagflation in Spain (Bloomberg)
- German Oct. Unemployment Rose Twice as Much as Forecast (Bloomberg)
- A declining Japan loses its once-hopeful champions (WaPo)
- Unable to copy it, China tries building own jet engine (Reuters)
- Obama Signs Disaster Declarations for NY, NJ (YNN)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
* Hurricane Sandy caused massive disruptions to U.S. businesses and threatened billions of dollars in damage to a region packed with corporate headquarters, retail stores and transportation hubs.
* Apple Inc executive Scott Forstall was asked to leave the company after he refused to sign his name to a letter apologizing for shortcomings in Apple's new mapping service, according to people familiar with the matter.
* Google Inc unveiled a new $399 tablet and smartphone powered by its Android mobile operating system, as the Internet giant continues its quest to crack Apple Inc's grip on the tablet market and keep other rivals at bay.
* France will consider adopting legislation that would force Google Inc to pay for the right to cite news articles online if the United States search giant fails to settle a long-running dispute with French news publishers over how to share advertising revenue, the office of France's President Francois Hollande said.
* About five months ago, a representative of Pearson Plc contacted Bertelsmann SE & Co. The subject: whether Bertelsmann was interested in combining its Random House book publishing unit with Pearson's Penguin Group. The result of that contact emerged on Monday, when the two companies unveiled the creation of Penguin Random House.
* Microsoft Corp officially released an overhaul for its nascent Windows Phone software, in its latest attempt to catch up to Apple Inc and devices running software from Google Inc.
* Nokia Oyj plans to start selling its eagerly anticipated new range of Lumia smartphones in time for the holiday shopping rush, kicking off the campaign with products going on sale in Europe later this week and then following up with a $99 offering for U.S. buyers.
* Chrysler Group LLC reported an 80 percent jump in its third-quarter profit over a year ago amid strong demand for its cars and pickup trucks and a continuing recovery in the United States auto market.
* Honda Motor Co cut its fiscal-year earnings forecast by 20 percent, reflecting a boycott in China and higher expenses in the United States - its two largest markets - in a gloomy harbinger of Japanese auto makers' half-year reports.
FT
HITACHI AGREES UK NUCLEAR PURCHASE
Hitachi Ltd agreed to buy the Horizon nuclear project for 700 million pounds from its German owners, beating a rival bid from Westinghouse Electric Co and leaving the project's owners "turning cartwheels" at the price.
SANDY SLAMS INTO US EAST COAST
Sandy hit the U.S. as a post-tropical storm on Monday, flooding coastal communities, cutting electricity supplies to hundreds of thousands of homes and leaving schools, financial markets and most businesses planning for another day of closure on Tuesday.
PENGUIN AND RANDOM HOUSE SIGN MERGER DEAL
Parents Bertelsmann and Pearson signed a deal to merge their respective publishing arms, after the Financial Times owner shunned an approach by News Corp to buy its book publisher, in favour of the German media company.
CARLYLE SUBMITS PLAN FOR LONDON SKYSCRAPER
The U.S. private equity group jumped on the London real estate bandwagon on Monday with a proposal for a 1 billion pound development including a 48-storey skyscraper and 500 luxury apartments on the South bank of the Thames.
APPLE SHAKES UP SENIOR RANKS
Apple's has replaced Scott Forstall as its senior software executive after the technology company faced complaints about its malfunctioning maps service. Retail head John Browett is abruptly departing after just six months in the job, leaving hardware design chief Jony Ive with extra responsibility.
SPANISH LENDERS FACE WRITEDOWNS
Spain's bad bank will take on real estate assets at sharply lower values, as the country's new asset management company imposes an average writedown of 45.6 percent on property loans and 63.1 percent on foreclosed properties held by Spanish lenders, in an effort to entice private investors into the scheme.
GLENCORE TO OFFER TO SELL ZINC ASSETS
The commodities trader will offer to sell some assets or change supply contracts on Tuesday, to appease the European Union and speed approval for its $80 billion tie-up with XStrata.
EDITOR CHARGED OVER SWISS BANK EXPOSE ATTACKS 'SICK' GREEK SYSTEM
The Greek journalist who published the names of 2,000 Greeks with Swiss bank accounts said he acted in the public interest to show "how sick the system is" in Greece.
NYT
* Apple Inc fired the executives in charge of its mobile software efforts and retail stores, in a management shake-up aimed at making the company's divisions work more harmoniously together.
* The announcement that Random House and Penguin would merge narrows the business to a handful of big publishers, and could set off a long-expected round of consolidation as the industry adapts to the digital marketplace.
* Safety-Kleen said it would be acquired by Clean Harbors Inc, a provider of environmental cleanup services, for $1.25 billion in cash.
* Stock markets in the United States will be closed again on Tuesday for a second day without trading as Hurricane Sandy's approach intensified the wind and rain in the New York area.
* Nomura Holdings Inc reported a meager profit in the latest quarter as it continued to deal with fallout from an insider trading scandal and weak industry conditions.
* Chrysler Group LLC, the third-largest Detroit automaker, said its third-quarter profit rose 80 percent on the strength of new models, less debt and steadily growing sales in both American and international markets.
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
* Toronto city manager Joe Pennachetti's office released a highly anticipated report Monday that estimated the municipality could reap as much as C$195 million per year -- on top of a one-time sale or lease of city-owned land -- from an integrated resort casino near the waterfront.
* A record number of Canadians visited a food bank this year, an indication the recession's legacy continues to bite.
More than 882,000 people used a food bank this March, a 2.4 percent increase from last year. Demand is now 31 percent higher than before the recession, a study to be released Tuesday says.
Reports in the business section:
* Canada's C$10.6 billion ($10.60 billion) clean technology industry is on course to eclipse the aerospace industry in size within five years, according to a report being released Tuesday.
* Canadian Oil Sands Ltd, the largest stakeholder in Syncrude Canada Ltd, has revised its 2012 financial outlook and expects its cash to drop significantly next year as debt rises until 2014.
NATIONAL POST
* People across central and eastern Canada hunkered down to face powerful winds and a deluge of rain as approaching superstorm Sandy hit the U.S. and gradually wheeled its way north.
The impact of the weather system extended over a thousand kilometres away from the storm, according to the Canadian Hurricane Centre, with southern Ontario and Quebec experiencing high wind gusts and periods of heavy rain on Monday night.
* A shallow earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 struck off British Columbia province on Canada's west coast, the U.S. Geological Survey said, the second powerful earthquake in the region in two days.
FINANCIAL POST
* Canadian miner Yamana Gold Inc reported a 6 percent fall in third-quarter adjusted profit on Monday as lower metal prices and higher production costs outweighed strong gold sales volumes.
* If there is a consensus on the direction of Canada's economy it is this: Growth will initially slow as government revenues are pinched by lower commodity prices, but then pick up enough momentum to balance the budget as planned.
"The good news is that economic growth in Canada continues to be positive, if modest, and among the strongest" in the Group of Seven industrialized nations, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Monday after meeting with private sector economists in Ottawa.
China
CHINA BUSINESS NEW
-- The Ministry of Commerce said China took over the United States to attract the most foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first half of this year.
SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS
-- Regulators are considering to resume approval for foreign institutions to buy stakes in Chinese commodity futures firms. China has not given approval for any foreign company to buy such stakes since 2008.
-- Although the Chinese currency yuan has hit repeated record highs against the dollar this month, experts believe there will not be large amounts of speculative hot money flowing into China partly due to China's strict capital control.
CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL
-- China Offshore Oil Engineering Co plans a share private placement to raise up to 3.5 billion yuan ($561 million) to expand the company's deep-sea business.
-- Experts say China needs technical innovations and industrial upgrading to avoid so-called "middle income trap" after 30 years of rapid economic expansion. The phrase is used to describe difficulties for an emerging economy to continue quick growth when it reaches certain level of development while it can not adjust its economic structure in a timely manner.
CHINA DAILY
-- China's 91 listed property developers saw the value of their combined inventories hitting 915.55 billion yuan by the end of September, up 24.08 percent from a year earlier, meaning the companies are under increasing pressure to decrease the size of their stocks.
No comments:
Post a Comment