Asia-Pacific Region markets
>> 9:12 a.m. in sydney. a shower or two this morning in the city chiefly along the coast followed by a dry, partly cloudy afternoon. the high temperature, 22 degrees celsius. asian export stocks like canon decline on concern the dollar will continue to weaken. a weak dollar reduces the dollar of u.s. earnings. the bank of new york index of japanese a.d.r.’s fell .4%. shobi pereira is in tokyo with a look at the stocks to watch this morning in japan. good morning, shobi.
>> the “nihon keizai” is reporting that mitsui trust holdings is to borrow money to repay taxpayer funds. the report says mitsui trust holdings will raise about 100 billion yen through subordinated loans and bonds. mitsui trust plans to raise about 50 billion yen from subordinated loans through japanese investors and sell about 50 billion abroad. the newspaper says this is the first time in 20 years the bank will raise money from capital markets . so far, the stock is up 30%. the company had 630 billion yen in public funds as of late september. it borrowed money from the government. in terms of electronic stocks, watch sanyo electric, world’s biggest maker of digital cameras. “nikkei news” says sanyo has increased its stake in a refrigerator making venture in thailand as part of a bid to overhaul production in southeast asia. moving on to keek min―kiko min’s plans, to build a thai plant to make del monte products. the report says that kikoman will set up a joint venture with two thai companies to operate the factory. so far this year, shares of kikkoman have been trading up 25%. the company produces and markets soy sauce, alcoholic beverages and other food products. yamanouchi pharmaceuticals said on monday after the market closed that it received approval from the u.s. food and drug administration to sell its urinary treatment. as you know, yamanouchi will buy rival pharmaceutical in april next year.
>> shares of mcdonald’s rallied more than 2% today as james skinner is chosen to lead the restaurant chain. former chief executive charles bell has resigned to concentrate on fighting cancer.
>> the change in the top executive job comes as the company pushes to revive sales in europe. vice chairman james skinner who replaces bell as c.e.o. is an insider, starting at mcdonald’s 33 years ago as a management trainee. analysts including jack russo broadly applaud the company’s choice for succession. his quote, “i think the big issue is charlie, i hope his health gets better.” charles bell who is leaving the company to focus on his fight against cancer has been running the company only since april when former chief james cantalupo died of an apparent heart attack. skinner worked closely with his predecessors in developing a strategy to expand sales by expanding the menu and adding salads. mcdonald’s is trying to repeat the success in europe. skinner, who is 60 years old, has been responsible for the chain’s 30,000 restaurants worldwide. as president and chief executive officer. prior to that, he was mcdonald’s european president. in july, bell put skinner in charge of restaurants in asia, middle east, africa and latin america. mcdonald stock has gained more than 21% this year. janice sampson says europe is where they need the turnaround now. he says skinner needs to reassure employees they will stay the course. morgan stanley analyst said in a note he does not expect the change to alter mcdonald’s strategy or growth goals. piper jaffray’s analyst expects stores open more than a year to continue prosperity. charlie bell pushed mcdonald’s into the $17 billion-a-year market for deli sandwiches, the fastest growing segment of the fast food industry.
>> su keenan in new york. mcdonald’s targets health conscious eaters in china. mcdonald’s unveiled the strategy on the same day its chief executive retired. mcdonald’s says it will sell rice-filled tory itias in china later today.
>> we do believe that in the long term we will be hitting and gating our goals―achieving our goals of driving more customers into the restaurant and having a fun, enjoyable experience.
>> mcdonald’s is broadening its menu in china as it prepares to open more than 100 restaurants there next year. k.f.c. already has 1,000 restaurant in china. a former advocate for balanced budget, retiring from the bush administration.
在线播报
Listen Market briefing --- Cathy (fast)
good morning, welcome to “ live” from hong kong. we’ll focus on the dollar in the next half hour of “ live” and hear from former treasury secretary robert rubin. in 20 minutes, we’ll speak with a currency strategist who will tell you where he sees the dollar headed next. also, cingular’s decision to cut jobs, wal-mart’s decision to use workers in china and mcdonald’s strategy for the european market . protestors in the ukraine step up demands to annul the country’s presidential election. paul gordon has that story and more.
>> the protests in keiv come as viktor yushchenko declares himself president before hundreds of thousands of his supporters. the organization for security and cooperation in europe which monitored the vote says there is evidence that last weekend’s election was rigged. russian president vladimir putin criticized the observers, saying it’s too soon to pass judgment as official results have yet to be announced. a television station says yushchenko’s opponent, prime minister viktor yanukovich, is also preparing to declare himself president. dan rather is stepping down as “cbs evening news” lead anchor, to leave in march 2005 after 24 years in the job. in september, rather apologized for a report questioning president george w. bush’s national guard service, saying the report was based on false documents. 73-year-old rather is the longest serving lead u.s. television news anchor. cbs says he will continue to work as a coordinate for “60 minutes.” u.s. and iraqi troops pursue insurgents who led the ground assault on fallujah. one military officer said 32 suspected insurgents were captured in his area of% operation.% he said, “we’re going to keep them reeling, not let them breathe and pursue them wherever we find them.” the u.s.-led coalition is fighting in central and northern iraq to subdue armed rebels before the january elections. tony blair to be the first british prime minister in 156 years to face a call for impeachment. 23 lawmakers will introduce a motion seeking an investigation into whether blair haduld be impeached over the iraq invasion as blair said before the war that iraq had concealed weapons of mass destruction. lawmakers will vote on the measure on december 1. the last british prime minister to face calls for impeachment was in 1848.
>> thank you, paul. back to business. euro rises to a record against the dollar for the sixth time this month, reaching as high as 1.3103 in the session. there’s concern about the record trade and budget deficits in the u.s. president george bush says he backs a strong dollar. former treasury secretary robert rubin says bush needs to act on his promises.
>> our fiscal policies at the present time are not sound but i think that that can be reestablished. it’s a question of political will and i think that having a strong currency is very much in our interest.
>> the dollar gains against the yen on speculation japan will sell its currency to slow its rise. the yen rose to a 4 1/2 year high against the dollar on friday, prompting japan to say it’s monitoring foreign exchange markets closely.
>> it’s clear at the 103,103.5 area, we’ve seen stepping up of verbal intervention and historically, the specific warnings of intervention.
>> japan’s not the only country concerned the dollar’s decline will hurt its exports. traders say south korea’s won declined after the bank of korea sold the currency to stem the high. crude oil rises to $50 in the day’s trade.
>> so far, we’ve benefited from unseasonable warmth here, which has kept demand off but that’s really what the market is nervous about. if an early cold snap comes through next month when stocks aren’t at the level we’d hoped to see by now, you could see real spikes in heating oil prize.
>> new york crude touched $50 before closing near $49 a barrel. u.s. stocks erase earlier losses after oil prices retreated from $50 a barrel. the dow, s&p and nasdaq finished close to where they started. intel was the market ‘s worst performer after it was cut by csfb, the analyst saying it faces a few years of excess capacity. mcdonald’s gained after the fast-food chain named james skinner to replace charles bell as c.e.o. gains in chinese a.d.r.’s overcame losses of japanese shares. u.s. treasuries failed to hold earlier gains. the government is selling $24 billion of two-year notes. american international group agrees to settle probes from the securities and exchange commission and department of justice. the agencies have been investigating a.i.g.’s transactions, including products a.i.g. designed to help p.n.c. financial services group remove bad loans from its books. investigators are looking into an insurance policy they sold to bright point. a.i.g. didn’t disclose the terms of the settlement. new york attorney general eliot spitzer is probing a.i.g., as well, as he investigates collusion between insurers and brokers. viacom agrees to pay a record fine to settle indecency violations over remarks made by howard stern. the federal communications committee says the number three u.s. media company admitted some of its material was indecent. viacom owns cbs and mtv as well as the infinity broadcasting chain. viacom’s cbs unit is appealing a separate $550,000 fine after janet jackson exposed her breasts during this year’s super bowl halftime show on the network. cingular wireless plans to eliminate 7,000 jobs after the $41 billion acquisition of at&t wireless. the chief executive aims to cut $2 billion in costs by 2007. cingular overtook verizon wireless to become the largest mobile phone operator in the u.s. shares of the parent company, s.b.c. communications and bellsouth, slipped in extended trading. mitsubishi tokyo and u.f.j. holdings may report weaker first-half results today because of a slowdown in lending. mitsubishi tokyo plans to merge with u.f.j. holdings next october to create the world’s biggest lender by assets. profit at mitsubishi tokyo probably fell during the six months through september. as for u.f.j., japan’s number four bank may state it lost money in the first half writing off bad loans. japan’s stock market reopens today following a holiday tuesday. chinese telecom equipment maker z.t.e. will use most of its money from the planned i.p.o. to expand overseas. z.t.e. says it will focus on growing in emerging markets such as brazil and russia. z.t.e. plans to raise as much as $399 million u.s. from the i.p.o. next month. 60% of the money will go on international expansion and 40% into product development. wal-mart says it will allow employees in china to join unions. the world’s biggest retailer opposes unions in the u.s. and canada but says it would allow a union in china if employees request one. the company said in a statement that there are no unions in china because associates have not requested one be formed. wal-mart plans to have a total of 58 isores in china by next year. after the break, mcdonald’s chief executive boosting sales in japan. learn why the company is taking a healthy approach to increasing sales in china.
