Asia-pacific region --- Gene
>> shares of columbia sportswear surged. until now, wall street was expecting 12% growth. chief executive timothy boyle predicts growth for next year.
>> we spend a lot of time collecting orders for spring season.% we sell in advance of the season. one of the important things we talked about with investors yesterday on the conference call was our future backlogs for spring, which was up nicely. we’re expecting that the business will continue to grow and we’ve got challenges, as all businesses do. but we’re very excited about the opportunities for us.
>> in the third quarter, columbia’s earnings rose 8%. coming in at $1.68 a share. the dollar estimate from analysts was $1.64. to check on what’s likely to move markets in the asia asia-pacific region next week, we check with gene otani.
>> toyota may say profit rose 2.6% in the last quarter after asia’s largest carmaker sold more vehicles in the u.s. and europe. toyota is expanding factories overseas to meet demand for camries, sedans, and siena mini-vans. singapore telecom may say profit rose in the latest quarter after signing up more customers in australia. southeast asia’s largest phone company reports thursday. expect results from philippine long distance telecom. woori bank may also report thursday. korea’s largest lender probably returned to profitability in the third quarter after cutting risky loans. and k.t. corporation’s profit likely fell. the provider of high-speed internet access is suffering from sluggish demand for broadband and fixed line services. on the economic calendar, south korea’s export growth probably slowed as demand from the u.s., china and japan cooled. economists surveyed by bloomberg expect overseas sales rose 17% in october. south korea’s exports grew 23% in september. figures are due monday morning in seoul. south korea, taiwan and the philippines all report consumer price data this week. inflation likely accelerated in all three of those economies this month due due to record high oil prices.australia reports trade figures this monday and expect export figures from malaysia tuesday. that’s a look ahead in the new week in the asia-pacific region. back to you.
>> european stocks declined on the day but for october, all three benchmarks posted their first consecutive monthly gains since february. to get a preview of next week’s market action in europe, we’ll turn to mark barton in our london bureau. abn amro may say profit growth stalled in the third quarter as u.s. mortgage lending declined. the biggest dutch bank by assets probably rose less than 1%. in august, c.f.o. said that abn amro’s mortgage business would continue to stagnate in the second half. the bank has predicted profit at its north american unit to drop by 150 million euros to 250 million euros this year due to higher rates. a.b.n. is focusing on consumer banking businesses in the netherlands, u.s. and brazil. the dutch bank has sold almost three billion euros in assets this year and may use proceeds for purchases in the u.s. and asia. sticking with the netherlands and royal k.p.n. releases third-quarter results. the largest dutch phone company may say net income jumped 85% to 257 million euros. sales may slip 1.3% to 3.04 billion euros. k.p.n. has benefited from reduced expenses from job cuts and lower interest payments as the company reduces debt. in sweden, scannedy air reports earnings. analysts expect scania to say net income rose 25% to $130 million. sales may rise 6.9%. scania predicts growth to slow in europe’s commercial vehicle market as supply costs force truck makers to rise prices. the company has is that charging more for its vehicles and will do so again because of increased costs in raw materials. manufacturing surveys from u.k., germany and france, p.m.i., expected.
>> credit suisse first boston plans to cut costs by combining units and eliminating jobs according to those familiar with the matter. it’s the securities arm of switzerland’s biggest bank and the proposal may include dropping first boston from the u.s. subsidiary’s name. credit suisse has struggled with some of the highest costs on wall street. in july, the company replaced john mack with brady duggan after its share of the investment banking market slipped. during mr. mack’s tenure, 10,000 jobs were eliminated. on the day, credit suisse first boston down six cents on the session. after the break, fox networks reeled in for the world series. mike buteau will have the “money & sports” segment.
