Market briefing---Matt (slow)
Tokyo market---Catherine (fast)
>> a tough day for auto stocks . u.s. vehicle sales at g.m. and ford came in worse than many analysts were expecting in jan as japanese automakers pick away at market share. daimlerchrysler saw the biggest percentage drop today. at g.m., sales of u.s. vehicle sales fell almost 2% last month compared to a year ago and that figure is adjusted to account for one more sales day this year than last. analysts surveyed by bloomberg expected an increase of 4%. sales fell almost 9% on the month at ford. that was almost twice as big a drop as analysts expected and chrysler, the lone winner of the three automakers to report better-than-expected sales, the daimlerchrysler unit saw a 9% increase last month. the five analysts surveyed expected 3%. more public offerings are keeping global investment banks business in china. china power international is set to hire deutsche bank and merrill lynch to manage its $1 billion i.p.o. catherine yang has details in tokyo.
>> bankers involved say china power may sell 30% of its stock and that would mean $35 million in fees from a company run by the daughter of former chinese premier. this is the third time merrill and deutsche are arranging the sales in china. the government plans to sell 50 million dollars worth of bank, insurance and government assets in the next decade.
>> sars was contained and now we have bird flu affecting asia and spreading. what effect has that had on the air carriers so far?
>> investors are saying they don’t know yet but they’re concerned. yet we do know that the weaker yuan appears to have undermined the recovery and travel demand post-sars for carriers such as korean airlines. analysts surveyed are saying korean air’s net loss probably widened $70 million in the quarter compared to the year-ago period. the weaker yuan inflated the size of the carrier’s foreign debt. the yuan was 3.3% lower than at the end of the third quarter.
>> a different story for singapore airlines, a perennial top performer in that region?
>> that’s right. analysts polled by bloomberg say that singapore airlines may have benefitted from the travel rebound post-sars. more tourists are returning to the skies since last year’s sars outbreak and cargo traffic picked up. these two things may have led singapore airlines to report its second quarterly profit. singapore airlines, this is the first time it reports third quarter results.
>> thank you, catherine yang. and in world and national news
