Reuters Business Report at 0930 GMT

REUTERS BUSINESS REPORT

Thursday, Nov 20, 2008

Editors and times (in GMT):

Sophie Walker +44 207 542 9168 -- 0930, 1330

Brian Moss +1 646 223 6200 -- 1430, 1830

Sonya Hepinstall/Mathew Veedon +65 6870-3825 -- 0230, 0630

TOP HEADLINES

LONDON - Prolonged recession seen, IMF moves, markets shake

LONDON - Oil falls more than $1 as crisis crimps growth

PARIS - Air France-KLM Q2 core profit falls sharply

TOP STORIES

LONDON - Global economic misery spreads with the Federal Reserve predicting U.S. recession well into 2009, Japan's exports to Asia falling for the first time in six years and another sharp sell-off on global equity markets (FINANCIAL (TOPWRAP 4), moved, pix, by Jeremy Gaunt, 750 words)

LONDON - Oil falls for a fifth straight session to approach $50 a barrel as the fallout from the credit crisis hits the global economy, hitting demand for fuel (MARKETS-OIL (UPDATE 4) expect by 1030, by Chris Baldwin, 500 words)

PARIS - Europe's largest airline Air France-KLM posts a 44 percent drop in operating profit in the second quarter and cuts its full-year profit forecast while boosting a cost-saving plan to prepare for hard economic times (AIRFRANCE-KLM/ (UPDATE 2), moved, 500 words)

MARKETS

LONDON - World stocks drop to 5-1/2 year lows, oil hits 22-month lows and short-dated U.S. Treasury yields fall to record lows as investors brace for a deepening global recession. (MARKETS-GLOBAL (WRAPUP 4), moved to desk, by Carolyn Cohn, 550 words)

LONDON - The euro hits a one-week low against the yen and the dollar after a dim economic outlook by the Federal Reserve underlines dire global conditions, which triggers a tumble in stocks and cranks up demand for lower-yielding currencies.

(MARKETS-FOREX (UPDATE 3), expect by 0930 GMT, by Naomi Tajitsu, 700 words)

LONDON - European speculative-grade credit spreads set new record wides, hurt by plummeting stock prices, uncertainty about a U.S. bailout plan for automakers and mounting fears about a deep global recession (MARKETS-BONDS-EUROCORP (UPDATE 1), expect by 1030, by Natalie Harrison, 400 words)

EUROPEAN COMPANIES

AMSTERDAM - Dutch supermarket group Ahold <AHLN.AS> reports a higher-than-expected 11 percent rise in core quarterly profit, and reiterates its full-year operating margin target as the company's turnaround gathered pace (AHOLD/ (UPDATE 3), expect by 1000 GMT, by Aaron Gray-Block, 550 words)

PARIS - French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen plans to cut 2,700 jobs and says that due to the financial crisis and sector turmoil, car sale volumes in main European markets will drop by at least 10 percent in 2009 and 17 percent in the fourth quarter. (PEUGEOT/CITROEN, moved, by Caroline Jacobs, 400 words)

LONDON - British engine maker Rolls-Royce will shed between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs worldwide next year and is already in talks to cut 140 posts in Britain where there has been a string of job losses in recent weeks. (ROLLSROYCE/ (UPDATE 2), moved, by John Bowker and Martina Fuchs, 500 words)

VIENNA - Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine confirms its full-year outlook, reporting forecast-beating results, and says it is well positioned to cope with an expected worsening of its business environment in 2009. (VOESTALPINE/ (UPDATE 2) by Sylvia Westall, moved)

BERLIN - German carmaker Opel must be freed from the constraints of its U.S. parent copmany General Motors if it is to develop cars of the future, SolarWorld Chief Executive Frank Asbeck says. (AUTOS/GERMANY-SOLARWORLD, by Noah Barkin, moved, 400 words)

LONDON - Santander's 1.8 million private UK shareholders will not be able to particate in the Spanish bank's 7 billion euro rights issue as there is not enough time for them to take part (SANTANDER/BRITAIN-RIGHTS, expect by 1000, by Steve Slater, 300 words)

LONDON - Royal Bank of Scotland's chairman will apologise to shareholders for bringing the bank to its knees, ahead of a vote on a 20 billion pound fundraising plan, according to a report (RBS/VOTE, expect by 1030 GMT, by Steve Slater, 300 words)

ECONOMY AND RESOURCES

LONDON - Reuters polls on outlooks for growth, inflation and interest rates covering the U.S., euro zone, Japan and the UK. (ECONOMY-G7/POLL, expect by 1145 GMT, by Nigel Davies, 600 words) (ECONOMY-JAPAN/POLL, by Yasuhiko Seki, 600 words) (ECONOMY-BRITAIN/POLL, by Jonathan Cable, 600 words) (ECONOMY-USA/POLL, By Burton Frierson, 500 words) (ECONOMY-EUROPE/POLL, by Nigel Davies, 600 words)

LONDON - British retail sales fell less than expected in October and the public finances showed their first deficit for the month since 1994, official data shows. (BRITAIN-FINANCES/, moved, 250 words)

BRUSSELS, Nov 20 - European Union farm ministers agree to sweep away various "old-style" agriculture support schemes in the most far-reaching reform of the bloc's wide-ranging farm policy in years (EU-FARM/REFORM (UPDATE 2), expect at 0930, piX, TV, by Jeremy Smith, 450 words)

VIENNA - The head of Austria's debt agency says Austrian government bond spreads over German bonds are currently about 25 basis points too high but will ease when markets settle down (MARKETS-BONDS-AUSTRIA/ (UPDATE 1, INTERVIEW), by Boris Groendahl, moved at 0704, 600 words)

SEOUL - South Korea's currency and share prices slump on fears for the country's exporters in the face of the global downturn, with the top regulator quoted as urging the central bank to take more dramatic steps to help (FINANCIAL/KOREA (UPDATE 1), moved, pix, tv, by Park Jung-youn and Seo Eun-kyung, 650 words)

BEIJING - Stabilising employment is top priority for China, a minister says as he reveals rise in jobless workers triggered by a weakened export sector amid a series of strikes and protests (CHINA-JOBS/ (UPDATE 2), moved, pix, tv, by Ben Blanchard, 500 words)

BEIJING - Chinese media's increased reporting of protests over land, labour and investment issues appears to be an attempt by the government to manage the impact of bad news by acknowledging it (CHINA-PETITIONERS/ (UPDATE 1), moved, 500 words)

TAIPEI - Taiwan's economic growth probably fell to the slowest pace in five years in the third quarter, the government is expected to report when it releases GDP data after market close (TAIWAN-ECONOMY/GDP, moved, pix, by Lee Chyen Yee and Jeanny Kao 100 words)

BEIJING - Chinese policy makers may decide to increase a refined oil consumption tax rather than impose a new fuel tax, as some market participants are expecting, a source familiar with the issue says (CHINA-ENERGY/REFORM (UPDATE 1), moved at 0606, by Eadie Chen, 550 words)

KARACHI - Pakistan faces more austerity whether or not the government sticks to policies promised to the International Monetary Fund in return for being bailed out of a balance of payments crisis, analysts say (PAKISTAN-IMF/, expect by 0900, 700 words)

ASIA PACIFIC COMPANIES

SYDNEY - Australian mining company Fortescue Metals Group, led by an outback self-made billionaire, is doing what bigger rivals Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton cannot -- increase sales of iron ore to China's shrinking steel industry (FORTESCUE, UPDATE 1), moved, by James Regan 550 words)

SYDNEY - The clatter of mahjong tiles is among the few remaining signs of life in Asia's dying IPO market (IPO-MAHJONG/, moved at 0348, by Mark Bendeich, 500 words)

SEOUL - South Korea says will offer up to $1 billion of financing to Brazilian iron ore miner Vale as the resource-hungry Asian country seeks to bolster its interest in mining projects (KOREA-VALE/ (UPDATE 1), moved, by Miyoung Kim, 500 words)

TOKYO - Japan's fourth-largest trading house Itochu Corp says it would buy a 20 percent stake in Chinese food processing company Ting Hsin Holding Corp for $710 million to tap fast-growing demand (TING HSIN/ITOCHU (UPDATE 1), moved at 0611, 300 words)

BANGKOK - The Thai unit of troubled U.S. carmaker General Motors Corp says it would shut down its Rayong plant for two months from mid-December due to falling demand caused by the global economic slowdown (GM/THAILAND-SHUTDOWN (UPDATE 1), moved at 0541, 300 words)

BANGKOK - Thailand's largest energy firm, PTT PCL says it plans to spend up to 20 billion baht ($571 million) in an effort to stabilise its share price (PTT/ (UPDATE 1), moved at 0606, 300 words)

MUMBAI - Shooting of dozens of Indian television soap operas, hugely popular in South Asia, resumes after a television industry workers' union calls off a strike on an assurance of better pay and work conditions (INDIA-TV/, moved at 0620, by Shilpa Jamkhandikar, 400 words)

ANALYSIS

LONDON - Troubled fund firm Crosby Asset Management's purchase of Forsyth Partners last year leaves it with a disintegrating asset base and questions about its future, but the firm aims to revive its fortunes with new funds (CROSBY/ (DEALTALK), expect by 1500, by Laurence Fletcher, 700 words)

MELBOURNE/SYDNEY - Australian companies, frozen out of debt markets, are rushing to shareholders for cash to protect themselves in an economic slump, pumping up activity for brokers in an otherwise gloomy market but putting more pressure on their stock prices in the near term (EQUITYRAISINGS-AUSTRALIA/(ANALYSIS), moved at 0513, by Sonali Paul and Denny Thomas, 800 words)

See also: EQUITYRAISINGS-AUSTRALIA/ (FACTBOX), moved

TOKYO - Japanese companies, which have been relatively insulated from the global financial turmoil, are now starting to feel the full-fledged effects of the crisis as credit markets dry up and banks curb lending (FINANCIAL/JAPAN-CREDIT (ANALYSIS), expect by 0800, by Hideyuki Sano, 700 words)

SYDNEY - A decade-long credit binge by Australians has left them struggling with a mountain of debt which may blunt central bank and governnment moves to stimulate the economy and avoid recession (AUSTRALIA-ECONOMY/DEBT (ANALYSIS), expect by 0800, by Michael Perry, 800 words)

TOKYO - Japan's antitrust watchdog is expected to raise its objections soon to BHP Billiton's proposed $78 billion bid for Rio Tinto, hoping to sway European regulators vetting the global mining sector's biggest takeover (DEALTALK/BHP-JAPAN, expect by 1000, by Yuko Inoue, 750 words)

QUITO - With risky brinkmanship, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa is sending mixed signals over whether he will default on the country's debt in an attempt to persuade investors to renegotiate $3.8 billion worth of sovereign bonds (ECUADOR-DEBT/CORREA (ANALYSIS, UPDATE 1), moved at 0444, by Alonso Soto, 700 words)

See also: ECUADOR-DEBT/ (FACTBOX, UPDATE 1), moved

ECUADOR-DEBT/SCENARIOS (FACTBOX, UPDATE 1), moved

FEATURES

BRUSSELS/LONDON - As the financial crisis hit a climax in Belgium with the split-up of its largest bank in October, new clients were rushing to a small bank, Triodos, which invests not in derivatives but in tangible products such as wind turbines (FINANCIAL-BANKS/ETHICAL (BUSINESS FEATURE), moved at 0004, pix, by Ingrid Melander and Lorraine Turner, 1,000 words)

SEKAYU, Indonesia - Since Indonesia launched a decentralisation strategy nearly a decade ago, foreign investors have learned that the sprawling Southeast Asian archipelago is really a patchwork of districts, some business-friendly, others profligate, and picking the right region can make a big difference (INDONESIA-DECENTRALISATION/ (BUSINESS FEATURE), moved at 0003, pix, by Sara Webb, 950 words)

BOSTON - Well-paid, free-spending financial services executives are holding off on planning parties, making home improvements and ordering up other services, putting pressure on small businesses near U.S. financial centers (FINANCIAL/SMALLBUSINESS (BUSINESS FEATURE), moved at 0003, pix, by Jim Finkle and Scott Malone, 800 words)

GARDABAER, Iceland - On a quiet Sunday in the "Lazy Town" warehouse, the man many of the world's children know as Sportacus was working up some optimism for Iceland (FINANCIAL/LAZYTOWN