Business news with words recession+shares. 34 news.

ASIAN stocks rose for a second day, led by electronics makers, after consumer spending increased more than forecast in the United States, the region's biggest export market. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, maker of iPods for Apple Inc, and Samsung Electronics Co climbed to the highest in more than a week. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index advanced the most in three weeks last Friday after the report on November spending eased concern about recession in the world's biggest economy. "US shares showed firm gains, and we're seeing the influence in shares today (yesterday)," said Kim Jae Dong, who oversees the equivalent of US$8.6 billion at Korea Investment Trust Management Co in Seoul. BHP Billiton Ltd led an increase among miners after metals prices climbed, and a UK regulator set a deadline for a formal takeover bid for Rio Tinto Group. The MSCI Asia Pacific, excluding Japan Index, rose two percent to 524.1 as of 3:38pm in Hong Kong, with all 10 industry groups climbing.

CONSUMER confidence is falling, the odds of a recession have risen, analysts predict the worst holiday shopping since 2002 - and retail-industry executives are buying their companies' shares like never before. Limited Brands Inc Chief Executive Officer Leslie Wexner and eight other executives bought a record amount of stock last month after prices fell to a four-year low. Dillard's Inc director Warren Stephens made the biggest insider purchase ever as shares of the Arkansas-based department store chain headed for the steepest decline since at least 1980. Cambiar Investors LLC, Royce & Associates LLC and Becker Capital Management Inc say insider buying foreshadows a rebound. The last four times executives added to their holdings, the Standard & Poor's Supercomposite Retailing Index rose an average 9.9 percent in the next three months, topping a 6.2-percent average rise in the S&P 500 Index. Retail company officials increased their investments by US$346.4 million since the start

(AP) -- Shares of Caterpillar Inc. fell Monday after a Morgan Stanley analyst downgraded the stock, saying a "mild U.S. recession" will hurt Caterpillar and other heavy equipment makers. Robert Wertheimer downgraded Caterpillar shares to "underweight" from "equal weight," and said the Peoria ...

UNITED States stocks have had the biggest weekly decline in a month after a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut and the biggest coordinated effort since 2001 to provide banks with cash failed to assuage concern that the economy will contract. Washington Mutual Inc led banks, brokerages and other financial firms to the steepest decline among 10 industries in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. Circuit City Stores Inc, Sears Holdings Corp and Amazon.com Inc retreated on speculation that holiday sales at retailers will fall short of estimates, Bloomberg News said. Shares declined even after central bankers in North America joined those in Europe to inject money into the financial system and alleviate gridlock in credit markets. Reports that showed accelerating inflation caused concern that the Fed will be unable to cut interest rates more to prop up growth. "A recession is in the works," Andy Engel, who helps run the US$1.81 billion Leuthold Core Investment Fund that has

Anthony Bolton, the veteran fund manager at Fidelity International, is calling the bottom for property stocks and considering buying battered-down shares in housebuilders and retail companies. Speaking to investors yesterday at the annual meeting of his £400 million Fidelity Special Values fund, Mr Bolton said that he had bought into a number of well-known UK property stocks in recent weeks. News of Mr Bolton’s strategy came as a report revealed that prices of commercial property buildings had suffered a record one-month fall in November, twice as steep as the worst monthly price declines felt in 1990, at the depth of the last commercial property recession. Values of commercial buildings fell 4 per cent in November, bringing the three-month decline to 7.25 per cent, according to the Investment Property Databank (IPD). If price falls continue at the same rate then the value of offices, shops and warehouses could be 29 per cent down in mid2008 from their peak last summer. The share prices of Britain’s six largest quoted property groups - British Land, Land Securities, Hammerson, Liberty International, Segro and Brixton – have fallen on average by 45 per cent since January. Mr Bolton steps down from running both the Special Values Fund and Fidelity’s flagship £3.2 billion Special Situations Fund at the end of the month. He has run Special Situations since 1979, producing annualised returns of 20 per cent a year. Mr Bolton held a large weighting in property until earlier this year. British Land and Land Securities have been favoured investments. “Now with share prices falling, I’ve started to add back into this area,” Mr Bolton told investors yesterday. The sharp decline in quoted property stocks reflects fears that companies’ underlying building assets were overvalued. This summer’s credit crunch prompted the sudden withdrawal of the large numbers of leveraged buyers who had been propping up the investor market for the past two years. Their sudden absence caused investor demand to slump and capital values to fall, even though the rental market across offices, retail and industrial has held up. But price falls of individual assets, even after the release of yesterday’s IPD figures, are still far shallower than the declines marked down on property stocks, many of which have halved this year. This discrepancy has presented a

FT.com - Shares fell across the Asia Pacific region on Wednesday as investors seemed worried by the US Federal Reserve's statement that the US economy was slowing, and that its 25 basis point cut in interest rates may not be enough to prevent a recession.

Shares fell across the Asia Pacific region as investors seemed worried by the US Federal Reserve's statement that the US economy was slowing, and that its cut in interest rates may not be enough to prevent a recession

UNITED States shares have posted their steepest two-week advance since September after President George W. Bush announced a plan to freeze some mortgage rates to prevent foreclosures from causing a recession. Centex Corp and DR Horton Inc led homebuilders as they climbed the most in seven years. Intel Corp, Micron Technology Inc and other semiconductor companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose the most since June following analyst predictions that demand for computers will increase. All 10 industries in the S&P 500 gained. Stocks have rebounded after losing their 2007 gain at the end of last month, spurred by speculation the Federal Reserve will reduce interest rates to prop up the world's largest economy. The S&P 500 declined on Friday after a Labor Department report showed US employers added more jobs than estimated in November, diminishing the odds that central bankers will cut their rate benchmark by half a point tomorrow, Bloomberg News said. "The economy is

ASIAN stocks have risen for a second week after the United States government announced a plan to limit defaults on subprime mortgages, easing concern the region's largest export market will suffer a recession. Mizuho Financial Group Inc, Japan's second-largest publicly traded bank, and Bank of East Asia, Hong Kong's third largest, jumped after President George W. Bush said some borrowers will be able to refinance or freeze interest rates on adjustable-rate loans, according to Bloomberg News. Samsung Electronics Co led exporters higher following stronger-than-expected US data on productivity and jobs. The US government's measures "will stop their poor people from becoming homeless, halt the drop in property prices, and help prop up spending," said Yang Jeung Won, who oversees the equivalent of US$7.6 billion at Samsung Investment Trust Management Co in Seoul. "There are expectations that the US economy will be able to ease itself into a soft landing." The MSCI

FT.com - Tokyo shares rose strongly on optimism that the US economy would be able to avoid a recession, taking the benchmark Nikkei index to a four-week closing high.

The Dow retreats for a second straight day, falling 65.84 points, as investors worry about the housing slump. Stock prices dropped Tuesday, led again by shares of financial companies, as concern persisted that fallout from the slumping housing market could generate more banking losses and pull the economy into recession.

NEW YORK, Dec. 4 -- Wall Street wilted Tuesday as investors awaiting next week's Federal Reserve meeting remained uneasy that the fallout from the slumping housing market could bring more bank losses and drag the economy into recession.

ASIAN stocks rose for a third day, led by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc and National Australia Bank Ltd, on speculation the Federal Reserve will cut United States interest rates to bolster growth in the world's largest economy. Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd led gains by developers in Hong Kong as lower borrowing costs would spur demand for real estate. Hong Kong's interest rates typically move in step with those in the US because the currency is pegged to the greenback. Banks also climbed on speculation US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will reach a deal to stem further credit-market losses, Bloomberg News said. "There's a perception the Fed is getting ahead of the curve and as a result the US economy won't fall into recession," said Troy Angus, who helps manage the equivalent of US$3.5 billion at Paradice Investment Management Ltd in Sydney. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.2 percent to 162.21 at 6:33pm in Tokyo. Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 0.3

EUROPEAN stocks had their biggest weekly gain last Friday since June on speculation the United States Federal Reserve will lower interest rates to prevent credit-market losses from dragging the world's biggest economy into a recession. "The situation is serious enough to expect further rate cuts," said Guenther Gerstenberger, a fund manager at Germany-based PEH Wertpapier AG, which oversees the equivalent of US$5.5 billion. "In the medium term we'll see strong equity markets." Commodity stocks rose the most in 10 weeks, led by BHP Billiton Ltd, Anglo American Plc and Rio Tinto Group. Barclays Plc and Commerzbank AG paced an advance of financial stocks after strategic buyers from emerging-market countries bought stakes in Citigroup Inc, the biggest US bank, and Fortis of Belgium, Bloomberg News reported. The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index added 3.5 percent to 370.36 last week. Still, the gauge dropped 4.7 percent in November for the worst monthly performance since

A full-blown dollar collapse would be disastrous. Thankfully, it need not happen THE weather may be cold and wet, but in the rich world's financial markets it is beginning to feel like August all over again. Credit spreads have widened and shares are pitching from gloom to elation as investors look to the Federal Reserve for solace. The anxiety is unmistakable. But this time the scare is about more than bad mortgage loans and their baleful effect on the credit markets. America may be falling into recession. And a new fear now stalks the markets: that the dollar's slide could spin out of control (see article). A full-blown dollar crisis on top of a credit crunch and a weakening economy would be frightening. It would send financial markets reeling and tie the hands of the Fed, perhaps forcing it to raise interest rates even as recession looms. The sky-high euro would soar further, choking off Europe's growth. Political tensions would also rise. Already Airbus has called the dollar's decline "life-threatening" and France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has given warning of "economic war". ...

BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Analysts at UBS on Tuesday downgraded shares of apartment real estate investment trusts BRE Properties Inc. and Equity Residential to sell from neutral, and cut AvalonBay Communities Inc. to neutral from buy. Although apartments have trailed the broader REIT sector so far this year, "we believe prospects for continued slowing growth and potential risk of a recession place further pressure on the multifamily sector," the analysts wrote in a report to clients. "There is also the pressure from the oversupply of homes and condos coming back on the market as rentals, which will likely increase as ARMs reset now through 2009," they said. Apartment stocks were among the worst performers in REITs during the years following the 2001 recession, UBS said. Among apartment REITs, the analysts' top picks are Essex Property Trust Inc. and Home Properties Inc. , both of which are rated buy.

EUROPEAN stocks capped the longest streak of weekly losses since August after the Federal Reserve cut its United States growth forecast, fueling concern the world's largest economy is sliding into recession. Porsche AG, which relies on the US for more than a third of its sales, paced declines by exporters as the American currency dropped to a record low against the euro. UBS AG led a retreat in bank shares on speculation the worst of the credit-market turmoil is not over. Mining stocks fell with metal prices. The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index dropped 1.4 percent to 357.74, the fourth straight week of losses. The benchmark has lost 11 percent since reaching a 6 1/2-year high on June 1, on concern defaults among US mortgage borrowers with the poorest credit profiles will hurt economic growth and corporate earnings, Bloomberg News said. "The situation is getting worse with oil and credit problems weighing on equity markets," said Wolfram Mrowetz, who manages the equivalent of

At a time when new media stock values are reaching new heights, the shares of Madison Avenue's big publicly traded ad agency holding companies have taken it on the chin in a major market correction. Shares of Aegis Group, Interpublic, Omnicom, Publicis and WPP have all fallen to or near the low end of their 52-week trading range due to mounting concerns over a potential U.S. economic recession, and downgrades from various Wall Street analysts.

ASIAN stocks rose, reversing earlier declines, on speculation minutes from a Federal Reserve meeting will show the United States economy, the region's biggest overseas market, can weather a slump in values of homes and subprime mortgages. Some shares also climbed on expectations declines this month didn't reflect regional companies' earnings prospects. Mitsui & Co, which lost a fifth of its value in November, advanced. CNOOC Ltd led gains among energy stocks as oil prices rose. "Is subprime going to drag the US economy into recession? I don't think so," said Mona Chung, who helps manage US$2.5 billion at Daiwa Asset Management Ltd in Hong Kong. "Some shares have already dropped to very attractive levels." The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia Pacific Index added 0.3 percent to 158.05 at 6:47pm in Tokyo, rallying from an earlier decline of as much as 2.6 percent. The index is still down 7.8 percent this month. Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average

EUROPEAN stocks slumped to their lowest in almost two months last week, paced by commodity producers as metal and oil prices fell. Boliden AB, Europe's third-biggest copper refiner, and Anglo American Plc, the world's second-largest miner, led commodity stocks lower. Porsche AG dropped as the weak US dollar hurt the value of US sales translated into euros. "The picture is dimming for commodity stocks," said Herbert Perus, who helps oversee the equivalent of US$57 billion as head of global equities at Raiffeisen Capital Management in Vienna. "The word recession is heard more and more often from the US. It's a very sentiment-driven market with a lot of scared investors." The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index declined 1.3 percent last week. The benchmark has fallen nine percent since reaching a 6 1/2-year high on June 1 because of concern defaults among US mortgage borrowers with the poorest credit profiles will hurt the rest of the economy. "It's reasonable to