Tuesday newspaper round-up: Oil, BAE Systems, Eurozone crisis...

2nd Nov 2010 06:21

A flagship coalition policy to promote economic growth could be a "failure in large parts of England", a leaked letter from the minister in charge has warned.The introduction of local economic partnerships (LEPs) has caused "strong concerns" among business leaders and could be "in danger of failing to aid economic growth", according to Mark Prisk, the Business and Enterprise Minister, the Times reports.The Saudi Arabian energy minister pushed up oil futures by $2 per barrel, after implying the powerful nation will not do anything to stop prices rising to $90. The comments will drive further fears of inflation, as transportation costs of consumer goods tends to rise with the oil price. Brent crude rose $2.06 to $85.21, as any signs about Saudi Arabia's plans for output can have a huge impact on the volatile oil market. Ali al-Naimi, the oil minister, told a conference in Singapore: "Consumers are looking for oil prices around $70, but hopefully less than $90. There's almost an anchor now for the price, the Telegraph reports.A rebound in US manufacturing has handed ammunition to those at the Federal Reserve uneasy about further quantitative easing (QE), as the central bank starts its most important meeting since the depths of the crisis. Ben Bernanke, the Fed's chairman, has signalled to Wall Street that a second dose of QE is likely to be announced on Wednesday in a bid to fire up America's economic recovery, the Telegraph reports.BAE Systems has been appointed a prime contractor to the FBI as the agency begins a $30bn overhaul of its technology. Europe's largest defence company will provide the FBI with IT systems over the next eight years, the Times reports.Leading defence contractors in Britain and France want Tuesday's summit between David Cameron, the UK premier, and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, to boost bilateral industrial collaboration to help create a new generation of unmanned surveillance and combat aircraft programmes. As the leaders prepare for a London summit that will focus largely on defence, the chief executives of BAE Systems and Dassault have written to both leaders, saying industrial collaboration is essential if both countries are to develop the aircraft, the FT reports.The US electricals giant Best Buy will launch an online shop in the UK within the next fortnight to take the fight to its rivals Currys, Comet and Argos on to the web. Best Buy, which opened its first UK store in May and now has five, will deliver across the UK, but not in the Channel Island or the Isle of Man, the Independent reports. Tenants will be given the right to force their landlords to upgrade their homes with loft and cavity wall insulation, double glazing and new boilers, under government plans to increase energy efficiency. Local authorities will also be granted powers to require improvements to the 700,000 rented homes with the lowest ratings for energy efficiency. Landlords will face fines of up to £5,000 if they do not make the changes, the Times reports.A total of 1.6m jobs will be lost across the economy as a result of the Government's deficit reduction programme - far more than so far admitted by ministers. According to the Chartered Institute of Personal and Development (CIPD), a leading labour market think-tank, spending cuts will account for 725,000 of those losses, the hike in VAT a further 250,000, and knock-on redundancies in the private sector will see 625,000 more posts disappear, the Independent reports.Borrowing costs for Ireland and Portugal shot up as investors took fright at European proposals to force them to take a greater share of losses in future state bail-outs. The moves in the bond markets on Monday follow agreement at last week's European Union summit on a Franco-German proposal on a mechanism to resolve future Greek-style sovereign debt crises, the FT reports.