Saturday Papers: Nasdaq jumps to 11-year high on surge in US jobs

Top stories

• The Daily Telegraph: A surge in hiring in the US economy drove the Nasdaq index to an 11-year high on Friday; the bourse added 46 points, or 1.61%, to 2,906; it also sent the Dow Jones up 157 points, or 1.23%, near a four-year high of 12,862; the S&P 500 rose 19 points, or 1.5%, to 1,345.
• The Daily Telegraph: Royal Bank of Scotland is considering stripping Stephen Hester of his annual bonus and replacing it with a longer-term scheme that is "more robust against public opinion" after the row over his near £1 million award this year.
• Financial Times: Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg faces a tax liability of more than $1.5 billion this year.
• The Daily Telegraph: US’ unemployment rate tumbled to the lowest level in three years in January; the jobs report released yesterday showed that 243,000 Americans found work in January, helping to drive the unemployment rate down to 8.3% from 8.5% in December.
• The Independent: Goldman Sachs handed its chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, a bonus of $7 million in shares for his work last year, down from $12.6 million in 2010 in line with the investment bank’s slipping profits.
• Financial Times: Over the past two years, the Church of England has more than doubled the amount of money its multibillion-pound endowment has put into hedge funds.
• Financial Times: Chris Huhne has resigned as energy secretary after Friday’s announcement that he was to be charged with perverting the course of justice, prompting the second cabinet reshuffle in three months.

Business and economics

• The Daily Telegraph: The Financial Services Authority has effectively shut down the "sale and rent back" market after it found deals being offered were "unaffordable or unsuitable and never should have been sold".
• The Daily Telegraph: Sir William Castell, chairman of BP's safety committee during the Gulf of Mexico disaster, has given up the role and will leave the board altogether in April, the oil major revealed.
• The Guardian: Japanese electronics firm Panasonic has nearly doubled its projected net loss for 2011 to ¥780 billion (£6.47bn), the biggest in the company's 95-year history.
• The Daily Telegraph: The Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC are being investigated by the Swiss authorities over allegations they manipulated the interbank lending rates which may have distorted the price of trillions of dollars of securities.
• The Daily Telegraph: Nat Rothschild's Indonesian partners in his FTSE 100 mining venture Bumi are trying to remove him from the board, reigniting concerns over clashes at the company.
• The Daily Telegraph: BT has unveiled plans for a new high-speed broadband package available in remote parts of the country, as the telecoms giant reported a 48% rise in pre-tax profits to £652 million in the three months to 31 December.
• The Daily Telegraph: The Markit/CIPS services purchasing managers' index rose to a 10-month high of 56, from 54 in December, boosting hopes that a return to recession may still be avoided.
• The Daily Telegraph: Sales of equities halved in 2011 compared with the previous year; the Investment Management Association recorded inflows of just £3 billion last year, compared with £6.9 billion in 2010, as investor confidence took a beating.
• The Guardian: Bankrupt Hungarian flag-carrier Malev grounds fleet after two aeroplanes seized, as Ryanair and other budget carriers announce new routes to Budapest.
• The Guardian: French Connection issues second profits warning in three months; high-street squeeze hits fashion retailer, which warns it expects £4.7 million profit this year after disappointing Christmas trading.
• The Guardian: Video game suppliers have come to the rescue of struggling retailer Game Group, striking a backroom deal to allow the firm to secure revised terms with its lending banks.
• Daily Mail: The number of people who have become insolvent has dropped to its lowest level since 2008, despite the tough economic conditions, official figures showed.
• Financial Times: Steve Appleton, chairman and chief executive of the US chipmaker, was killed in an aircraft crash in Boise, Idaho.
• Financial Times: Carlyle has bowed to pressure from investors and regulators to remove a legal clause from its listing documents that attempted to limit the ability of shareholders to sue the company.
• Financial Times: New York has sued three of the largest US banks - Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo - over their use of a national private electronic mortgage registry, accusing them of illegal home seizures and adding yet another legal worry for besieged lenders.
• Financial Times: Russia has sharply cut gas supplies to nine European countries as it struggles to cope with a cold snap that has gripped the continent and seen a jump in demand for energy.
• Financial Times: Old Mutual is to pay out £1 billion in a special dividend once shareholders approve the Anglo-South African life and savings group’s planned £2.1 billion sale of its Nordic businesses.
• Financial Times: Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation, the London-listed Kazakh miner, has appointed veteran investment banker Mehmet Dalman as chairman.

Share tips, comment and bids

• The Daily Telegraph: Misys, the British software company, is in talks with its Swiss rival, Temenos, about an all-share merger aimed at bolstering the companies against a drop off in sales.
• The Daily Telegraph: Glencore may have to pay £25 billion to make its proposed merger with Xstrata happen, according to new research.
• Financial Times: Pertemps, the recruitment agency, is to merge with its former subsidiary Network Holdings in a £100 million-plus private equity-backed management buy-out.
• Financial Times: Plus Markets Group has called time on its aim to establish itself as London’s primary exchange for fledgling companies by putting itself up for sale.
• Financial Times: Shares in Cluff Gold have been lifted by news that the London-listed gold mining company is to expand its presence in Burkina Faso.
• The Guardian (Comment): Fred Goodwin lost his knighthood but the global financial crisis was not all his fault – and the list of those who erred is long.
• The Independent (Comment): The American consumer is "a riddle wrapped inside an enigma", one economist wrote, when we learnt that consumer confidence has dipped again. She certainly is a riddle. The outlook is actually brightening, and quickly.
• Daily Mail (Comment): How the wheel of fortune turns. While the former Sir Fred Goodwin sank further into ignominy this week, Sir James Crosby, the former HBOS chief executive and current £180,000-a-year chairman of Misys, was busy on a £2 billion deal to sell the UK software group to the Swiss.
• Daily Mail (Comment): It may be an entirely unfashionable view and out of keeping with the zeitgeist but the British economy has had a much better start to 2012 than anyone expected.
• Financial Times (Lex): ETFs: engine trouble - the fall in volumes should not deter regulators from getting a better grip on these products, particularly the synthetic variety.
• Financial Times (Lex): Singapore Airlines: losing altitude - after the fifth consecutive fall in profits, the carrier’s shares are beginning to look expensive when compared with its rivals.
• Financial Times (Lex): Christian Dior / LVMH - the rich have clearly had a comfy recession but it is the middle-class customers buying aspirational brands who hold the key.