In short

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

AIB hires UBS to advise on the bank's planned rights issue

AIB has hired Swiss bank UBS to advise on the bank's planned rights issue in the final three months of this year. The bank has also retained Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase and Goodbody Stockbrokers to advise on the deal.

The bank has said it expects to raise up to €3 billion in equity from private investors and the Government in the share deal to meet the Financial Regulator’s capital target of €7.4 billion.

About €2.5 billion of this is being generated from the agreed sale of the bank’s Polish lender Bank Zachodni WBK last week to Spanish bank Santander in the first part of the capital-raising. AIB is also selling its 22.5 per cent stake in US bank MT and its UK business, including First Trust Bank in Northern Ireland.

The sale is expected to generate about €2 billion.

Beijing warns over US pressure on yuan

Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner sought to convince sceptical US lawmakers yesterday he was taking a tougher line on China's currency and trade policies, but Beijing warned that pressure from Washington could backfire.

Striking his sharpest tone yet Geithner told a Senate hearing that the yuan was strengthening too slowly and the Obama executive was looking to get Beijing to move faster. –(Reuters)

Fall in US jobless benefit claims

New US claims for jobless benefits hit a two-month low last week while the contraction in factory activity in the mid-Atlantic region eased in September.

Although the reports yesterday confirmed the economy remained on a slow growth path, they reduced the odds of a double-dip recession. It also suggested less of a need for the Federal Reserve to launch a fresh round of asset purchases to aid the recovery . - (Reuters)

Halo reaches top spot for Microsoft

Microsoft's latest video game Halo: Reach notched up $200 million (€153 million) in sales in the US and Europe in its first 24 hours, making it the biggest US entertainment launch of the year.

The newest addition to the popular Halo series is a key title for Microsoft heading into the holiday shopping season when it and archrivals Nintendo and Sony look to reverse a recent sales slump in the games industry.

Phil Spencer, vice-president of Microsoft Game Studios, said a lack of blockbuster games was to blame for the industry slowdown, and the success of Halo: Reach would support Xbox 360 console sales for the software maker . – (Reuters)

British retail sales fall for first time since January

British retail sales volumes fell last month for the first time since January, a sign that consumer demand may be slipping ahead of planned government spending cuts.

The Office for National Statistics said sales volumes fell 0.5 per cent in August, surprising analysts who had forecast a modest increase and backtracking after several months of resilient growth.

On the year, retail sales volumes rose just 0.4 per cent – only a fifth of the 2.0 per cent analysts had forecast.

Sterling hit session lows against the euro and the dollar after the report, which also showed hefty downward revisions to July's figures.

"August's fall in retail sales could be the first sign that the surprising resilience of consumer spending could be coming to an end," said Vicky Redwood at Capital Economics.

"The pressures on consumers are clearly mounting ." – (Reuters)

John Lewis posts 28% rise in profit

British retailer John Lewis said trading conditions would likely get tougher as tax hikes and public spending cuts hit shoppers, as it reported a 28 per cent rise in first-half profit.

"We remain confident John Lewis and Wainrose will continue to grow ahead of the market," the chairman said.