The announcement made before the weekend that that 121,000 Royal Mail staff had voted overwhelmingly for national strikes over jobs, pay and working conditions had UK business owners and managers in a sweat. Companies fear that national action, on top of the regional strikes that have been taking place over the past three months, will cause widespread disruption to postal deliveries and hinder their long awaited and much needed economic Christmas rush. The Communication Workers Union announced that their members had backed nationwide walkouts by a three to one ratio in protest at the “imposition” of changes to working practices as well as cuts in pay and job losses. Dave Ward, deputy general secretary of the Postal Workers Union, said that representatives of the union were due to meet on Monday to agree its next step and would give the Royal Mail a “final opportunity” to resolve the dispute over the next week or so.

According to Britain’s business secretary, Lord Mandelson Britain is unlikely to accept Magna International’s plan for the takeover of Vauxhall/Opel unless certain “shortcomings” are addressed. In explaining Britain’s role in “signing off” on the deal, Lord Mandelson stated that an impact plan should be agreed even before talks on how much Britain will contribute to the ($3.1 billion ) €4.5 billion) of loan guarantees needed to restructure Opel can begin. While Germany is due to supply most of the loan guarantees, the British government is being called upon to supply €400 million in guarantees. In return Mandelson expects assurances on the fate of Vauxhall’s two UK plants, in Luton and Ellesmere Port, which employ about 5,000 workers between them, before giving the green light.

According to a report from a leading UK global ratings agency, The recent gains in house prices are likely to prove only a temporary respite before a further steep fall next year, The agency has forecast that they expect UK property prices to fall by about 30 per cent in total from their October 2007 peak, despite the fact that property prices have improved for the last three months leading to hopes of a sustained recovery. However prices still remain 13 per cent below their peak in 2007.

Carphone Warehouse, whilst raising their target for the number of residential broadband customers it hopes to capture in 2009/2010 have taken the opportunity to disclose that the number of subscribers that they had hoped to take on board during their recent acquisition of Tiscali UK, were considerably less than the figures quoted. No fewer than 160,000 than the 1.45 million that Tiscali boasted before the acquisition. On the discovery, Carphone Warehouse has announced that they will be renegotiating the £236 million price it agreed to pay for Tiscali UK.

JJB Sports have announced that they are planning to instigate a share placing and open offer that they hope will rise close to £100 million, more than the total market value of the sporting goods retailer. Shares in JJB, who narrowly avoided administration in April, are likely to be priced below 25 pence, a significant discount to Thursday’s close of 34½ pence. On the news, shares fell sharply on Friday’s trading, down 6.5 per cent to 32¼ pence. On the upside, demand for the new shares has been so high that the company expects to rise significantly more than its current market capitalisation of £86.5 million with analysts predicting that it could even reach more than double that amount. .

On the FTSE 100 Friday, Unilever was among the risers on Friday up 2.7 percent to 1816 pence after industry data showed sales of product lines such as ice-cream and deodorant has been very buoyant since July. Confectionary giant Cadbury fared worse on announcement that their sales had fallen sharply below company targets since July, despite that fact that that the company has increased the number of promotions running after they fell into an unwelcome spotlight after last month’s bid from Kraft. Cadbury closed flat at 785 pence. Shares in Whitbread the brewer added 1.6 per cent to 1269 pence in anticipation of positive results due to be issued on Tuesday.

The FTSE 100 continued its steady rise, this time by 7.23 points to close on 5161.87. The index rose 3.5 per cent on the week, thanks largely to the falling US dollar.The FTSE 250 held its ground before closing for the weekend, up a mere 3.86 points to close for the day on 9,377.30

The pound lost some of its pace against the leading currencies, as well as again creeping below the $1.60 mark.

• Pound/US dollar 1.5843
• Pound/Euro 1.10757
• Pound/Japanese Yen 142.1499
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.634

According to figures issued by the Commerce Department, the US trade deficit shrank unexpectedly in August as the weak dollar boosted exports.

The deficit, representing the difference between US imports and exports, fell to $30.7 billion (£19.3 billion) from a revised estimate of $31.9 billion in July.

Exports rose slightly on the back of the weak dollar while imports fell.

The dollar has slipped recently, with traders moving into other currencies as the global economy begins to recover. The sharp fall in the US dollar is giving ammunition to the critics of the Obama administration and fuelling broader concerns about the erosion of America’s reserve currency status.

The Dow Jones index closed strongly for the weekend up 78.07 points to 9864.94. The NASDAQ index continued its consistent rise, up a further 15.35 points to close on 2139.28.

In an unexpected development, but one which is expected to positive implications to the US economy, it was announced on Friday that President Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The award has been granted for the President’s efforts to reduce the world’s stockpile of nuclear weapons and working for world peace. The first African American to hold the country’s highest office, Obama has consistently called for disarmament and since taking office in January has been actively involved in attempting to revive the stalled Middle East peace process.

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