Osborne in hunt for growth plan November 13, 2011 CHANCELLOR George Osborne is in talks with institutional investors about getting private cash to fund billions in infrastructure projects as part of a desperate bid to get the economy moving despite the global debt crisis. Among the ideas being mulled by HM Treasury is the establishment of an infrastructure investment fund to channel private money [...]
Lloyds reports £3.8bn loss November 8, 2011 Lloyds Banking Group , the part-nationalised lender which has been hit by its chief executive’s temporary absence due to health issues, reported a nine-month loss and said it may have to put back some financial targets due to the economic turmoil. Lloyds, which is 41 per cent owned by the government after being bailed out [...]
Jobs data boosts FTSE but US markets falter October 7, 2011 London stocks have closed slightly higher after better-than-expected US jobs figures prompted an afternoon rally, but US markets remain down after fresh downgrades of Spain and Italy. The FTSE 100 index spiked sharply when US figures showed 103,000 new jobs created, and while it gave up most of the gains it still closed up 0.2 [...]
US debt hits £15 trillion as cut-off looms November 16, 2011 BUDGET talks in the US Congress were locked in stalemate yesterday as Democrats and Republicans waited for the other side to make a new offer on taxes and healthcare. As the US’s debt pile crossed the $15 trillion mark, members of a 12-member “super committee” fought to find some $1.2 trillion (£764bn) in budget savings over [...]
US debt hits £15 trillion as cut-off looms November 16, 2011 BUDGET talks in the US Congress were locked in stalemate yesterday as Democrats and Republicans waited for the other side to make a new offer on taxes and healthcare. As the US’s debt pile crossed the $15 trillion mark, members of a 12-member “super committee” fought to find some $1.2 trillion (£764bn) in budget savings over [...]
Ban on naked CDS will backfire, says official Brussels report September 29, 2011 THE EUROPEAN Parliament is pushing ahead with plans to ban naked credit default swaps (CDS) – even though its own research has revealed the move would exacerbate market volatility. European lawmakers are expected to back a German proposal that would ban so-called “naked” CDS, where a trader buys a CDS without holding the sovereign bonds [...]
Why the euphoria was not justified October 27, 2011 MARKETS are hugely preferable to central planning – but sometimes capitalism’s finest get it spectacularly wrong. Yesterday’s deluded jump in stock prices – the FTSE is now back up to 5,713.82 – was a gross over-reaction to the Eurozone’s deal. A sigh of relief that the outcome wasn’t worse would have been understandable; but there [...]
Why the euphoria was not justified October 27, 2011 MARKETS are hugely preferable to central planning – but sometimes capitalism’s finest get it spectacularly wrong. Yesterday’s deluded jump in stock prices – the FTSE is now back up to 5,713.82 – was a gross over-reaction to the Eurozone’s deal. A sigh of relief that the outcome wasn’t worse would have been understandable; but there [...]
Lloyds finance boss jumps ship to Friends Life September 19, 2011 Tim Tookey has decided to quit the part-nationalised British bank to join insurer Friends Life, the companies said, continuing a series of high-profile management departures in the wake of the arrival of new Lloyds’ chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio earlier this year. Lloyds said Tookey would remain with the company until the end of February next [...]
FTSE ends the day higher on EU hope November 3, 2011 INVESTORS shrugged off chaos in the Eurozone as Britain’s top share index climbed higher yesterday, with leaders of the most powerful nations meeting in France in an effort to solve Europe’s crippling debt crisis. London’s blue chip index rose 61.54 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 5,545.64, as the index continued to recoup the sharp [...]