American Express axes 4,000 jobs May 18, 2009 American Express, the credit card and travel services company, yesterday said it plans to eliminate 4,000 jobs, or six per cent of its workforce, as the weakened economy causes higher customer defaults. The cuts are part of the company’s plan to save $800m (£521.5m) over the rest of 2009. They are in addition to 7,000 [...]
Consumer-related stocks to shed some light on spending June 14, 2009 RETAILERS will be very much in the spotlight again this week, with trading updates expected from the great and good of the supermarket world and retail sales data expected to shed more light on the high street picture. Tesco will get the ball rolling tomorrow when it releases its first quarter sales data, but is [...]
Sterling hits seven month high against the US dollar June 1, 2009 STERLING gained against a broadly falling US dollar yesterday, as share prices rose on expectations for the global economy to stabilise, prompting investors to cautiously shift towards riskier assets. The pound rose to a seven-month high against the dollar, while it also gained against the euro and the yen. The dollar fell broadly, hitting its [...]
Great Portland pays 18m to exit bet May 27, 2009 PROPERTY group Great Portland Estates yesterday spent £18.2m to buy its way out of an expensive interest rate hedge. The London landlord became the first major property company to pay a hefty break fee to end an interest rate hedge on £190m of debt. It’s thought the move will save the company about £8.5m a [...]
Goldman to raise 1bn by selling part of ICBC stake June 1, 2009 GOLDMAN Sachs is selling up to about $1.9bn (£1.15bn) worth of shares in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China at a discount of between four and six per cent to the Chinese lender’s losing price yesterday. The shares represent nearly 20 per cent of Goldman’s 4.93 per cent stake in the Chinese bank, which is [...]
House prices see surprise jump in May June 4, 2009 HOUSE prices unexpectedly rose by 2.6 per cent in May at their fastest monthly rate since October 2002, according to Halifax’s house price survey released yesterday, although economists warned that house prices still had some way to go before bottoming out. Last month’s rise soundly beat analysts’ expectations of a fall of one per cent [...]
Money supply is starting to grow again June 2, 2009 FOR all the much-deserved carnage in Westminster yesterday, the economy is gradually recovering. This doesn’t mean we will enjoy a V-shaped bounce-back: growth, when it returns, will have to contend with massive fiscal tightening to tackle the exploding budget deficit; interest rates will also have to go up, dealing the convalescing housing market a second [...]
ASIAN SURGE DEPENDS ON US RECOVERY July 19, 2009 JANE FOLEY RESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COM STRONG earnings reports from both Goldman Sachs and Intel and an improvement in some economic data releases last week partially cleared the cloud of economic gloom that has been hanging over the global recovery. The particularly strong gains in Asia finally added some substance to the belief that the global [...]
ASIAN SURGE DEPENDS ON US RECOVERY July 19, 2009 JANE FOLEY RESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COM STRONG earnings reports from both Goldman Sachs and Intel and an improvement in some economic data releases last week partially cleared the cloud of economic gloom that has been hanging over the global recovery. The particularly strong gains in Asia finally added some substance to the belief that the global [...]
US equities fall on interest-rate fears June 10, 2009 US stocks fell last night on worries that rising interest rates could put a damper on consumer and business spending, but stocks pared losses late in the session on a bond-market rebound. The market had extended losses after a 10-year Treasury note auction sparked a sell-off in bonds, pushing yields briefly above 4 per cent [...]