Bank of America adds cheer to bank stocks July 22, 2008 Shares in Bank of America, the largest retail bank in the US, surged after the mortgage lender revealed better-than expected second quarter results, despite a 41 per cent drop in profits and a rise in bad loans. The stock climbed 6 per cent higher after the bank topped earnings forecasts, boosting confidence amongst investors that [...]
More firms on brink of bankruptcy July 21, 2008 The number of companies in Britain that are facing bankruptcy rose 685 per cent in the last year, new figures have revealed. Some 4,258 firms faced “critical problems” – defined as being embroiled in some kind of insolvency related legal action – in the second quarter of 2008, compared with just 542 in the same [...]
HBOS suffers rights issue humiliation July 21, 2008 Morgan Stanley and Dresdner Kleinwort to lose tens of millions of pounds on the deal High street banking group HBOS is today expected to announce that as few as 10 per cent of investors took up its £4bn share offer, making it one of the biggest rights issue failures in corporate history. Shareholders, who were [...]
London and New York need each other July 21, 2008 Much fuss is made about the “lead” or “lag” that London shows vis-ą-vis New York in the financial and business sector. Whenever studies such as the Global Financial Centres Index report is published, many commentators pore over the tables to see by what degree London or New York is ahead. This misses the point: more [...]
The perfect storm July 16, 2008 Higher than expected inflation figures and growing concerns about the banking sector knocked London’s FTSE 100 index of leading stocks down 2.4 per cent yesterday to under 5,200. The benchmark index has now fallen 23 per cent since a June 2007 high and is in clear bear market territory. Bank stocks, unsettled by fears that [...]
Bush calls for quick action on bank plan July 16, 2008 US President George W Bush urged Congress to act quickly on the government’s plan to shore up housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac yesterday. Speaking at a White House press conference as share prices across the world gyrated wildly, the President said of the two mortgage giants: “We must ensure they can continue [...]
Develop your tactics to win in hard times July 15, 2008 When the going gets tough, the tough stick to their trading strategies, says Katie Hope Everybody harbours a secret desire to be an investment legend. The so-called “Sage of Omaha” Warren Buffett, George Soros, whom it is obligatory to refer to as “the man who broke the Bank of England” and even fictional red-braced trader [...]
Rescue plan falls flat July 15, 2008 American mortgage giant Freddie Mac passed its first test of investor confidence yesterday as buyers flocked to its $3bn (£1.5bn) sale of securities just hours after the US government announced sweeping measures to prop-up the country’s largest mortgage finance companies. However, shares in Freddie Mac and its sister company Fannie Mae, which together own or [...]
Alliance & Leicester snapped up as bid fever returns to the City July 15, 2008 A frenzy of merger and acquisition activity, spearheaded by Spanish bank Santander agreeing to buy Alliance & Leicester for £1.3bn, returned to the markets yesterday causing stocks to rally. The oil and gas sector was the centre of much of the bid action, with Imperial Energy, the developer of Russian oil reserves, soaring 18 per [...]
US authorities move to rescue Freddie and Fannie July 14, 2008 Support from US Treasury comes minutes before far east markets open for trading US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson moved to calm nerves about stricken American lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last night, saying the government would be willing to take an equity stake in the two banks. His eagerly awaited statement came just minutes [...]