Fears over Barclays sell-off drag the FTSE 100 down June 2, 2009 THE FTSE 100 ended down 0.7 per cent yesterday, hurt by banks after a major shareholder sold its holding in Barclays, although improving US pending home sales lent some support. The index closed 29.17 points lower at 4,477.02, giving up some of the previous session’s 2 per cent rise. Barclays topped the FTSE 100 losers’ [...]
Intermediate Capital sinks to first loss June 2, 2009 INTERMEDIATE Capital Group (ICG), which lends money to buyout firms, has fallen to the first loss in its history as bad debts mounted amid the financial crisis. The specialist financier suffered a pre-tax loss of £67m in the year ending 31 March, a dramatic reversal from the £230m profit it booked in the previous year. [...]
In a range-bound market, predicting the peak can pay May 31, 2009 FOLLOWING substantial rallies back in April and early May on the back of green shoots, the blue-chip FTSE 100 has levelled off over the past month. Although the pace of decline is slowing, there are concerns that shares have risen too fast. The leading UK index has since been range bound between 4,300 and 4,500. [...]
Retail sales fall in May as pain worsens May 28, 2009 SHOPPERS are belt-tightening again, according to data released yesterday which shows that high street sales fell by more than expected in May. New figures from employers’ organisation the CBI showed that some 17 per cent more retailers reported a fall, rather than a rise, in sales during May. The data suggests that April’s rise, which [...]
FOCUS ON: BETHNAL GREEN, E2 May 28, 2009 CITY PAVILION, CHILTON STREET, E2Price: £650,000Located just off Brick Lane and near Spitalfields market, this large three-bedroom apartment offers plenty of space for your money. It is on the second floor of a courtyard building and has a dual-aspect living room with floor-to-ceiling windows. The kitchen is open-plan and recessed to the side with solid [...]
Banks and retailers rally to steer the FTSE 100 ahead May 27, 2009 GAINS in banks and retailers outweighed weakness in energy stocks and drugmakers yesterday to leave the FTSE 100 up by 0.1 per cent, or 4.51 points, at 4,416.23. Trade was thin with just 67 per cent of the average of the last 90 days of trading transacted with the absence of concrete data on the [...]
Pace of slump starts to ease May 26, 2009 THE pace of the decline in the service sector, the powerhouse behind three quarters of the UK economy, has begun to slow, according to the CBI. In the consumer services sector, such as hotels, the volume of business fell at its fastest rate since November 2001 over the past quarter, but this was offset by [...]
US housing collapse: lessons for the UK May 26, 2009 IF you thought Britain’s house price collapse has been dramatic, wait until you look at America’s. The latest US house price figures reveal that the once booming city of Phoenix, Arizona, has suffered an astonishing 53 per cent collapse in prices since their peak in June 2006. Prices in Las Vegas are also down by [...]
REALITY CHECK AS UK DEFICIT SOARS May 21, 2009 TENTATIVE signs of a recovery in the UK economy were dramatically overshadowed yesterday when credit ratings agency S&P downgraded its outlook on UK debt and the scale of the crisis in the public finances was laid bare. S&P lowered its outlook on the UK’s prized AAA credit rating to “negative” from “stable”, giving a one [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 21, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMESCORUS CHIEF SCRAMBLES TO RESCUE FACTORY DEALCorus chief Kirby Adamsm who took over at the Anglo-Dutch steelmaker last month, faces both the worst fall in steel demand for 60 years and a battle to salvage an agreement to sell the group’s Teesside plant to Marcegaglia. It has emerged that Marcegaglia is having second thoughts [...]