Italy turns European markets red February 26, 2013 EUROPEAN markets went into free-fall yesterday, as Italian electoral gridlock obliterated all the gains the continents’ indices have made so far in the year. Nearly every European index was down, as the Italian upper chamber was split between Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right, Pier Luigi Bersani’s centre-left and Beppe Grillo’s populist protest party. Euro Stoxx 50 plunged 3.1 [...]
Bonuses bounce back on a smaller Wall Street February 26, 2013 WALL Street bonuses increased nine per cent to an average of $122,000 (£81,000) last year despite escalating job losses and at the same time as the Big Apple’s financial sector shrank overall, according to estimates released yesterday. The average bonus pool for employees employed in the securities industry in New York City surged some eight [...]
Gold price jumps as Fed chief defends QE policy February 26, 2013 THE PRICE of gold rebounded sharply last night after US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke leapt to the defence of its unprecedented quantitative easing programme. The yellow metal jumped around 1.3 per cent to hit $1,614.11 an ounce in the early hours of this morning. Gold is often seen as a hedge against inflation, which [...]
Negative interest rates are the last thing the economy needs February 26, 2013 JUST in case anybody was still in doubt that yet more quantitative easing (QE) and extraordinary monetary measures are on the cards, Paul Tucker, the Bank of England’s deputy governor, could not have been any clearer yesterday. He even raised the prospect of the Bank of England imposing negative nominal interest rates, at least on [...]
What the other papers say this morning February 26, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Esure warned against overpricing Top fund managers have warned Esure against overpricing its initial public offering as the motor and home insurer prepares to launch London’s latest float as early as today. Bankers were yesterday finalising the details of the planned float as analysts said that the most recent publicly available accounts indicated [...]
130,000 homes sold at a loss since 2007 February 26, 2013 MORE than 130,000 British families have sold their homes at a loss since the financial crisis began, according to a report released today. The figures lay bare the damage done to house prices since 2007, with 41 per cent of homes bought and sold during the last six years reaching less than the seller paid for [...]
Hedge fund managers bank £11bn February 26, 2013 The world’s top 40 hedge fund managers earned an eye-watering $16.7bn (£11.1bn) in pay last year, with CQS Management boss Michael Hintze the top paid London manager, according to a study by Forbes magazine. The list shows the top five earners accounted for close to half of the total, some $7.8bn. Hintze came in at [...]
Westfield profits flat in 2012 February 26, 2013 Australian shopping mall group Westfield, which runs two enormous sites in London, yesterday said earnings were flat in 2012. Westfield said its funds from operations – a industry measure of operating profits – hit $1.47bn australian dollars (£1bn) last year, up 0.3 per cent on 2011. The company said it was confident that new developments [...]
Apple settles app purchase case February 26, 2013 Apple has agreed to settle a US class action lawsuit that said customers were charged when their children inadvertently downloaded certain applications from the company’s online store. Under the proposed settlement, Apple could potentially end up paying around $100m as it has agreed to provide a $5 iTunes store credit to as many as 23m affected [...]
Music industry grows for first time since 1999 February 26, 2013 THE GLOBAL music industry has returned to growth for the first time since Boyzone and the Vengaboys topped the charts, according to figures released yesterday. Worldwide revenues rose by 0.3 per cent in 2012 to $16.5bn (£10.9bn), driven by the continued success of legal download sites, booming use of streaming services such as Spotify, and [...]
