Best of the Brokers for 8 January 2014 January 7, 2014 SEVERN TRENT JP Morgan downgraded the water company to underweight, reducing its price target from 1,680p to 1,535p ahead of the regulator’s announcements on financial parameters. The brokers believe regulatory risks will rise, slimming the chances of mergers and acquisitions until Ofwat’s final decision. ITV Jefferies has raised ITV from a hold to a buy [...]
London Report: Investors take punt on banks to drive FTSE up January 7, 2014 THE UK’S blue chip share index rose to a one-week high yesterday, with gains in financial stocks pushing the FTSE 100 towards major technical resistance levels. Lloyds rallied three per cent, as investors bought the stock on expectations that the bank will start paying dividends this year and that it will benefit from a recovering [...]
New York Report: US trade data pushes S&P to first 2014 gains January 7, 2014 US STOCKS ended higher last night, snapping the S&P 500’s three day losing streak to give the benchmark index its first positive session of 2014. A sharp decline in the US trade deficit and upbeat German data helped improve market sentiment, pointing to strengthening economic fundamentals on both sides of the Atlantic. The S&P healthcare [...]
Co-op execs face watchdog probe January 6, 2014 THE BOSSES who oversaw the Co-op Bank’s near collapse last summer are facing enforcement probes from the City’s regulators, the watchdogs said yesterday. Former senior staff at the bank could face fines or bans from the financial sector if they are found to have behaved wrongly in the run up to the lender’s capital crisis. [...]
Fears mount over China economy amid bank crackdown January 6, 2014 CHINA’S services sector is slowing down more quickly than expected, sparking new fears over the fate of the world’s second largest economy through 2014. Influential business surveys released yesterday showed growth slowing to its weakest pace in more than two years in December. HSBC and Markit’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) came in at 50.9 in [...]
2014: The year you might email your dishwasher January 6, 2014 MAKING sure your house is warm when you get in from work could soon be as easy as texting your boiler – or at least that was the message coming out of a major tech industry show in the US yesterday. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last night, Samsung revealed its vision for [...]
Love it or hate it: Nissan launches new London taxi January 6, 2014 NISSAN is hoping to rise through the ranks of London’s taxi market when it starts selling its own spin on the Hackney carriage this year. The car maker has redesigned its NV200 model to look more like the traditional city cab after feedback from the mayor’s office and Transport for London, which tightly regulates the [...]
Burst of optimism marks start of 2014 for UK firms January 6, 2014 BUSINESSES were increasingly confident of a broad-based UK recovery as 2013 came to a close, with both services and manufacturing firms beginning the year on a strong footing. Based on 8,000 responses to the latest survey by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), the group now forecasts that the economy grew by 0.9 per cent [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 7 January 2014 January 6, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Fall in capital flows threatens recovery The flow of money through the global financial system is stuck at the same level as a decade ago, raising fresh concerns about the strength of the economic recovery following six years of financial crisis. In mid-2007 cross-border capital inflows into the G20 group of economies were [...]
RBS to pay US another $50m January 6, 2014 US COURTS approved another $50m (£30.5m) fine for RBS Securities Japan over yen Libor fiddling yesterday, after the bank pleaded guilty to a count of wire fraud last year. RBS group paid $100m over the case in a deferred prosecution agreement last year and the final approval of the $50m means the bank has now [...]