Fuld slams Fed for not saving Lehman September 1, 2010 THE FORMER chief executive of Lehman Brothers blamed the Federal Reserve for the collapse of the notorious Wall Street bank last night, arguing that the Fed withheld vital funds in the run-up to its downfall. Dick Fuld said the Fed helped other institutions such as AIG access liquidity but forced Lehman to instead file for [...]
Lloyds equity arm snaps up Mountain Warehouse September 1, 2010 LLOYDS Banking Group’s private equity arm has bought a 20 to 25 per cent stake in outdoor retailer Mountain Warehouse in a deal valuing the firm at £50m. Lloyds Development Capital (LDC) announced the purchase from Icelandic investment vehicle Arev yesterday, but later pulled the statement from its website. However, the deal is believed to [...]
MARKETING CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR | September 1, 2010 MORE than ever, in this competitive world, it’s all about brand-building at the moment. Our shortlist have all carved out a niche for themselves in the past 12 months, whether it was negotiating a name-change, capitalising on a long history or launching products that will define the future. These firms know how to sell, sell, [...]
TRADER OF THE YEAR | The Shortlist Day 3 September 1, 2010 AT the top of the tree, trading is all about talent. There’s an abundance of it ?on our shortlist, added to a good deal of nerve and nous. Our top five between them manage billions and have made huge returns in choppy markets. Whatever is happening out there, you can make money. This lot prove [...]
UK factories’ activity slows September 1, 2010 BRITAIN’S manufacturing recovery appeared to be running out of steam in August as the boost from restocking faded and austerity measures raise concerns of subdued growth prospects, a leading market survey showed yesterday. The Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index for manufacturing disappointingly fell to 54.3 from a downwardly revised 56.9 in July, the biggest one-month fall [...]
World trade picks up again as economy begins to recover September 1, 2010 WORLD trade continued to rebound strongly in the first half of this year, rising by over a quarter from year-ago levels, with emerging economies showing particularly powerful export growth, World Trade Organisation (WTO) figures showed yesterday. Trade typically grows and contracts at much faster rates than the overall economy, but the WTO data confirm the [...]
ECONOMIST VIEWS: DOES THE PMI POINT TO FURTHER WEAKNESS? September 1, 2010 AZAD ZANGANA | SCHRODERS The survey supports our view that GDP growth is likely to slow significantly in the second half of the year. The boost from the inventory cycle tends to be very short-lived, so we expect to see a significant slowdown in the third and fourth quarters. ANDREW GOODWIN | E&Y ITEM CLUB [...]
EU braced for short-selling crackdown September 1, 2010 EUROPEAN Union regulators would be able to ban abusive short selling of shares and naked selling of credit default swaps and sovereign debt for three months or more under a draft EU law seen by sources yesterday. The bloc’s financial services chief, Michel Barnier, has already flagged the measure he is due to publish on [...]
TUI to consider buying the rest of its UK tour operator September 1, 2010 EUROPE’S biggest tour operator TUI is considering buying the remaining shares in British unit TUI Travel to refocus on tourism. The German group’s supervisory board is set to discuss next week whether to buy the 42.5 per cent of TUI Travel it does not already own, either in cash or in shares, according to sources. [...]
CBI: Service sector sees a slump in profitability September 1, 2010 PROFITABILITY in Britain’s service sector unexpectedly fell last month and firms expect no end to the current gloom engulfing the sector, the CBI will reveal today. A net 14 per cent of consumer services firms reported overall profitability to be down over the past three months while a net 29 per cent of business and [...]