Greece agrees €24bn cuts April 29, 2010 GREECE has agreed a draft €24bn (£21bn) austerity package, including a three-year wage freeze for public sector workers, in return for a multibillion-euro loan from the Eurozone and the International Monetary Fund. The measures, aimed at slashing Greece’s deficit by 10-11 percentage points of GDP over three years, pave the way for Greece to access [...]
Euro bailout cost could hit €600bn April 29, 2010 ONE of the City’s most respected economists yesterday warned that the Eurozone and the IMF may have to stump up as much as €600bn (£518bn) to bail out Greece and its debt-stricken neighbours if the current contagion spreads. David Mackie, the chief European economist at JP Morgan Chase in London, stressed that such a large [...]
History looks bleak for Eurozone debt crisis April 29, 2010 HEDGE fund GLG Partners yesterday issued a stark warning to the Eurozone as it reiterated the historic trend for global debt crises to follow hot on the heels of banking crashes. GLG pointed out that the banking turmoil of the late 1920s and early 1930s was followed a few years later by a global debt [...]
Italy auction calms bond market fears April 29, 2010 ITALY yesterday went some way towards soothing concerns over contagion of Greece’s debt woes, successfully completing a key auction of two of its bonds. The auctions of €6.5bn (£5.64bn) of Italian three-year and ten-year notes were both covered about 1.5 times, signalling strong investor demand for the debt despite the escalating crisis in Greece and [...]
US airlines set to merge April 29, 2010 CONTINENTAL Airlines and United Airlines (UAL) are on the brink of merging, according to industry sources. The boards of the two companies could sign a deal as early as today. A merger of the two US carriers would create the world’s largest airline, surpassing Delta Air Lines in traffic and revenue. The two US airlines [...]
Siemens ups forecasts on demand rise April 29, 2010 GERMAN industrial conglomerate Siemens raised its profit outlook on the back of cost cuts and higher demand from factories that are cranking up production amidst an economic rebound. Europe’s biggest engineering group said yesterday it expected total sectors profit – operating profit of all three core businesses – to top €7.5bn (£6.5bn) for the year [...]
UK firms hit by new global accounting rules April 29, 2010 PROPOSED changes to global pension accounting rules will make pension costs more volatile at UK firms, exacerbating the impact that pension deficits have on companies experts warned. The International Accounting Standard Board yesterday announced changes to the way pension deficits and surpluses are accounted for, which accountants KPMG forecast could wipe as much as £10bn [...]
Dubai offer not enough April 29, 2010 DUBAI World, which is in talks to restructure $26bn (£16bn) in debt, is offering lenders an additional one per cent in interest upon maturity of new debt, but the deal is unlikely to satisfy banks, analysts said yesterday. The state-owned conglomerate’s offer is for a one per cent interest rate and one per cent payment-in-kind, [...]
M Stanley Moore, UBS fined in US April 29, 2010 FINANCE giants Morgan Stanley and Moore Capital have been fined by the US futures regulator, after both were found guilty of foul play in the markets. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fined Morgan Stanley $14m (£9m) for failing to report a big block oil trade and hedge fund Moore Capital $25m for attempting to [...]
US takes aim at Wall Street April 29, 2010 WASHINGTON opened talks on a wide-sweeping overhaul of Wall Street yesterday after Republican politicians abandoned their blockade of a Senate debate. In the coming days, Democrats and their opponents will thrash out the terms of what promises to be a highly controversial finance reform bill. The legislation could see derivatives forced onto regulated exchanges, investment [...]