F&Cinvestment trust head celebrates FTSErelegation September 9, 2009 JEREMY Tigue, manager of the Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust, has taken the unusual step of welcoming the fund’s demotion from the FTSE 100 index this week. While most company bosses treat being part of the top-rank index of blue chip giants as a goal above all others, Foreign & Colonial (F&C) said Tigue has [...]
CNPC secures 30bn funding September 9, 2009 CHINA National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), parent of Asia’s largest oil and gas producer PetroChina, said yesterday it had secured a $30bn (£18.13bn) state loan to fund overseas expansion, as Beijing seeks to secure resources for the world’s fastest-growing major economy. The Chinese government, sitting on more than $2 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, has this [...]
Saudi minister: no oil sale cuts September 9, 2009 OPEC ministers were all but certain to leave output targets unchanged at a meeting late last night after the top exporter Saudi Arabia said there was no need for action. So far, none of the 12 Opec members has stated any need to cut production as prices are above $71 a barrel and signs of [...]
Clearstream loses EC case September 9, 2009 THE second-highest court in Europe yesterday upheld a ruling by the European Commission (EC) that Deutsche Boerse’s settlement arm Clearstream had abused its dominant market position. The decision by the Luxembourg-based Court of First Instance poured cold water on Clearstream’s appeal against a 2004 EC ruling that it took advantage of its market share by [...]
IG Group revenues surge as it attracts more customers September 9, 2009 SPREAD-BETTING firm IG Group saw revenues rise by 28 per cent in the three months to the end of August, as it enjoyed a 72 per cent increase in new accounts. Revenue rose from around £53m in the corresponding period of last year to £68m, thanks in part to the acquisition of FXOnline Japan. Excluding [...]
Boeing and Airbus see a return to growth in global cargo traffic September 9, 2009 BOEING expects global air cargo traffic to return to growth next year as economies in the US and China begin to stage a recovery, a senior executive at the aerospace giant said yesterday. Air cargo growth typically leads economic and passenger traffic growth by 3-6 months, Jim Edgar, Boeing’s regional director for cargo marketing, said. [...]
FORSALE: MADOFF’SMANSION September 9, 2009 THE New York City penthouse where imprisoned fraudster Bernard Madoff spent his last few days of freedom with wife Ruth is set to go on sale later this week, according to the US Marshals Service. The seven-room duplex with a wraparound terrace on Manhattan’s East Side is expected to fetch about $8m (4.8m) to $10m, [...]
UK edges up ease of doing business list September 9, 2009 THE UK has risen up the ranks of countries it is easy to do business in, a day after it was downgraded in a key ranking of global competitiveness. Britain now ranks fifth in the world for ease of doing business after gaining one place, according to the World Bank Doing Business Report 2010. This [...]
Commerzbank moves to end its reliance on state support September 9, 2009 COMMERZBANK will move quickly to end its use of state support, chief executive Martin Blessing said yesterday at a bankers’ conference in Frankfurt. He said the bank would stop issuing bonds backed by state guarantees and added that the lender would move to pay back Berlin’s 25 per cent equity stake by 2012 at the [...]
CITY VIEWS: DO YOU AGREE THAT THE UK IS STILL AN EASY PLACE TO DO BUSINESS? September 9, 2009 MARK LINDSEY HSBC“It isn’t as easy as it was and, given the way the UK is going on taxes, it seems the government does not realise that the world wants to move in on what we’ve got. And as well as our unfavourable tax regime, the City is also archaic in terms of computer systems.” [...]