Rush on US Mint of Eagle coins November 26, 2009 The US government has suspended sales of the world’s most popular bullion coin because of the rush by retail investors into gold. The shortage of the US Mint of Eagle coin is the latest sign of investors seeking a safe haven into bullion as the value of the US dollar remains uncertain.
DUBAI DEBT WORRIES ROCK WORLD MARKETS November 26, 2009 DEEPENING fears about Dubai’s debt problems shook European stock markets yesterday, with the FTSE 100 index suffering its worst one-day loss since March. The FTSE fell by 3.2 per cent, losing more than 170 points to 5,194.13, while leading indices in France and Germany were also down sharply. Wall Street was closed for Thanksgiving. Banking [...]
Water firms cheer ruling November 26, 2009 WATER companies breathed a sigh of relief yesterday, as industry regulator Ofwat’s price ruling proved less aggressive than anticipated. In its long awaited report on pricing structure at the utilities, the regulator said bills in England and Wales would increase by an average of 0.5 per cent a year between April 2010 and March 2015. [...]
What the Dubai debt fears really mean November 26, 2009 So Dubai has become the latest country to be engulfed in a sovereign debt crisis. It won’t be the last, with mounting fears about the creditworthiness of Greece and others. The markets are panicking, for many reasons: first, they had got dangerously used to the bailout culture; second, because it suggests that the recovery in [...]
Anglo Irish chases ex-CEO November 26, 2009 STATE-OWNED Anglo Irish Bank has launched legal action against the bank’s former chief executive David Drumm in an attempt to recover unpaid loans of €8m (£7.2m). A separate action seeks to overturn the transfer of a Dublin property into his wife’s name. The transfer of ownership of the home on a luxury estate means that [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 26, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES US RETAILERS TURN TO SOCIAL MEDIA ON “BLACK FRIDAY”US retailers will on Friday unleash a traditional barrage of post-Thanksgiving holiday shopping promotions, with the National Retail Federation expecting 134m Americans to head for the stores. This year however, the retailers have reinforced their traditional efforts with a new array of social-networking weapons including [...]
Port industry suffering November 26, 2009 The word’s container port industry has seen a reversal in fortune with the industry’s first ever year-on-year fall in volumes. London-based Drewry Shipping Consultants forecast a 10.3 per cent fall in containers moved this year. The company’s previous worst performance was in 1982 which saw a 4.6 per cent growth. The four biggest operators – [...]
AIG and Greenberg settle November 26, 2009 American International Group (AIG) and Hank Greenberg, its former chief executive and chairman have settled a series of legal disputes. The actions stemmed from Greenberg’s ousting amid a 2005 accounting scandal. AIG said that it would pay up to $150m (£90m) to cover Greenberg’s legal costs. The company had sued Greenberg for $4.3bn of stock [...]
ABI criticises EU fund plan November 26, 2009 THE Association of British Insurers yesterday hit out at proposals from a top European lawmaker that would limit the ability of European pension funds to invest in third country funds. Jean-Paul Gauzes MEP, the rapporteur in the European Parliament for the EU’s proposed Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM) directive, is suggesting that there should be [...]
Rivals lash out at LSE after damaging technology glitch November 26, 2009 RIVALS to the London Stock Exchange expressed outrage yesterday after a crippling technical glitch put a stop to trading, claiming investors had effectively been duped by an inability to route their custom to other venues. The problem brought trading to a halt for over three hours on the London Stock Exchange. During that time, the [...]