WHERE DO YOU THINK THE FTSE 100 WILL END 2009? July 5, 2009 JOSHUA RAYMOND CITY INDEX4,600. The third quarter could help lift the markets if data all comes in line and momentum in terms of growth of companies’ profitability. I see economic recovery in mid-2010 and equity markets tend to react about six to eight months in advance. MANOJ LADWA ETX CAPITAL4,000. We’ll shoot to the downside [...]
NOMURA QUITS CANARY WHARF July 5, 2009 Japanese bank Nomura has decided to ditch Canary Wharf and locate 3,600 UK employees, including 2,000 former Lehman Brothers staff, in the City. Nomura will today sign an exclusivity deal for the new riverside complex Watermark Place, following months of internal debate about where to locate its London staff. The bank will pay around £40 [...]
DARLING: PAY SQUEEZE FOR STATE SECTOR July 5, 2009 ALISTAIR Darling has hinted at a public sector pay freeze to tackle Britain’s budget black hole. In response to Audit Commission chief executive Steve Bundred’s call for £5bn savings in wages, the chancellor said: “Public sector pay obviously has got to reflect prevailing conditions, and in particular inflation has come way down.” He said the [...]
Rover report gets delayed July 5, 2009 THE government is set to delay the publication of a report into the collapse of carmaker MG Rover in 2005, pending an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. The move, set to be announced by business secretary Peter Mandelson today, follows a four-year inquiry into the company’s collapse, which led to more than 6,000 job [...]
It would be mad to hike capital gains tax July 5, 2009 FOR all of Gordon Brown’s increasingly laughable attempts at dissembling on the matter, there is absolutely no doubt that public spending will have to be slashed after the general election, regardless of who wins. Alistair Darling said as much yesterday, and that was also the implication of the comments from John Hutton, the former defence [...]
Treves may stand as MP July 5, 2009 EQUITABLE Life chairman Vanni Treves may stand as an MP in the next general election, in a bid to force the government to accept the damning findings of an Ombudsman report into the life insurer’s failure. Treves is being urged to stand as an independent member of parliament by a group of Equitable policyholders, who [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 5, 2009 THE SUNDAYSThe Sunday TelegraphPRU ENSURES CHANGES TO CAZENOVE RESEARCHJP Morgan Cazenove has rewritten a piece of research about Prudential that initially made a string of adverse comments about the insurer’s accounting procedures. The research note is understood to have made disparaging remarks about reporting decisions taken by Tidjane Thiam, set to take over as chief [...]
Advertising to recover next year July 5, 2009 The global advertising downturn is approaching its lowest point and, after a fall of 8.5 per cent in 2009, the industry should recover mildly in 2010, according to a ZenithOptimedia report. The 2009 forecast was bleaker than an earlier prediction of a 6.9 per cent drop, as the first quarter came in worse than expected.
Chrysler completes new board July 5, 2009 Failed US automaker Chrysler has named the final five bosses on its board of directors. Chrysler, which emerged from bankruptcy last month by selling most of its assets to a group led by Italy’s Fiat Spa, named bosses including former Northwest Airlines head Douglas Steenland and Tristone Capital chairman and president George Gosbee.
Fund head probed over Madoff July 5, 2009 Former Austrian fund manager Sonja Kohn is being investigated by US, UK and Austrian prosecutors who believe she was paid over $40m (£25.5m) in kickbacks for ferrying funds to fraudster Bernard Madoff. They believe she was paid off while chairman of Austria’s Bank Medici, via separate firms she ran.