FTSE 100 falters but ends the week higher as Sports Direct and Standard Chartered share prices rise but Sainsbury’s falls March 18, 2016 The FTSE 100 index closed lower on Friday, but concluded the week higher. The index closed 0.19 per cent lower at 6,189 points. The fall comes despite a senior European Central Bank policymaker having hinted at another cut in Eurozone interest rates and having said “helicopter money” was part of the bank’s policy toolbox, said Jasper Lawler, markets analyst at [...]
Brent and WTI crude: Oil prices hit 2016 high above $42 March 18, 2016 Oil rose above $42 per barrel today, helped by growing optimism that producers could agree a production freeze deal and a weak dollar. Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose 1.64 per cent to $42.22 per barrel, having touched a 2016 high of $42.31 earlier in the day. West Texas Intermediate crude, the US benchmark, added 1.8 [...]
European Central Bank’s chief economist Peter Praet says interest rates could go ever lower March 18, 2016 The European Central Bank's chief economist Peter Praet has said the bank can take interest rates even lower if the Eurozone economy fails to pick up. Speaking to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Praet said that rates are yet to reach their lower limit. "As other central banks have demonstrated, we have not reached the physical lower [...]
Berkeley Group share price falls as it reports prime slowdown and questions government response to housing crisis March 18, 2016 Berkeley Group has questioned the government's response to the housing crisis, saying that it will struggle to ease the growing gap between supply and demand. "We welcome government's intentions to address the persistent and acute imbalance between housing supply and demand but are concerned that supply may not respond positively due a number of inter-related factors," it said [...]
Retirement savings: Equity release allowing over-55s to unlock over 100 weeks’ worth of pay from their properties, offering alternative funding for their later years March 18, 2016 Over-55s using equity release products in the second half of last year unlocked over 100 weeks' worth of pay from their property, according to a report out today. The research by the Equity Release Council discovered that customers using drawdown mortgage products in the last six months of 2015 withdrew an average of £49,607, which is equivalent to [...]
Euribor trials: European arrest warrant to be requested for the five traders who declined to appear at court hearing in January March 17, 2016 Five traders who have been accused of playing a part in manipulating the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor) might soon be making their way to the UK to face charges. It is understood that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) will tomorrow approach a London court seeking an European arrest warrant for five individuals who declined to [...]
Libor scandal: Former UBS and Citigroup trader Tom Hayes lost the best part of £1m on trading as he tried to raise funds to pay for his legal fees March 17, 2016 Tom Hayes lost the best part of £1m trading to try to raise money to pay his legal fees, a court was told today. Hayes, who was found guilty on eight counts of conspiracy to defraud last August for his role in manipulating Libor, has been attending a hearing at the Old Bailey since Monday to [...]
Oil prices: Global capital spending faces further squeeze after declining sharply in 2015 – S&P March 17, 2016 Global business spending on capital dropped sharply last year and could fall to 2006 levels by 2017, a major ratings agency said today. Spending on physical assets such as property and equipment – known as capital expenditure or simply capex – dropped 10 per cent last year, according to estimates from Standard and Poor’s. Most [...]
Dow Jones turns positive for the year as economists warn the global economic outlook has worsened March 17, 2016 The US Dow Jones industrial average index has entered positive territory for 2016, erasing loses racked up earlier in the year. The index is up around 0.1 per cent for 2016, after climbing almost one per cent today. The Dow's recovery has been echoed in other US and European markets, though is in contrast to [...]
Trading transparency regulation Mifid ii facing further setbacks after EU Commission calls for revisions March 17, 2016 There’s been another setback for the controversial securities market reform regulation known as Mifid ii. Following a year long delay announced in February, the European Commission has now asked the EU's European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to take another look at rules intended to flesh out reforms. Banks and asset managers have called for [...]