Credit crisis worsens July 28, 2008 Credit quality “declined rapidly” throughout Western Europe in the second quarter of this year as the credit crunch exacerbated inflation and slowing growth, according to a report published by ratings agency Moody’s today. The agency, which downgraded 41 debt issuers in the quarter, believes conditions are worsening thanks to rising inflation and slowing economic growth, [...]
Retail sales reverse into biggest slump on record July 25, 2008 The biggest monthly fall in retail sales on record has heightened fears that the UK will fall into a technical recession. British retail sales slumped in June by 3.9 per cent, the sharpest monthly fall since the series began in 1986, bringing the annual growth rate down to 2.2 per cent, according to the Office [...]
Price website founder snubs takeover bid July 24, 2008 Moneysupermarket.com shares jump 45 per cent after offer by mystery buyer Top site Moneysupermarket.com saw its shares rocket 45 per cent yesterday after it dismissed a bid approach. The popular website, which lets users compare finance and travel prices, confirmed in a statement that CEO and cofounder Simon Nixon had received an initial approach regarding [...]
MPC vote split three ways July 24, 2008 A surprise three-way split between Bank of England rate setters left economists guessing whether an interest rate rise was on the cards. The minutes of July’s Monetary Policy Committee rate contained the word inflation 54 times, which is higher than the average, according to Lehman Brothers, highlighting the MPC’s concerns about cost rises. Seven members [...]
Hedge funds suffer pain of wider market July 24, 2008 Hedge funds had their worst first half year performance since 1998, as managers struggled to deal with the triple-whammy of a slowing housing market, sky-high energy prices and a financial sector in turmoil, according to HedgeFund Intelligence. The HedgeFund Intelligence global composite index was flat in June and up just 0.55 per cent for the [...]
De Beers boosts sales but stays cautious July 24, 2008 The world’s top diamond producer De Beers posted a 10 per cent rise in gem sales to $3.3bn (£1.7bn) on strong demand and price rises – but warned a slowdown of sales in America may hit revenues in the second half of the year. De Beers boosted rough-diamond prices by about 8 per cent in [...]
Optimism remains possible amid the economic meltdown July 24, 2008 UK economic news over the last week has been bad. Consumer prices are now increasing at an annual rate of 3.8 per cent, almost double the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target. Inflation is now likely to reach almost 5 per cent by the autumn. At the same time, the labour market is being [...]
Vodafone announces surprise £1bn buyback July 24, 2008 Mobile telecoms giant Vodafone moved to defend its share price yesterday and stunned the city by announcing a surprise £1bn share buyback programme, after its stock plummeted on the back of a weak trading update. Shares in the firm slumped by almost 14 per cent on Tuesday, wiping nearly £11bn off its market value, after [...]
Pips and pairs: forex trading comes to a screen near you July 23, 2008 Phil Thornton takes a look at some of the new retail forex platforms out there Just a decade ago, the closest that even the savviest investors came to foreign exchange trading was deciding when and where to buy foreign currency for their summer holiday. Thanks to financial liberalisation and massive advances in technology, private investors [...]
HBOS City advisers rights issue storm July 22, 2008 Investment bankers at Morgan Stanley and Dresdner Kleinwort will have breathed a collective sign of relief yesterday when they managed to find buyers for 29 per cent of the HBOS rights issue rump. The whole experience has been an unnerving one for the bank and its advisers, left holding billions of pounds worth of HBOS [...]