US jobs recovery slows down April 12, 2012 The number of Americans newly claiming unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week to its highest level since January, official figures showed yesterday. New claims rose 13,000 to 380,000 in the week to 7 April, and the previous week’s claims were also revised up from 357,000 to 367,000. Falling numbers of claims over recent months had [...]
Warm weather boosts Eurozone April 12, 2012 Eurozone industrial production rose in February against January, beating market expectations of a contraction, but January’s output was revised lower, official data showed yesterday. Warm weather pushed industrial output up 0.5 per cent month-on-month in February, though the annual figure showed a 1.8 per cent fall on the same month of 2011. Eurostat also revised [...]
Fed hawk in new call over inflation April 12, 2012 Inflation in the US will be above target next year and may force the Federal Reserve into earlier tightening than expected, according to Minneapolis representative Narayana Kocherlakota. One of the Fed’s more hawkish economists, Kocherlakota said at a speech last night that normalisation of interest rates could begin as soon as late this year – [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 12, 2012 Norton Rose The law firm has announced two new partner hires. Maartje Govaert (pictured) joins as an employment partner from De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek and Herman Wamelink joins as a banking partner from Allen & Overy. Govaert has 13 years experience practising employment law in London, New York and Amsterdam, and Wamelink has broad experience [...]
BEST of the BROKERS April 12, 2012 GKN Credit Suisse has upgraded the carmaker from “neutral” to “outperform” and has left its target price unchanged at 240p. The broker points out that GKN’s shares have underperformed the sector by four per cent in the last month, thanks to concerns over its possible purchase of Volvo Aero, providing a buying opportunity. Credit Suisse [...]
WTO forecasts slowing world growth April 12, 2012 World trade growth will slow for a second year to 3.7 per cent in 2012 but “severe” downside risks could drive it further below the 20-year average of 5.4 per cent, the World Trade Organization forecast on Thursday. Trade growth slowed to 5 per cent in 2011 from 13.8 percent in 2010, and is provisionally [...]
Italy’s borrowing costs rise April 12, 2012 Italy’s cost of borrowing has risen putting the country’s struggling economy under yet more pressure. In a three-year bond auction Italy paid an interest rate of 3.89 percent, up from 2.76 per cent in a comparative sale last month. The rising rate and Spain’s economic woes have cast a further shadow over the Eurozone.
NBNK in new bid for Lloyds branches April 12, 2012 New British banking venture has made a fresh bid for 632 Lloyds retail bank branches, putting it back in competition for the assets with shops to banking group The Co-Op, which has faced problems convincing regulators on its offer. NBNK said it was offering an “alternative demerger structure” for the Lloyds branches, which are estimated [...]
Oil giants dent FTSE April 12, 2012 The FTSE 100 was flat this morning as oil giants BP and Shell saw their stocks hit. Royal Dutch Shell reported that oil had been spotted in the water near one of its platforms in the Gulf of Mexico while BP faced a shareholder revolt today. Another significant drag on the market was the World [...]
Britain’s trade deficit widens April 12, 2012 Britain’s goods trade deficit widened more than forecast in February as exports to non-EU countries dipped, official data showed on Thursday. The Office for National Statistics said the goods trade deficit grew to £8.7bn in February from an upwardly revised £7.8bn in January. Economists had forecast a gap of £7.7bn The goods trade deficit with [...]