Bank of England to pump in £50bn more quantitative easing February 9, 2012 The Bank of England has agreed to extend its quantitative easing (QE) programme by £50bn try to kickstart the economy. It will bring the total amount of QE stimulus to £325bn. The Bank started its QE programme, through which it buys mainly government-issued bonds from banks freeing up cash for lending, in 2009. The Bank’s [...]
FTSE up as Greek endgame arrives February 9, 2012 The FTSE 100 crawled up this morning as investors braced themselves for an expected decision on a Greek debt deal and the prospect of the Bank of England pumping in another £50bn into its quantitative easing programme. Greek officials said pension cuts were the sticking point in talks which have lurched from one crisis point [...]
UK in industrial output boost as trade deficit narrows February 9, 2012 British industrial output recovered more than forecast in December as manufacturers ramped up production, further dampening fears of recession. Meanwhile, Britain’s goods trade deficit narrowed to the smallest gap since February 2010. The rebound from the slump in the previous two months also supports views that the Bank of England will inject only £50bn into [...]
Rolls-Royce profits surge February 9, 2012 Aero enginemaker Rolls-Royce posted a 21 per cent rise in full-year profit, and said it expects to deliver further growth in 2012, helped by its record order book. Rolls, the world’s second-largest maker of aircraft engines behind US group General Electric Co, reported an underlying pretax profit of £1.16bn on revenue up four per cent [...]
Diageo sees emerging markets offsetting weak Europe February 9, 2012 Diageo, the world’s biggest spirits group, delivered an upbeat message with strongly growing emerging markets and a slow recovery in North America helping to offset continued weakness in euro zone crisis hit Europe. The British maker of Johnnie Walker whisky and Smirnoff vodka said its half year underlying profits grew 9 per cent making it [...]
Credit Suisse reports loss February 9, 2012 Credit Suisse posted a fourth-quarter net loss after taking almost 1 billion Swiss francs (£675.5m) of charges to speed cost cutting and offload risky assets to meet stiffer capital rules. “Our performance for the fourth quarter 2011 was disappointing,” said chief executive Brady Dougan. “It reflects both the adverse market conditions during the period and [...]
Vodafone misses forecasts in third quarter February 9, 2012 Vodafone posted third quarter results slightly below forecasts as increasingly tough trading in Spain and Italy overshadowed solid performances in emerging markets and northern Europe for the world’s largest mobile operator. Vodafone said group organic service revenue, which comes from the provision of ongoing services to customers, was up 0.9 per cent, compared with an [...]
Investors hit back over RBS meddling February 8, 2012 STEPHEN Hester, chief executive of RBS, yesterday admitted he was struggling to run the bank as a fully commercial enterprise due to political pressure, a situation that has caused outcry among some of RBS’s biggest private shareholders. City A.M. asked Hester whether he felt able to run RBS as a fully commercial proposition, a condition [...]
Greek talks postponed once more February 8, 2012 GREEK talks were adjourned yet again late last night, with no agreement reached between senior government officials over an urgently needed new bailout. Pension reforms are believed to still be a stumbling block, with George Karatzaferis – leader of the nationalist LAOS party – particularly opposed to the measures. Karatzaferis was the first to leave [...]
Vacancies fall by half in City February 8, 2012 JOB OPPORTUNITIES in financial services evaporated over the last year as economic worries took their toll, according to the Morgan McKinley London employment index. Vacancies fell from 5,935 in January 2011 to 1,733 in December, before rising back to 2,835 on the traditional January hiring spree – a 52 per cent fall, year on year. [...]