Eurozone hit by debt woes January 25, 2012 DEBT crises in Greece and Portugal showed no signs of abating yesterday, yet elsewhere in the Eurozone periphery Ireland successfully accessed bond markets for the first time since its bailout. While Ireland’s government appears to be recovering relatively well since accepting an international rescue package in 2010, Portugal may need a further €30bn in EU [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 25, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES NORWEGIAN CARRIER AIMS HIGH WITH 222 AIRCRAFT ORDERS Norwegian Air Shuttle plans to buy 222 new aircraft worth $21.1bn from Boeing and Airbus in a move that heralds its ambition to become one of Europe’s leading low-cost airlines. Boeing secured its largest ever European deal through a firm order by the Oslo-based airline [...]
Senate starts HSBC investigation January 25, 2012 HSBC Holdings is being investigated for money-laundering by a US Senate panel, which could result in a congressional hearing being scheduled within a matter of months. While the focus of the probe is not yet known, this is the latest in a string of banks exposed by US officials for managing transactions on behalf of [...]
Goldman’s London HQ to be sold January 25, 2012 Chinese real estate investor Gaw Capital Partners is in talks to buy Goldman Sachs’ London HQ for about £300m in the latest deal underlining the safe haven appeal of the city’s property market, a source said. Gaw, through its Downtown Properties vehicle, is in the final stages of talks to do the deal for the [...]
Rumours of a Facebook IPO on trade halt January 25, 2012 SPECULATION of an imminent public offering from Facebook has been reignited by the social networking company’s suspension of trading on the private secondary market. While deal-making will operate as normal, Facebook’s lawyers Fenwick & West will not approve transactions for the remainder of the business week. Zuckerberg’s empire has said the move is to perform [...]
Lagarde: UK must cut deficit January 25, 2012 THE BRITISH government has no choice but to continue with plans to reduce its annual deficit, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said last night. Former French finance minister Christine Lagarde (right) recently recommended that some governments had scope to slow down austerity measures in the face of strong economic headwinds. But yesterday [...]
Salmond sets terms for Scots independence vote January 25, 2012 SCOTTISH first minister Alex Salmond claimed he could be leading a sovereign nation by 2016 after setting out details of a proposed independence referendum. The Scottish National Party (SNP) leader chose Burns Night to defy David Cameron and announce his party’s plans for a vote in late 2014 on the matter of dissolving the 304-year [...]
Fears of new slump after GDP shrinks January 25, 2012 GDP FELL in the final three months of 2011, according to early estimates from the Office for National Statistics, published yesterday. Economic output appears to have declined by 0.2 per cent, with 40 per cent of available data analysed so far. Such a decline leaves GDP growth for the whole of 2011 at 0.9 per [...]
Lending slows as consumers pay back more January 25, 2012 BANK lending continued to slow in December, but remains up on 2010’s figures according to data published yesterday by the British Bankers’ Association (BBA). New mortgage lending hit £8.7bn in the month, 12 per cent higher than in December of 2010 and the strongest month of 2011. However, annual net growth in the sector slowed [...]
CITY VIEWS: IS THE UK IN RECESSION? January 25, 2012 BHARPT JOSHR | DENSITRON TECHNOLOGY “I think we’ve been in a recession since the end of last year. I know from experience that most companies are only offering temporary or short term contracts and they see the numbers.” DUNCAN MULGREW | METS LTD “Personally our company is doing its best business in ten years, although [...]