Trichet fails to convince August 4, 2011 MARKETS were unimpressed yesterday after European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet attempted to calm fears over the debt crisis by announcing a return to its bond buying programme. Denying that the Securities Markets Programme had been frozen, Trichet told reporters in Frankfurt: “We were not unanimous but we were an overwhelming majority on the operation [...]
Eurozone may cripple global revival August 4, 2011 FOR weeks now, a global market rout had looked inevitable – so the chaos should hardly have come as a surprise when it finally began in earnest in the last couple of days. The fact that the US stepped back from the brink earlier this week provided some short-lived respite; but nobody believed America would [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 4, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES E-PETITIONS SITE CRASHES ON LAUNCH A new e-petitions website allowing members of the public to put forward motions for debate by MPs has crashed under the weight of 1,000 visitors a minute trying to register proposals on issues such as the return of capital punishment and leaving the European Union. ICBC TO BUY [...]
Tories mull cutting 50p tax rate August 4, 2011 Chancellor George Osborne and senior Tories are considering cutting the 50p top rate of income tax once HMRC completes its review of the revenue the higher tax band brings in. Senior Tories are backing a cut in the rate to 45p, citing Treasury analysis showing that about 70 per cent of revenue would come from [...]
Lagarde investigated by court August 4, 2011 Christine Lagarde, the newly-elected head of the International Monetary Fund, is to face a judicial inquiry into whether she was wrong to approve a large out of court settlement to a controversial French businessman, Bernard Tapie. Tapie, a close supporter of president Nicolas Sarkozy, was paid €285m (£249m) from the French state in 2008 to [...]
Lloyds shares suspended after 10pc fall August 4, 2011 TRADING in Lloyds shares had to be suspended for a five-minute time out yesterday as its stock plunged more than 10 per cent in a few minutes. The sell-off came after it revealed that it had dropped back into the red, booking a £3.3bn loss for the first half of this year. Investors’ fears were [...]
BNY to charge extra fee on cash as investors flee market August 4, 2011 US bank BNY Mellon yesterday said so many investors were storing short-term cash with it as they fled market turmoil that its balance sheet stability was under threat. The bank said it would levy a new charge on cash deposits higher than $50m (£30.6m) after a crash in market confidence saw investors making “extraordinarily high” [...]
Italy raids S&P and Moody’s August 4, 2011 IN a shock move, Italian police raided the offices of ratings agencies Standard & Poors and Moody’s and seized documents yesterday, accusing the firms of causing “anomalous” movements in Italian stock prices. Prosecutors said the raid was aimed at “verifying whether these agencies respect regulations as they carry out their work”. S&P in Italy said in a [...]
Osborne to get regular updates August 4, 2011 WHILE the crisis in world markets continues to worsen, Britain’s most senior politicians are away on holiday. David Cameron, the Prime Minister, is in Tuscany while chancellor George Osborne is in LA. Yesterday, Whitehall sources said neither was currently planning to cut their vacation short, although that could change should the situation deteriorate . An aide [...]
Vickers in Lloyds branch sale rethink August 4, 2011 THE Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) is preparing to drop one of its main demands regarding Lloyds’ sale of 632 branches, City A.M. has learned. The commission, headed by Sir John Vickers, is close to accepting that the bank should shrink the package of assets on sale despite having previously said that doing so would [...]