Volcker set to step down as US economic adviser January 5, 2011 FORMER Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker plans to leave his role as head of a panel of experts advising President Barack Obama on the economy, sources familiar with the decision said yesterday. The departure of Volcker, 83, as head of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board is among a series of changes under review at [...]
Hoenig says the Fed’s policy on rates is wrong January 5, 2011 THE Federal Reserve’s most vocal internal critic yesterday pushed back against the US central bank’s effort to control a sometimes-dissonant message, saying it is the duty of those who disagree to vote their conviction. Thomas Hoenig, president of the Kansas City Fed and a known inflation hawk, said the US economy is recovering remarkably well [...]
ECB’S MERSCH: IT IS TIME TO END STIMULUS January 5, 2011 INSTEAD of timidly reducing deficits, governments should be aiming for surpluses, the European Central Bank’s (ECB) Yves Mersch said yesterday. The governing council member, who also heads Luxembourg’s central bank, said it was time to withdraw stimulus measures at “a moderate but steady pace.” “Governments will have to achieve surpluses in order to erode massive [...]
Qualcomm to buy Atheros in $3.1bn deal January 5, 2011 QUALCOMM plans to buy Atheros Communications for roughly $3.2bn (£2.1bn) in cash, showing its determination to become a major player in supplying chips for smartphones and tablet computers. Qualcomm is clearly betting that the deal – at a 21.6 per cent premium to Atheros’ share price before talk of the takeover began to circulate – [...]
Qantas to resume A380 to LA January 5, 2011 QANTAS Airways hopes to resume Airbus A380 flights between Australia and Los Angeles from mid-January, as Rolls-Royce finalises its investigation into the cause of a mid-flight engine explosion on one of the aircraft last year. Qantas said yesterday it hoped to resume normal A380 operations from 17 January, but would still need the go-ahead from [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 5, 2011 Prudential The insurance giant has announced the appointment of Peter Goerke as group human resources director, with effect from the start of March. He will be a member of the executive committee and succeeds Priscilla Vacassin in the job. Goerke comes to the company from Zurich Financial Services Group, where he has worked since 2005 [...]
Petrobras looking at ENI stake in Galp January 5, 2011 BRAZIL’S state-run oil company Petrobras has said it is considering buying Italian group ENI’s 33 per cent stake in Portugal’s Galp, expanding its deepwater exploration globally. The sale, valued at €3.8bn (£3.2bn) based on Galp’s market capitalisation, would help ENI reduce its debt and keep dividends flowing to shareholders while strengthening ties between Petrobras and [...]
ArcelorMittal won’t raise bid in fight for Baffinland January 5, 2011 ARCELORMITTAL has said it will not raise its C$550m (£352m) bid for miner Baffinland, which owns vast iron ore deposits in the Canada. “We don’t intend to raise the offer for Baffinland,” spokesman Giles Read said. “We are confident we have the superior bid.” ArcelorMittal and private-equity backed Nunavut Iron have been battling for control [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS January 5, 2011 OCADO UBS has downgraded the online grocer to “neutral” from “buy” with an increased target price of 197p, following share price gains and an improvement in valuations among Ocado’s peers such as Amazon and Asos. It adds that the trading statement due on 10 January will shed light on the firm’s progress since floating. BETFAIR [...]
US jobs data leads FTSE to a strong close January 5, 2011 THE FTSE continued its strong start to 2011 as a late afternoon rally enabled it to stick at levels not seen since 2008. The FTSE 100 closed 29.99 points or 0.5 per cent higher to close at 6,043.86, still ahead of the important 6,000 mark and far above levels seen in the recession. Impressive US [...]