POUND-EURO PARITY COMES EVER CLOSER September 23, 2009 JANE FOLEYRESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COM ALMOST a year after the pound touched parity with the euro, the recent rapid drop in the value of the pound has raised speculation that euro-sterling could see parity again in the not too distant future. Sterling-dollar – cable – is also at risk of even more losses now that it [...]
Banks to face bonus curbs September 15, 2009 BANKS with low levels of capital should face a limit on bonus payouts, according to an international body of regulators and central bankers. The Financial Stability Board (FSB) yesterday agreed to submit the proposal to G20 leaders next week, ahead of their summit in Pittsburgh. “We will have a link between a bank’s total bonus [...]
The definitive Madoff book, with panache September 9, 2009 MADOFF: THE MAN WHO STOLE $65MBY ERIN ARVEDLUNDPenguin, £9.99 ERIN ARVEDLUND has written this book with relish – and not a small amount of “I told you so”. This is because, as an investigative reporter for big US financial publications, she blew the whistle on Madoff in 2001, with a big article for Barron’s pointing [...]
Swissie will not replace yen for carry traders September 8, 2009 COMPARED to the sharp and unexpected moves that they have previously seen, spot currency markets have been exceptionally dull of late and many major currency pairs remain range-bound with little sign of any breakout move. Unable to rely on big daily moves in currency pairs for their profits, forex traders have returned to the popular [...]
TAKE HEED OF CENTRAL BANK CAUTION September 6, 2009 JANE FOLEY RESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COMSeptember has begun under a cloud of apprehension, as investors worry that the rallies in the stock markets and also in commodities such as oil may have over-compensated for the improvement in global demand. It would be foolhardy to presume that risks to global economic growth have completely disappeared – they [...]
Bischoff plots clearout of Lloyds board September 6, 2009 SIRWIN Bischoff, the new chairman of Lloyds Banking Group, is poised to make his mark with a boardroom reshuffle that will spell the end for non-executives associated with the ill-fated takeover of HBOS. Former Citigroup chair Bischoff, who officially succeeds the architect of the HBOS deal Sir Victor Blank on 15 September, is expected to [...]
Easing inflation worries improve German consumer confidence July 27, 2009 GERMAN consumer confidence rose to its highest level in more than a year as easing inflation encouraged shoppers, according to data from research group GfK yesterday. The GfK consumer sentiment indicator, rose to 3.5 going into August from an upwardly revised reading of 3.0 for July. “Inflation is fading and people have more money in [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 27, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES COMPLEXITY IS KEY TO OVERCOMING RECESSIONLord Mandelson, the business secretary, will today announce the allocation of £150bn to fund companies’ advance manufacturing development projects in areas such as aerospace, nuclear engineering components, electronics and microchip designs. Most of it will come from the £750m cash pot set aside by ministers this year to [...]
Citi appoints trio in bid to revamp board July 26, 2009 CITIGROUP continued its management reshuffle at the weekend, appointing three new directors as part of efforts to demonstrate its commitment to change to appease US regulators and government. The bank appointed former New York state banking regulator Diana Taylor, Timothy Collins, chief executive of investment firm Ripplewood Holdings and Robert Joss, business professor at Stanford [...]
MPC stands united on QE July 22, 2009 IT WAS a unanimous vote from the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to hold interest rates and keep quantitative easing (QE) at the current level of £125bn, minutes from the July meeting showed yesterday. The minutes of the 8-9 July meeting indicated that while the extension of QE was the central question for [...]