Tories are right to want to scrap the FSA July 19, 2009 SO the Tories are going to bite the bullet and abolish the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Most of its banking and financial stability powers will be handed over to the Bank of England; the rump, focussing on consumer protection, will be relabelled as the Consumer Protection Agency. The Bank will become home to a new [...]
Deflation hits Eurozone bloc July 15, 2009 THE Eurozone annual rate of inflation was negative in June for the first time since the single currency was introduced in 1999, official data showed yesterday. Eurostat said that annual inflation was -0.1 per cent last month, down from 0.0 per cent in May. Monthly inflation was 0.2 per cent. The fastest drop in prices [...]
Central bank downgrades Japan’s economic forecast July 15, 2009 JAPAN has prolonged emergency measures designed to ease the flow of credit to companies, as the country’s central bank downgraded its economic outlook. The Bank of Japan revised its April forecast of a 3.1 per cent contraction in 2009 to a record 3.4 per cent decline and extended emergency procedures to buy corporate debt from [...]
Markit to be investigated in CDS probe July 14, 2009 THE US Justice Department (DoJ) has contacted London-based data provider Markit in connection with a probe into the credit default swap (CDS) market. A spokesman for Markit said the company, which is majority-owned by Wall Street banks, had “been informed of an investigation by the Department of Justice into the credit-derivatives and related markets”. “We [...]
Inflation set to continue coming down July 12, 2009 THIS week’s inflation figures – out tomorrow morning – are widely expected to show a continuation of the recent downward trend with a consensus forecast of a 1.8 per cent rise in prices year-on-year. Inflation – as measured by the consumer prices index (CPI) – is expected by both analysts and the Bank of England [...]
THE TIPSTER NEW SHARES PLACING LIFTS SAINSBURY’S July 12, 2009 SUPERMARKET chain Sainsbury’s had been doing well in the first months of 2009 despite consumers tightening their belts, and its share price reached a high of 347.25p in the middle of May. But its share price then slipped to around 309p and the stock has been trading broadly sideways since then. However, the announcement of [...]
Revival in German and UK trade July 9, 2009 BRITAIN’S trade deficit narrowed in May to £2.2bn from £3bn the previous month, according to official data published yesterday. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that the UK’s deficit on trade in goods in May was an estimated £6.3bn, while trade in services remained at £4.1bn. In Germany, exports recovered slightly in [...]
INFLATION FEARS STILL ON THE CARDS July 5, 2009 JANE FOLEYRESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COMLAST week brought confirmation that prices actually fell in the Eurozone in June. The consumer prices index (CPI) fell 0.1 per cent year-on-year, in sharp contrast to the European Central Bank’s (ECB) mandate which directs it to keep inflation at, or a little below, 2.0 per cent year-on-year. The complete absence of [...]
Deflation fears for Eurozone June 29, 2009 EUROZONE inflation is forecast to have slipped into negative territory for the first time in the trading bloc’s history in June, dragged down by lower energy and food prices, data are expected to show today. A Reuters poll of 37 economists showed inflation at -0.2 per cent year-on-year this month, after prices remained flat in [...]
ECB pumps in record 442bn to boost Eurozone lending June 24, 2009 THE European Central Bank (ECB) pumped a record €442bn (£375bn) into money markets yesterday for 12 months in an attempt to improve bank lending and drag the Eurozone economy out of recession. A record 1,121 banks scrambled to take up the ECB’s offer of unlimited funds at a fixed rate of one per cent, as [...]