In defence of hedge funds: Institutional investors are giving a vote of confidence January 19, 2012 THE latest hedge fund performance figures show the average fund was down nearly 5 per cent in 2011, and have prompted some to say: “The hedge fund model is broken”. It is worth noting that global shares, according to the MSCI All-Country World Index, were down 9.4 per cent in 2011, but nobody is arguing [...]
Law firms jump the fences in a quest for capital January 19, 2012 EARLIER this week, law firm Irwin Mitchell hired Glyn Barker as its chairman designate. Barker, a 30-year veteran of PwC, built the accountancy giant’s private equity practice and was its vice chairman until the end of last month. In the corporate world, cross-hiring between industries is common – take Chris Grigg’s sideways jump from Barclays [...]
Populist politicians are not markets’ saviours January 19, 2012 WE WILL know we have progressed to a higher level of civilisation when a politician praises a course of action that does not give him more power. On that measure, David Cameron remains as vulgar as the rest of his colleagues. He said yesterday, “many people are questioning not just how and when we will [...]
RAPID RESPONSES January 19, 2012 Fed up of fairness Allister Heath writes that the coalition needs to tackle unemployment while Sara Parker reports that London is now an unemployment hotspot [It’s official: London is now a hotspot of unemployment – business must help tackle it, yesterday]. I own a number of small businesses and in the past year have been [...]
Stocks rise as investors lap up risky debt January 19, 2012 INVESTORS enthusiastically bought Spanish and French debt in auctions yesterday, prompting a mild euro rally and positive stock market moves. France sold €7.97bn (£6.66bn) medium-term debt. The yield on its two-year debt came in at 1.05 per cent, the three-year at 1.5 per cent and the four-year at 1.89 per cent. Those yields are lower [...]
Commerzbank to rely on profits for capital raising January 19, 2012 COMMERZBANK plans to retain earnings and cut risky assets to plug a €5.3bn (£4.4bn) capital shortfall rather than seek a government bailout, although analysts warned it may still need state help if the economy worsens. Germany’s second largest lender said yesterday it had already set aside €3bn worth of the capital it needs to raise [...]
IMF must not let ECB off the hook, says Balls January 19, 2012 ED Balls, the shadow chancellor, yesterday said the IMF should not be asked to prop up countries such as Italy and Spain, arguing the European Central Bank should support them instead. His comments were interpreted as a sign that Labour could join with Tory backbenchers in voting against an increase in Britain’s contributions to the [...]
Eurozone may be stabilising, Draghi hopes January 19, 2012 THE EUROZONE’s economy may have stopped getting worse, European Central Bank (ECB) boss Mario Draghi announced yesterday, claiming that the situation appears to be stabilising. However, he did warn that such an optimistic outlook may be at risk from the ongoing political wrangling over the sovereign debt crisis. “Tentative signs of stabilisation of economic activity [...]
Unemployment benefit claims drop in the US January 19, 2012 FRESH claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a near four-year low in the US last week, boosting hopes for a strong recovery in the jobs market. Yet bullish economic news continues to elude the ailing American housing market. Housing starts fell in December as groundbreaking on rental property posted a big decline. The Commerce Department [...]
THE CHART THE FRENCH WANT TO HIDE January 19, 2012 LONDON would be the biggest victim by far of a pan-European financial transactions tax, according to a graph (above) published by the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA). Nearly three quarters (71 per cent) of the hit from a proposed Tobin tax would fall on the UK. The data, produced by the Austrian Institute of Economic [...]
