Mark Carney – Prepare for a rise in interest rates June 12, 2014 Bank of England governor Mark Carney shocked markets last night by revealing that interest rates might be hiked this year – a stark turnaround from his usual position of talking down the possibility. Addressing an audience of City grandees at the annual Mansion House dinner, the 49-year-old Canadian said the Bank could start to bring [...]
Osborne unveils plan for mortgage cap to cool off housing market June 12, 2014 CHANCELLOR George Osborne pushed the Bank of England closer to intervening in the housing market last night, encouraging governor Mark Carney to use radical new powers to limit mortgage lending. The Bank can now limit borrowers’ mortgages based on their income relative to the size of the loan – or stop them buying a house [...]
Councils ordered to back developers or lose powers June 12, 2014 CHANCELLOR George Osborne last night revealed “radical” new rules on housing that he said would push local authorities to let developers build on almost all brownfield land – or central government might bypass council controls altogether. The chancellor said that he expected 90 per cent of appropriate brownfield land to be covered by pre-approved planning [...]
Interest rates are going up – and mortgages will become harder to get June 12, 2014 It's official: money is about to become more expensive. Mark Carney warned yesterday that rates could rise more quickly than the markets were predicting. The implication is that the base rate could increase later this year, rather than in the second quarter of next year; this is a major shift for the Bank of England [...]
Jail for bankers who fiddle any benchmarks June 12, 2014 TRADERS who manipulate currency, commodity and interest rate benchmarks could be jailed under a major expansion of the Libor laws, George Osborne said last night. Previously, the focus of the new rules – the centrepiece of which is a prison term of up to seven years for market abuse – was on Libor. But the Bank [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 13 June 2014 June 12, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Corporate PC demand boosts Intel Intel has raised its profit guidance for the second quarter on the back of strong demand for business PCs, pushing shares up by more than five per cent in after-hours trading. Demand for the PCs – the market Intel’s chips dominate – is stabilising as companies begin to [...]
Gazprom warns Ukraine on debt June 12, 2014 Russian natural gas exporter Gazprom warned yesterday that it would cut off supplies to Ukraine on Monday if it failed to pay off part of its gas debts, raising fears of disruptions in gas flows to Europe. Chief executive Alexei Miller said that if Ukraine failed to pay $1.95bn (£1.16bn) of its $4bn debt to [...]
SSE hands £2.7m to chief exec June 12, 2014 Energy supplier SSE added two-thirds more to chief exec Alistair Phillips-Davies’ pay packet last year, taking his remuneration to £2.7m. SSE handed the boss a £1.3m pension payment as well as a salary of £702,000, incentive payments of £453,000 and long-term awards of £204,000. Phillips-Davies was promoted from deputy chief executive to the top job [...]
Portugal to skip final bailout June 12, 2014 Portugal has decided to do without the last payment from its international bailout program after the rejection of a series of austerity measures by the country’s constitutional court, its finance minister said yesterday. Portugal has easily managed to finance itself in bond markets after the end of the bailout, which means it does not need [...]
Oil price jumps as US considers a move on Iraq June 12, 2014 US PRESIDENT Barack Obama said last night that he would not rule out military action in Iraq, as the country descended further into violence following the fall of Mosul and Tikrit to Sunni Islamic insurgents. The turmoil has been reflected in global markets this week, with Brent crude oil hitting a three-month high of $112 [...]
