Samsung forecasts profit surge July 6, 2012 Samsung said it expects to see a profit surge of 79 per cent in the second quarter of 2012 due to the new Galaxy range of smartphones. The firm has predicted an operating profit of 6.7 trillion won (£3.5 bn) for the three-month period, the highest since 2008. Whilst overtaking Nokia as the world’s biggest [...]
Anglo gets go ahead for De Beers deal July 6, 2012 Global miner Anglo American has secured the final regulatory approval for its $5.1bn acquisition of the Oppenheimer family’s stake in diamond producer De Beers, paving the way for the deal to close within the coming months. The approval from South Africa’s minister of Mineral Resources, announced on Friday, enables Anglo to formally offer the Botswana [...]
FTSE dips as investors eye US jobs data July 6, 2012 The FTSE 100 fell in early trading with investors cautious ahead of key US jobs data and still absorbing moves by three central banks to get their country’s economies back on track. Banks in China, Europe and Britain loosened monetary policy in an attempt to boost flagging global growth but ended up spooking investors, who [...]
Factory gate inflation eases July 6, 2012 British factory gate inflation eased in June as lower oil prices pushed input costs down at the fastest annual pace since September 2009, data showed. With inflation falling the Bank of England voted on Thursday to pump an extra £50bn into markets to revitalise an economy that fell back into recession at the turn of [...]
IMF’s Lagarde warns over global economy July 6, 2012 The head of the International Monetary Fund expressed concern on Friday at a deterioration in the global economy, saying the outlook has become more worrying as developed and big emerging nations show signs of slowing down. The comments by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde came after the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and [...]
Aviva raises $494m from Aviva Delta stake sale July 6, 2012 Britain’s second-biggest insurer Aviva has kicked off plans to sell or close more than a quarter of its businesses by selling part of its stake in Dutch rival Delta Lloyd for £318m. Aviva, which is aiming to regain the support of investors unhappy with its flagging share price, said it had sold 37 million shares [...]
ECB cuts rate to record low July 5, 2012 The European Central Bank cut interest rates to a record low to breathe life into a deteriorating Eurozone economy but steered clear of more dramatic measures such as buying government bonds or flooding banks with fresh liquidity. The quarter-point cut in the ECB’s main refinancing rate to 0.75 percent was in line with market expectations [...]
Bank pumps £50bn more into the economy July 5, 2012 The Bank of England has announced that it is raising its quantitive easing programme by £50bn. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has already spent £325bn to date on asset purchases aimed at kickstarting the economy. The bank kept the base rate of interest at its historic low of 0.5 per cent. Official GDP figures have [...]
FTSE creeps up as investors await BoE decision July 5, 2012 The FTSE 100 edged up in early trading as investors awaited the Bank of England’s next move on interest rates and quantitative easing to be announced at midday. Investors were also watching the unravelling Libor (the London Interbank Offered Rate) scandal with ratings agency Moody’s today threatening to downgrade Barclays over the damage to its [...]
Moody’s threatens Barclays downgrade July 5, 2012 Moody’s has threatened to downgrade Barclays’ credit rating because of the impact on the management structure of the Libor scandal. The ratings agency warned over the difficulty of replacing key senior staff including the former chief executive Bob Diamond. The agency also said it was concerned about the cultural changes needed at Barclays, an issue [...]
