Who’s switching jobs December 10, 2012 Legal & General Property Rob Codling has been appointed senior asset manager within the property investment firm’s managed fund. He joins from Jones Lang LaSalle, where he was most recently an asset manager and transactions surveyor. BNY Mellon Edith Rigler has been appointed business strategy and market solutions manager for treasury services in Europe, Middle East [...]
Best of the Brokers December 10, 2012 AZ ELECTRONIC MATERIALS UBS has cut its rating from “buy” to “neutral” for the chemicals producer. The stock is up around 50 per cent this year, and the valuation gap to its rivals is now closed, UBS thinks. ENTERPRISE INNS Morgan Stanley rates the pub owner “overweight” and has set a price target of 140p. [...]
Investors expect end-of-year rally for FTSE despite Eurozone worries December 10, 2012 BRITAIN’S benchmark share index rose to its highest closing level in nearly nine months yesterday, with many traders betting that worries over Italy would fail to halt a traditional year-end equities rally. The FTSE 100 closed up 0.1 per cent, or 7.23 points higher, at 5,921.63 points – its highest close since finishing at 5,961.11 [...]
US markets up on McDonald’s and tech stock December 10, 2012 US stocks edged higher yesterday Monday, helped by gains in McDonald’s after the fast-food giant posted strong sales results, and a move up in technology shares. Technology stocks were the S&P 500’s best-performing sector as Hewlett-Packard climbed 2.9 per cent to $14.20 on rumours that activist investor Carl Icahn is building a stake in the [...]
The poorest will suffer if we ignore the real evidence on payday loans December 10, 2012 THE non-stop tide of new regulation from the government continues. It now appears to be preparing to accept an amendment to the Financial Services Bill, which will allow the Financial Conduct Authority to cap interest rates on payday loans. A recent intervention by the incoming archbishop of Canterbury (who is strongly in favour of the [...]
Immunising entrepreneurs from the market won’t plug the funding gap December 10, 2012 VINCE Cable’s business bank intends to invest £1bn in small to medium-sized enterprises. In 2011, Project Merlin sought to facilitate a further £76bn in loans. But with all the talk of national investment banks, it is important to consider some economic semantics. There seems an almost universal acceptance that entrepreneurs are being starved of credit, [...]
Monti steps aside for Berlusconi to wreak euro havoc December 10, 2012 MARIO Monti’s announcement that he will step down as Italian Prime Minister, as soon as the budget law for 2013-15 is adopted, caught many off guard. But things had got to a point where Monti had little choice – he had effectively lost his majority in parliament after Silvio Berlusconi’s party withdrew its support. What [...]
Should the news that jobs are being moved to other UK financial centres worry the City? December 10, 2012 YES Douglas McWilliams Investment banks are planning to move 3,000 jobs from the City of London to other regional centres, which will be mixed news for the City. Past success in London has sustained high salaries and property costs, making moves to other UK centres economically viable. This is historic – property costs are likely to [...]
Rapid responses December 10, 2012 Classroom politics [Re: Lessons from Finland: How we can reform maths teaching in schools, yesterday] While I respect professor Burghes’s work, I disagree with his opinion. The greatest threat to maths education in Britain is not poor teachers or a rigid curriculum. It is the huge scale of recent political involvement in how children are taught. Standards [...]
Central banks inflate a new asset price bubble December 10, 2012 THE Bank of International Settlements (BIS) has warned that global asset prices are rising to levels not seen since before the 2008 crisis. This is despite the ongoing European sovereign debt crisis and the inability of the US to control its government spending and address its deficit woes. It comes at the same time as [...]
