Interest rates frozen at 0.5pc March 8, 2012 The Bank of England has frozen interest rates at 0.5 per cent. The monetary policy committee (MPC) also decided to make no change to its quantitative easing (QE) programme. Last month it announced £50bn more QE – taking the total stimulus to £325bn.
FTSE buoyed by miners and banks March 8, 2012 The FTSE 100 pushed higher this morning as investors gained confidence in Greece’s chances of completing a lifesaving bond swap later today. Major banks and pension funds, representing about 40 per cent of Greece’s outstanding debt, threw their weight behind Athens’ bond swap offer to private creditors yesterday. That should be eno€130bn fund for Greece [...]
Schroders weathers volatile 2011 March 8, 2012 Blue chip investment manager Schroders (SDR.L) said an injection of institutional money kept its net inflows for 2011 positive against a backdrop of wobbly markets that sent many retail clients headed for the exits. In full year earnings for 2011, Schroders said total net inflows were £3.2bn with a £6.8bn net gain in institutional money [...]
Cineworld profit lifted by blockbusters March 8, 2012 British cinema chain Cineworld posted a higher full-year profit helped by a string of popular releases during the Christmas season, and said it expected a strong blockbuster line-up for 2012. The operator of cinema complexes throughout the UK and Ireland said films such as the latest in the Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean and [...]
Aviva earnings pick up after Eurozone blow March 8, 2012 Aviva reported a bigger-than-expected six per cent rise in its 2011 earnings, helped by better profit margins in its life insurance business, and said capital reserves had recovered from a hit they took last year as a result of the Eurozone debt crisis. The company, Britain’s second-biggest insurer, had an operating profit for the year [...]
Morrisons profit up – but predicts tough 2012 March 8, 2012 Britain’s fourth-biggest grocer Wm Morrison said the UK grocery market was likely to remain subdued in the coming year despite easing inflationary pressures as it posted a eight per cent rise in year profit. “We expect a challenging year in 2012,” the firm said on Thursday, adding that it still expected to deliver profitable growth. [...]
Apple: New iPad will crush PCs March 7, 2012 APPLE launched its latest bid to extend its dominance of the tablet computer market last night as it revealed a next-generation iPad – and delivered a rallying cry that the days of personal computers are over. “We think the iPad is the poster child of the post–PC world,” chief executive Tim Cook told the tech [...]
Greece set to impose writedown March 7, 2012 MOST private sector bond holders are expected to agree to swap their assets into fewer, longer-term bills by tonight’s deadline – but Greece will probably have to use new laws to force the stubborn remainder to take losses. The arrangement is part of Greece’s €130bn (£108.5bn) bailout which aims to cut its debts from 160 [...]
Ratings execs under attack March 7, 2012 TOP credit ratings agency executives faced a wave of criticism from MPs yesterday for the mistakes made by their institutions before the financial crisis. The industry was either incompetent or its judgment affected by a conflict of interest, Tory MP David Ruffley told directors from Moody’s, Fitch, Standard & Poor’s, as well as smaller Canadian [...]
Mortgage time-bomb UK’s top threat March 7, 2012 SOME time-bombs can be defused. Not this one. At some point – in a year, in two, or perhaps even in five – the cost of borrowing for consumers will climb back to the sorts of levels we were used to 15 years ago. Complacent borrowers addicted to rock-bottom interest rates – and for whom [...]
