Umbers leaves his perch at Evolution Securities February 3, 2010 ANDREW Umbers stepped down yesterday as chief executive of the securities arm at investment bank Evolution, after leading a recruiting drive over the course of the crisis. Umbers did not give a reason for his decision, but said: “I now feel the time is right for me to pursue opportunities elsewhere.” Group chief executive Alex [...]
UK ECONOMY February 3, 2010 QUANTITATIVE EASING should come to an end this month, according to a majority of members of City A.M.’s shadow Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), ahead of the Bank of England’s decision scheduled for midday today. Seven members recommended that the policy should be paused in February leaving the £200bn of assets bought so far intact, while [...]
City A.M. | Shadow mpc February 3, 2010 ALLISTER HEATH | CITY A.M. “Suspend QE, for the time being at least. A strong signal should be sent that a symbolic rate rise is imminent. It is hard to work out what is happening to liquidity but there seems to be enough of it at present.” SIMON WARD | HENDERSON “Stop QE and prepare [...]
Toyota recall hits UK February 3, 2010 TOYOTA will recall over 180,000 vehicles in the UK as part of the ongoing faulty accelerator saga. The embattled car maker says it is working with the DVLA to identify owners of vehicles with faulty accelerator pedals. The vast clean-up operation is over a £9 part that takes just 30 minutes to repair. At least [...]
Pace of expansion slows in UK services February 3, 2010 HEAVY snow and a rise in sales tax led to an unexpected slowing in Britain’s service sector last month, but investors stuck with bets the Bank of England (BoE) would halt its pro-growth quantitative easing programme today. Separate surveys showing signs of revival in British consumer confidence and the labour market supported the view that [...]
3i mulls sale or float of Ambea firm February 3, 2010 Private equity group 3i is exploring selling Nordic care home operator Ambea or listing it on a stock market, several bankers close to the deal said yesterday. The company, which operates under its Mehiläinen and Carema brands, could fetch somewhere in the €700m (£611.9m) to €1bn range, the bankers said, higher than last year’s estimate [...]
Moody’s warns US that weak growth threatens its triple A credit rating February 3, 2010 IF THE US economy grows anemically, already stretched government finances will be crimped, potentially putting downward pressure on the top AAA US rating, said Moody’s Investors Service yesterday. “Economic growth is very important to our assessment (of the sovereign rating),” said Steven Hess, senior credit officer in the sovereign risk group with Moody’s Investors Service [...]
02 in talks with Apple over iPad February 3, 2010 02 is in talks with Apple over providing mobile access for the iPad. However, it is not believed an exclusive deal like the one in place for the launch of the iPhone will exist and it will almost certainly be available on several carriers when it hits the UK 02 yesterday said it was watching [...]
Private sector job losses in US at two-year low February 3, 2010 THE pace of US job losses in the private sector slowed in January as employers reported the smallest payroll decline in nearly two years, while the dominant services sector grew slightly, data showed yesterday. A report by ADP Employer Services showed the United States lost 22,000 private sector jobs last month, smaller than the 61,000 [...]
SSE suffers as demand drops despite cold February 3, 2010 Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) yesterday revealed it has signed up 200,000 customer accounts in the nine months to 31 December, taking the total to 9.25m across the UK. However SSE, the second largest electricity generator in the UK and Ireland, also reported reductions in household consumption of gas and electricity in the four months [...]
