RAPID RESPONSES January 19, 2012 Fed up of fairness Allister Heath writes that the coalition needs to tackle unemployment while Sara Parker reports that London is now an unemployment hotspot [It’s official: London is now a hotspot of unemployment – business must help tackle it, yesterday]. I own a number of small businesses and in the past year have been [...]
Stocks rise as investors lap up risky debt January 19, 2012 INVESTORS enthusiastically bought Spanish and French debt in auctions yesterday, prompting a mild euro rally and positive stock market moves. France sold €7.97bn (£6.66bn) medium-term debt. The yield on its two-year debt came in at 1.05 per cent, the three-year at 1.5 per cent and the four-year at 1.89 per cent. Those yields are lower [...]
Commerzbank to rely on profits for capital raising January 19, 2012 COMMERZBANK plans to retain earnings and cut risky assets to plug a €5.3bn (£4.4bn) capital shortfall rather than seek a government bailout, although analysts warned it may still need state help if the economy worsens. Germany’s second largest lender said yesterday it had already set aside €3bn worth of the capital it needs to raise [...]
IMF must not let ECB off the hook, says Balls January 19, 2012 ED Balls, the shadow chancellor, yesterday said the IMF should not be asked to prop up countries such as Italy and Spain, arguing the European Central Bank should support them instead. His comments were interpreted as a sign that Labour could join with Tory backbenchers in voting against an increase in Britain’s contributions to the [...]
Eurozone may be stabilising, Draghi hopes January 19, 2012 THE EUROZONE’s economy may have stopped getting worse, European Central Bank (ECB) boss Mario Draghi announced yesterday, claiming that the situation appears to be stabilising. However, he did warn that such an optimistic outlook may be at risk from the ongoing political wrangling over the sovereign debt crisis. “Tentative signs of stabilisation of economic activity [...]
Unemployment benefit claims drop in the US January 19, 2012 FRESH claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a near four-year low in the US last week, boosting hopes for a strong recovery in the jobs market. Yet bullish economic news continues to elude the ailing American housing market. Housing starts fell in December as groundbreaking on rental property posted a big decline. The Commerce Department [...]
THE CHART THE FRENCH WANT TO HIDE January 19, 2012 LONDON would be the biggest victim by far of a pan-European financial transactions tax, according to a graph (above) published by the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA). Nearly three quarters (71 per cent) of the hit from a proposed Tobin tax would fall on the UK. The data, produced by the Austrian Institute of Economic [...]
BP in line to pay $25bn in US spill case January 19, 2012 BP is likely to agree to pay the US Department of Justice $20-$25bn (£16.1bn) to settle all charges around the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, according to a leading analyst – a prediction that is at least twice what the company has set aside. Martijn Rats, head of European oil research at Morgan Stanley, said [...]
News Group compensates 37 of its phone hacking victims January 19, 2012 NEWS GROUP NEWSPAPERS, a subsidiary of News International, will dole out hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation to targets of the phone hacking spree that led to the closure of the News of the World. The Murdoch-owned company settled with 37 claimants yesterday, and a total payout of £645,000 was disclosed from the 15 [...]
Jupiter suffers some outflows but assets rise January 19, 2012 FUND manager Jupiter yesterday reported its first quarter of net outflows since returning to the London Stock Exchange in June 2010, The group said it lost £225m in assets in its fourth quarter, after a worsening environment for its core UK customer base and the loss of an institutional mandate hit its flows. The redemptions [...]
