Life assurers were stress-tested July 21, 2009 Life assurers were put through stress tests earlier this year, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said yesterday for the first time. The FSA told insurance firms to test their capital resilience against a 2009 fall in equity values of 20 per cent, a drop in property values of 15 per cent, a rise in corporate [...]
Banks said to need more capital July 21, 2009 Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland will need to raise billions to meet regulatory requirements on capital due to come into force in 2010, JPMorgan said yesterday. JPMorgan analyst Carla Antune da Silva said Barclays would need to find another £12.8bn and RBS £8.5bn to comply with rules requiring banks to set aside capital against [...]
China to back acquisition spree July 21, 2009 Beijing will make use of its foreign exchange reserves to back its companies in their efforts to buy up firms on foreign soil, Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao said yesterday. “We should hasten the implementation of our ‘going out’ strategy and combine the utilisation of foreign exchange reserves with the ‘going out’ of our enterprises,” [...]
MorgStan gets fixed income boss July 21, 2009 Morgan Stanley has drafted in a new head of fixed income ahead of today’s second quarter results, which are likely to show a loss of about $0.46 (£0.28) per share. Jack DiMaio, a former head of fixed income for Credit Suisse in north America, will be head of interest rate, credit and currency trading, replacing [...]
COKE PROFITS FIZZ July 21, 2009 COCA-COLA, the world’s largest beverage maker, yesterday beat expectations with a 43 per cent rise in second-quarter profit thanks to rapid growth outside of the US. Coca-Cola said it earned $2.04bn (£1.24bn) in the three months ending 3 July, up from $1.42bn a year earlier.
FTSE enjoys best run in four years July 21, 2009 THE FTSE 100 has had its best run in four years after companies around the world delivered better-than-expected results. The index of top-rated companies ended a seventh day of rises one per cent higher at 4481.17. It is the best winning streak since July 2005, with daily increases bringing the FTSE 100 up 8.7 per [...]
Worst June on record for state deficit July 21, 2009 SURGING government spending and a collapse in tax receipts meant Britain’s public finances were the worst in June since records began in 1993, although the figures were better than had been expected. Official data released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that public sector net borrowing hit £13bn in June. Net debt [...]
DuPont stands firm on forecast July 21, 2009 Chemical firm DuPont maintained its earnings forecast yesterday, despite profits falling 61 per cent to $417m (£254), or $0.46 a share. DuPont forecast annual earnings of between $1.70 and $2.10 a share.
Merck looks ahead to merger July 21, 2009 Drugmaker Merck saw second-quarter net income fall 12 per cent to $1.59bn (£967m), or $0.74 a share, yesterday. Excluding one-off items, the company earned $0.83 a share, beating an analysts’ consensus forecast of $0.77. Revenue fell 2.9 per cent to $5.9bn, a decline the company hopes to reverse with its plan to spend $44bn on [...]
Caterpillar expects recovery July 21, 2009 US construction and mining bellwether Caterpillar reported a 66 per cent slide in second-quarter profit yesterday but upgraded its outlook for the year as cost cuts took effect. Profits fell to $371m (£225.6m) from $1.11bn. But the firm raised its 2009 forecast to a profit of $2.25 a share, from an April prediction of $1.25.
