Stamp duty deadline stimulates surge in March mortgage loans May 16, 2012 MORTGAGE lending soared throughout the housing market in March, industry data showed yesterday, as the stamp duty holiday fuelled an escalation in buying. First-time buyers were exempt from stamp duty on properties worth under £250,000 until the end of the month resulting in a 74 per cent monthly rise in the number of first time [...]
US booms with strong utilities May 16, 2012 US industrial production posted its fastest growth in over a year last month, official figures showed yesterday, boosted by surging output at utilities and a rebound in manufacturing. Output grew 1.1 per cent in April, the Federal Reserve revealed, the most since December 2010 and more than twice the 0.4 per cent forecast by economists. [...]
Oz rate cut improves confidence May 16, 2012 Australian consumer confidence increased slightly after the central bank cut interest rates at the start of the month, an influential index showed yesterday. The Westpac index rose 0.8 per cent to 95.3, from 94.5 in April. The Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to 3.75 per cent at the start [...]
WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 16, 2012 Brooks Macdonald The private client investment manager has announced the appointment of Justin Woolf to its intermediary sales team. He joins as an intermediary sales manager from Zurich Intermediary Group, where he was a senior broker consultant. Woolf has over 15 years’ experience in the financial services industry. Thomas Miller Investment The investment management firm [...]
BEST of the BROKERS May 16, 2012 GLENCORE UBS has downgraded the commodities giant from “buy” to “neutral” and lowered its target price from 475p to 400p following Glencore’s first quarter trading update. The bank said it still sees Glencore as the most dynamic company in EU mining over the next three years, but is concerned about the operational leverage of its [...]
Stocks sink to lowest level of 2012 after liquidity scare weighs on FTSE May 16, 2012 BRITAIN’s benchmark FTSE 100 index fell to its lowest closing level in more than four months yesterday, as new fears about the Greek banking system killed off a brief afternoon rally on the market. The FTSE 100 fell by 32.37 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 5,405.25 points – above a 5,400 point resistance level [...]
Euro fears see fourth day of falls on the S&P May 16, 2012 US stocks closed lower in a choppy session yesterday, with the S&P 500 logging its fourth straight decline as investors worried about Greece’s future as a member of the Eurozone. Early US gains were erased after the European Central Bank said it had stopped providing liquidity to some Greek banks that had not been recapitalised. [...]
Potential interim managers face a necessary dilemma May 16, 2012 ACCORDING to the Interim Management Association (IMA), the UK has the most established interim management sector in the world, worth £1.5bn per year. Established and growing – business generated by interims affiliated to the IMA increased by 93 per cent in the last five years, to £196m. Interim managers are executives with superb records of [...]
JOBS of the WEEK May 16, 2012 INTERIM TRANSITION MANAGER CENTRAL LONDON £650-£750 per day An international human resources firm requires an experienced project manager to join its learning and development team. Candidates must have operated in a complex matrix environment. http://www.cityamcareers.com/job/5965 DIRECTOR PRIVATE BANKING DUBAI $200k-$300k pa A private banker is required at the Dubai office of a leading private bank. [...]
London must resist its critics and adapt to survive the financial crisis May 16, 2012 LONDON’S great success over many centuries has stemmed from its adaptability. It has attracted talent and money from around the world. It has been outward-looking, sending argosies to the Levant, trading with an empire and more recently acting as the world’s favourite financial centre. Like all such success stories in the UK, it attracts its [...]
