Clegg unveils drive for social mobility April 5, 2011 DEPUTY Prime Minister Nick Clegg has promised to “open the doors of opportunity” in a launch of policies meant to improve social mobility. They include setting up a commission to tackle the issue, increasing access to pre-school education, spending £2.5bn on the pupil premium, extra money for those from deprived backgrounds, by 2014/15 and bringing [...]
Rush for safety sees gold surge April 5, 2011 PRICES of spot gold notched a record high yesterday while Brent crude ended above $122 a barrel, at a 2-1/2 year high, as Middle East unrest and fears over Portugal fuelled a drive for safety. Brent crude prices rose as worries about supply from oil-producing countries in Africa and the Middle East overshadowed China’s rate [...]
SEC plans end to price swings April 5, 2011 US securities regulators yesterday unveiled a long-awaited plan designed to protect the markets from volatile price swings, following the 6 May “flash crash”. The so-called “limit up-limit down” proposal from the Securities and Exchange Commission, would require trades in US-listed stocks to be executed within a range tied to recent prices. If approved, it would [...]
Lift in UK services sector confirms dramatic bounce-back in growth… April 5, 2011 GROWTH in the UK’s service sector surged at its fastest rate for a year in March, suggesting the economy has sprung back from the reported contraction at the end of 2010. The economy is now estimated to have grown by up to 0.8 per cent in the first three months of this year, according to [...]
…but retailers are still feeling the heat April 5, 2011 MUSIC and DVD retailer HMV plunged further into trouble yesterday as it issued a third profit warning. The embattled company saw its shares tumble by up to nine per cent, despite assurances that its credit facilities were solid. HMV warned that profit before tax and exceptional items for the full-year would be around £30m. That [...]
Diamond pays P&G $1.5bn for Pringles April 5, 2011 PROCTER & Gamble has agreed to sell potato crisps brand Pringles to Diamond Foods, in a deal worth $1.5bn (£921.6m) in shares. Offloading the 45-year-old brand, known for its crisps sold in more than 140 countries, will mark the conglomerates departure from the food sector. US-based Diamond Foods, which owns a variety of snack brands [...]
How good a job do you feel George Osborne is doing as chancellor? April 5, 2011 We’re restarting our weekly readers’ panel with PoliticsHome.com to let you have your say on politics and the City. To answer the above question and more, including your views on Sir John Vickers’ Independent Commission on Banking, apply to join at www.cityam.com/panel. You could be in with the chance of winning a free luxury weekend [...]
Australia may block SGX bid for exchange April 5, 2011 THE Australian government has said it intends to reject the Singapore Exchange’s proposed $7.8bn (£4.8bn) bid for Australia’s stock exchange, raising concerns that political challenges could harm other exchange tie-ups. The Singapore Exchange launched its agreed takeover bid for Sydney-based ASX last October, with a view to ward off the threat from alternative trading platforms [...]
LSE to sell Italy unit for €30m April 5, 2011 THE London Stock Exchange, which is currently seeking to buy the owner of the Toronto Stock Exchange, said yesterday it had sold its non-core Italian unit Servizio Titoli to Computershare. The LSE said it would sell the unit for an initial amount of €30m (£26.2m). Servizio Titoli provides shareholder management services to listed companies in [...]
Mid-April talks set for NYSE bid April 5, 2011 NYSE Euronext’s board of directors plans to meet by 14 April to consider Nasdaq OMX Group’s unsolicited takeover bid, though no firm date has been set, a person familiar with the plan said yesterday. On Friday, Nasdaq partnered with US-based Intercontinental Exchange to make an $11.3bn (£6.9bn) offer for the Big Board parent, an attempt [...]
