Brokers’ notes boost UK banks March 28, 2011 SHARES in two major UK banks were boosted by bullish notes from brokers yesterday. Barclays and HSBC spent topped the FTSE 100 risers board after analysts at JP Morgan and Barclays Capital said investors should buy European banks. Barclays Capital analysts, led by Simon Samuels, said 11 of Europe’s biggest banks were trading at an [...]
Discipline over margins will pay off March 28, 2011 FIRST appearances can be deceiving. At the headline level, Aberdeen’s assets under management (AUM) fell four per cent to £176.2bn in the two months to 28 February. However, most of this can be explained by falling stock markets and foreign exchange movements. A more accurate measure is net inflows, which were £0.2bn in the two [...]
Fastest fall in house prices for 16 months March 28, 2011 HOUSE prices across England and Wales were 1.7 per cent lower in February than a year earlier, official data showed yesterday. The fall was the steepest annual drop for 16 months, according to the Land Registry. However, London bucked the trend, with a 3.2 per cent increase on the previous year. As well as London, [...]
Budget broadly welcomed by businesses, survey says March 28, 2011 CHANCELLOR George Osborne received a boost yesterday as businesses responded positively to last week’s Budget. Almost nine in ten (88 per cent) of corporate respondents said the Budget would aid private sector growth, Barclays Corporate revealed. Meanwhile a snap poll from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) showed that over twice as many, 39 per [...]
INFLATION IS TOO HIGH, SAYS ECB’S TRICHET March 28, 2011 THE euro rebounded against the dollar yesterday, after European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet reiterated his concern over rising prices. “Inflation rates are now durably above the common definition of price stability in the Eurozone,” he said. The European single currency had slipped against the dollar earlier in the day, but Trichet’s hawkish comments saw [...]
Sentance repeats rate rise call March 28, 2011 The Bank of England should not delay raising interest rates as to do so may mean that rates will have to rise more sharply in future, Monetary Policy Committee member Andrew Sentance was quoted as saying yesterday. In an interview with the Flintshire Leader, Sentance also said he was encouraged by the strength of the [...]
Inflation and spending up in US March 28, 2011 US consumer spending rose for an eighth straight month in February as households tapped savings to cover higher food and energy prices, the Commerce Department revealed yesterday. Spending was up 0.7 per cent, higher than economists expected, after a 0.3 per cent increase in January. Inflation accelerated at its fastest pace since June 2009. Meanwhile, [...]
Fed officials clash over US policy March 28, 2011 Two senior US Federal Reserve officials yesterday revealed conflicting views on the economy. The Fed’s James Bullard proposed an early end to the controversial second phase of quantitative easing, giving a bullish outlook on US growth. However, fellow Fed official Dennis Lockhart defended the “current stance of monetary policy” yesterday evening.
Porsche set to pay debt with rights issue March 28, 2011 PORSCHE is driving ahead with a €5bn (£4.4bn) rights issue in an attempt to keep hopes of a merger with car maker Volkswagen (VW) alive by paying off a chunk of its heavy debts. Investors took the planned capital hike in their stride and shares in the sports car maker fell by just 5.5 per [...]
EasyJet in VisitBritain deal March 28, 2011 BUDGET airline easyJet has launched an £18m licensing deal with VisitBritain to promote tourism into the UK over the Royal Wedding, the 2012 London Olympics and beyond. The four-year deal will see the government pay the airline £9m to bring in foreign passengers to the UK. EasyJet will provide the rest of the funding in [...]
