Bank of America scare hits stocks October 19, 2010 U stocks posted their biggest loss in two months yesterday on fears banks might be on the hook for billions of dollars in souring mortgage bonds. The afternoon selloff hit investors already reeling from an unexpected credit tightening by China and disappointing financial results from Apple and IBM. The biggest scare came on news that [...]
Goldman sees its profits fall October 19, 2010 US INVESTMENT bank Goldman Sachs said yesterday that net profit fell during the third quarter of this year after lower than expected trading volumes during the summer dragged on earnings. Goldman reported a net profit of $1.9bn (£1.2bn), or $2.98 per share, for the three months to 30 September, down more than 40 per cent [...]
Bank of America in the red amid wrangle with investors October 19, 2010 BANK of America (BoA) said yesterday it would vigorously defend itself against demands from investors who have written to the bank to insist it take back billions of dollars in failing mortgages originally issued by its Countrywide subsidiary. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, BlackRock and Pacific Investment Management are believed to be among [...]
Bank of New York Mellon buys two firms to boost its recovery October 19, 2010 BANK of New York Mellon continued its recovery during 2010, based in part on its acquisition of two companies that provide back-office services – deals which took assets under administration 10 per cent higher year-on-year to $24.4 trillion (£15.5 trillion). The bank yesterday reported third quarter operating profit of $625m, or $0.51 per share, compared [...]
King hints at possibility of further QE October 19, 2010 BANK OF ENGLAND governor Mervyn King yesterday signalled that he was open to a second round of quantitative easing to support growth and keep inflation close to target, but a leading economic think-tank will warn today that monetary policy could become too loose in response to overly-tight fiscal policy. In a speech in the West [...]
China and Brazil moved to action to control currencies October 19, 2010 CHINA sent financial markets into retreat yesterday as it announced a 25 basis point increase to its benchmark interest rate, taking one-year deposit rates to 2.5 per cent and one-year lending rates to 5.56 per cent. The increase, which takes effect from today, is the first in three years and was seen internally as a [...]
Housing starts rise again in US October 19, 2010 US HOME construction scaled a five-month high in September, another sign the housing market decline is bottoming, though permits for future building fell. While the data was encouraging, housing starts remained at depressed levels and added to the case for more monetary stimulus to shore up the sluggish recovery. Housing starts advanced for a third [...]
WTO enters a currency row October 19, 2010 THE HEAD of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) stepped into an escalating row over currency policies yesterday, saying growing disputes about exchange rates could threaten global trade and economic recovery. WTO director-general Pascal Lamy said governments had largely resisted resorting to conventional trade measures such as higher tariffs to protect jobs in the wake of [...]
PLAYBOY CLUB SET TO REOPEN IN LONDON October 19, 2010 EXCITING news for fans of the good life – Playboy, the iconic brand set up by Hugh Hefner, is reopening its private members club in London, over two decades after the original closed its doors at 45 Park Lane back in the Eighties. This time around Hef’s relocating to swanky new premises at Mayfair, and [...]
YouView gets green light from Ofcom October 19, 2010 OFCOM has effectively given the green light to a controversial video-on-demand service backed by the BBC after declining to launch a competition investigation. The YouView service – previously codenamed “Project Canvas” – is now due to launch by March next year. The platform will allow users to stream on demand content from a number of [...]
