European Central Bank offers banks a safe haven September 7, 2010 BANKS accepted lowly returns on their cash from the European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday, highlighting the appeal of the ECB’s safe-haven status in the ongoing environment of money market tension. The ECB comfortably attracted the €61bn (£50.6bn) it needed from banks to offset the controversial Eurozone government bond purchases it has made since May. The [...]
Scottish & Southern poised to reopen the market for corporate hybrid bonds September 7, 2010 UTILITY Scottish & Southern (SSE) is poised to reopen the European corporate hybrid bond market this week, giving investors a rare chance to pick up yield and the company an alternative source of capital. Lead managers said the size and price of SSE’s planned issue would be decided following the end of a week-long roadshow [...]
Dr Pepper and Unilever warned by FDA September 7, 2010 THE US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday warned beverage makers Dr Pepper Snapple and Unilever about making improper statements regarding green tea on product labels and web sites. In a letter dated 30 August and released yesterday, the regulator said Dr Pepper’s Canada Dry Sparkling Green Tea Ginger Ale was misbranded because the product [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 7, 2010 Deloitte The accountancy firm has appointed UK partner Chris Harvey as the new head of its financial services group. Harvey has been a partner since 2002 and has been global head of banking and securities since 2008. He will focus on growing the financial services business in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS September 7, 2010 BRITISH AIRWAYS UBS expects that British Airways’ (BA’s) strong yield recovery will continue until the end of the year after the airline showed a strong yield delivery in the first quarter, up 13.5 per cent, and surpassing European rivals. UBS said that BA is trading well post its year-end results and continues to rate the [...]
SPEARMINT RHINO BOSS RETURNS TO CLUB SCENE September 7, 2010 AMID all the talk of a strict clampdown on City jaunts to strip clubs, it comes as something of a surprise for The Capitalist to learn that another such den of iniquity popped up this week claiming to be the classiest table dancing joint in town. That’s right, folks, it’s back – courtesy of founder [...]
FTSE’s winning streak comes to an end after Barclays and mining shares sink September 7, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index fell from a four-month closing high and ended a seven-session winning run yesterday, led lower by Barclays after management changes and miners on concerns over Australia’s tax plan. In positive news, Invensys climbed 7.4 per cent, with traders citing a newspaper report that the engineering group is a takeover target. An [...]
US market falls as fears on European banks weigh September 7, 2010 US stocks fell in very light volume yesterday as investors seized on renewed concerns about European banks as a reason to sell shares after strong gains last week. Banks, energy companies and chipmakers were the biggest decliners. Trading was among the lightest of the year, with 6.07bn shares traded on the NYSE, Nasdaq and Amex [...]
Size does matter: the rise of the mega pension fund September 7, 2010 FOR pension funds, size really does matter. While the need to match assets and liabilities concerns all funds, big or small, the largest face unique advantages and challenges. And the number of large funds is growing. Last week, the IPE Global Top 1,000 survey of institutional investors highlighted the rise of the mega-fund, showing that [...]
Make sure your active fund manager earns her fee September 7, 2010 FOR years, the debate has raged over whether hedge funds and actively managed funds – in which managers pick assets individually as opposed to simply tracking an index – are worth their high fees. Now, research by Saltus Partners suggests that the current economic climate makes it particularly difficult for active funds to differentiate themselves. [...]
