US to keep mortgage guarantee August 17, 2010 The US Treasury Secretary said yesterday the government will continue to guarantee residential mortgages, despite the demise of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Tim Geithner admitted at a White House summit on the future of the collapsed mortgage giants that the state still has a role to play in backing loans, in order to minimise [...]
American Apparel in audit spat August 17, 2010 Retail group American Apparel said yesterday its operating losses may result in its breach of its debt covenant, and that it has received a subpoena from the US attorney’s office over changing accounting firms. Shares dropped by more than 25 per cent following the announcement, which revealed that previous auditor Deloitte told the firm its [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 17, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES CRIMINAL GANGS TARGET INSIDER DEALING Organised criminals in the UK are becoming increasingly involved in financial frauds including insider share dealing that they see as lucrative and low risk, investigators have warned. A long-term trend of prosecutions in the US has shown the same shift by crime gangs to more sophisticated frauds. FUNDING [...]
Osborne says austerity is only option August 17, 2010 GEORGE Osborne yesterday said he would not shy away from ambitious plans to slash public spending, insisting the economy would fall into a tailspin unless Britain’s yawning deficit is dealt with. The chancellor was attempting to take on critics – both in the Labour party and in the coalition government – who say the austerity [...]
Accounting rules set for shake-up August 17, 2010 CHANGES to lease accounting rules are set to increase debt loads on company balance sheets by billions of pounds if regulators get the go-ahead for new measures. The overhaul to how rented assets appear on balance sheets is intended to improve transparency, according to a joint proposal by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)?and US [...]
Bramson to meet F&C following surprise £16m share purchase August 17, 2010 ACTIVIST investor Edward Bramson is expected to meet with F&C Asset Management next week after taking a £15.6m stake in the company. Shares in F&C soared 22 per cent to 63p after Bramson’s Sherborne vehicle bought 5.2 per cent of the fund manager’s share capital. Bramson raised £105m for Sherborne in March with a mandate [...]
Surge in food prices keeps inflation high August 17, 2010 RISING food prices offset a drop in the cost of fuel in July but annual inflation remained stubbornly above 3 per cent in July. The strong inflation figures forced Bank of England governor Mervyn King to pen his second letter of explanation to chancellor George Osborne and to admit that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) [...]
German investors downbeat August 17, 2010 GERMAN investor morale fell in August to its lowest level since April 2009, pointing to a slowdown in Europe’s largest economy but no risk of it or the broader Eurozone falling back into recession. The ZEW think tank said yesterday that its monthly poll of economic sentiment fell to 14 from 21.2 in July, declining [...]
Japan’s government mulls further policy stimulus August 17, 2010 JAPAN’S government will consider further stimulus steps, potentially making it the first developed country to turn to additional fiscal spending since the global crisis, as a strengthening yen threatens its faltering recovery. But the additional stimulus is expected to be relatively modest and is likely to involve reallocating funds rather than new spending. The government [...]
Gartmore hit by departure of star trader August 17, 2010 GARTMORE’S chief executive yesterday insisted that his firm has put the sticky matter of star manager Guillaume Rambourg’s suspension and subsequent resignation behind it, despite suffering heavy outflows of investor cash over the first half of the year. Gartmore saw its assets under management dip by 10 per cent to £19.9bn over the six months [...]
