Aegon cash call fears grow as capital shrinks August 12, 2010 FEARS of a fresh rights issue overshadowed a consensus-beating second quarter performance from Dutch insurer Aegon yesterday, after the firm said its capital buffer had fallen. Shares in Aegon fell 3.5 per cent to €4.37 (£3.60) as the life and pensions firm said tougher requirements from ratings agency Standard & Poor’s meant its reserve capital [...]
Reposessions are still falling August 12, 2010 THE Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has revised down its forecast for the number of borrowers who either fall behind in mortgage payments or lose their homes through repossession this year. The CML now expects 39,000 repossessions and 175,000 mortgages to end the year in arrears of 2.5 per cent or more, down from its [...]
TRICHET CONFIDENT ON BANK DEBT REFINANCING August 12, 2010 The massive €1.3 trillion of debt refinancing that Euro-zone banks need to carry out by the end of 2013 is manageable as long as funding markets normalise, the European Central Bank said yesterday. The ECB – headed by Jean-Claude Trichet (pictured) – said banks would have to step up their refinancing efforts in the coming [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE YOU CUTTING BACK ON SPENDING GIVEN ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY? August 12, 2010 MARCELA KERUL-KMECOVA | ERNST & YOUNG “I’m definitely spending less and I’m trying to cut down on going out too. I’m also trying to buy a property so I’m trying to save a certain amount of money every month. I’ve been in the UK for 10 years and things have certainly changed – it’s more [...]
Eurozone industry output falls August 12, 2010 Eurozone industrial production declined in June, with output in France and Germany falling sharply, but a strong showing over the second quarter as a whole suggests Friday’s GDP data for the bloc will be robust. Output fell 0.1 per cent month-on-month, figures from Eurostat showed, and rose 8.2 per cent year-on-year, although the drop followed [...]
Australia unemployment rises August 12, 2010 Australia’s unemployment monitor recorded a surprise rise in July, making it unlikely that the central bank will raise interest rates from their current 4.5 per cent in the near future. Unemployment edged up to 5.3 per cent over the month, compared to 5.1 per cent in June.
London clubs set for boom season August 12, 2010 LAST year was a boom year for Premier League fortunes in the capital – and I expect this season to be even more successful in some ways. It may be unlikely that we get more than three London clubs finishing in the top four, as we did in May with Chelsea joined by Arsenal and [...]
Investors flock to defensive stocks as FTSE inches higher August 12, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index ended higher yesterday after defensives gained, led by pharma firm GlaxoSmithKline after US authorities recommended approval of its Potiga epilepsy drug. The FTSE 100 ended up 20.85 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 5,266.06, having hit its lowest close in three weeks on Wednesday when it fell 2.4 per cent to [...]
Wall Street drops on jobless numbers August 12, 2010 US stocks ended down for a third straight day yesterday as an unexpected rise in jobless claims and a sobering revenue outlook from Cisco underscored the hurdles to economic recovery. The drop comes a day after all three major indexes posted their worst percentage declines in more than a month, erasing gains for the year [...]
Vedanta in talks to buy Indian oil firm August 12, 2010 VEDANTA Resources is in talks to buy part of Cairn Energy’s Indian spin-off oil firm, both companies confirmed yesterday. Vedanta is already focused on mining in India, but is keen to move into oil and gas operations in the country. Aberdeen-based Cairn, which has a 62.37 per cent stake in Mumbai-listed Cairn India, emphasised in [...]
