UK’s rating not secure, warns S&P July 12, 2010 GEORGE Osborne’s bid to get the UK’s spiralling Budget deficit under control was dealt a blow yesterday when Standard & Poor’s (S&P) warned Britain remains at risk of losing its prized triple-A rating. The credit rating agency said it was keeping its negative outlook on the UK’s debt despite Osborne’s austerity Budget and warned the [...]
Pay decisions left to banks July 12, 2010 A TREASURY minister last night urged banks to show restraint when awarding bonuses, but said the government will only regulate pay as part of an international agreement. Financial secretary Mark Hoban told the British Bankers’ Association dinner that the banking world has a real chance to reclaim its reputation. “We have the opportunity to send [...]
Lies, damn lies and the UK’s statistics July 12, 2010 BRITAIN’S economy shrank even more than previously thought during the recession – that, at least, is what the Office for National Statistics informed us yesterday and what we are therefore expected to believe. The economy is thought to have collapsed 6.4 per cent from peak to trough, a figure that will probably go on being [...]
Budd asks for freer OBR July 12, 2010 SIR Alan Budd, chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), sent a letter to chancellor George Osborne yesterday outlining how the agency should run permanently. As well as producing two forecasts for the economy and public finances every year, the OBR should do broader work on fiscal sustainability, Budd said. He suggested the unit’s [...]
Tube strike off after pay offer July 12, 2010 Tomorrow’s strike by Tube Lines has been suspended while staff vote on whether to accept a new offer of a 4.2 per cent pay rise and increased job security. Rail union RMT confirmed yesterday that its members would vote on the revised package. Management will recommend that members accept the offer. Tube Lines workers, who [...]
Glaxo drug under fresh scrutiny July 12, 2010 The US will today begin a review into GlaxoSmithKline’s diabetes drug Avandia. The Food and Drug Administration will debate over two days whether to restrict or withdraw the medicine, also known as rosiglitazone. Research in 2007 showed the drug could cause higher rates of heart attacks, while a government report earlier this year suggested the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 12, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES RIO CLASHEs OVER THE RIGHTS TO MONGOLIAN COPPER MINE Tensions are rising between Rio Tinto and Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines over rights to a world-class copper deposit in Mongolia as the multinational mining group releases hundreds of millions of dollars to develop the mine over which it has limited control. Ivanhoe, which owns the [...]
BP boosted as closes in on key asset sale July 12, 2010 BP’S shares soared yesterday on the back of news that the company was close to securing a number of deals to sell off some assets and that it will begin capturing three times more oil through a new containment cap. BP shares closed up 9.5 per cent at 399.4p yesterday. That is more than 30 [...]
Former LTCM trader surfaces at London-based hedge fund July 12, 2010 ONE of the survivors of Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM), the US hedge fund infamously bailed out by Wall Street in the late 1990s, has resurfaced at London-based Capula Investment Management. Ayman Hindy became a partner at Capula last week, according to a regulatory filing. He has been working at the government fixed income specialist for [...]
US issues deepwater drilling ban as a result of the Gulf oil disaster July 12, 2010 The US Interior Department yesterday formally issued its new offshore oil drilling moratorium, saying it would end by 30 November or sooner and it would no longer be based on water depths. “More than eighty days into the BP oil spill, a pause on deepwater drilling is essential and appropriate to protect communities, coasts, and [...]
