Central reserves step in over yen and Swiss franc August 14, 2011 SWISS and Japanese authorities are simultaneously threatening to take action to halt their currencies’ appreciations against the greenback. Japan’s finance minister, Yoshihiko Noda, pledged “bold action” over the weekend if it becomes necessary to anchor down the yen. Throughout the world investors are seeking refuge from risk amid heightening uncertainty over the global economic outlook [...]
Fears focus on volatility as markets open August 14, 2011 TRADERS will return to work this week hoping for a calmer start than last Monday, when the downgrade of the US credit rating sparked the highest levels of volatility seen in years in US and European markets. Traders were described as “shell shocked” and investors “scared and nervous” after a week in which the FTSE [...]
Billions shed from pension funds by plummeting equity stocks August 14, 2011 TUMBLING equities have hammered many pension schemes this month, a group of pensions advisers announced yesterday. An equivalent of £100bn has been added to pension deficits, with national funding levels falling by around 10 per cent in recent weeks, Bucks Consultants’ has found. And it is not just equity markets that have hit pension funds. [...]
Banks plan to buy HCL debt August 14, 2011 TWO bulge-bracket investment banks are in talks with the bank lenders to troubled medical staff provider Healthcare Locums over buying its debt pile, City A.M. has learned. The plan is the latest twist in the company’s efforts to repay £135m of debt as it struggles to unpick accounting irregularities, over which its founding chief executive [...]
Shell says rate of North Sea oil leak has reduced further August 14, 2011 INVESTORS will be watching oil giant Royal Dutch Shell closely this morning after the company said that the oil leak from its Gannet Alpha platform in the North Sea was “under control”. Shell, which detected a leak in a flow line on Wednesday last week, stressed that an inspection by a remote-operated vehicle (ROV) on [...]
ConAgra signals plan to play the long game after Ralcorp bid fails August 14, 2011 CONAGRA Foods said last night it will consider its options after the rejection on Friday of its sweetened $5.2bn (£3.19bn) offer to buy private-label food company Ralcorp Holdings. ConAgra had raised its offer to $94 a share from its previous unsolicited bid of $86 a share. Its original offer for Ralcorp was $82 a share. [...]
Republicans battle it out for 2012 race August 14, 2011 MICHELE Bachmann scraped to victory in the weekend’s Iowa straw poll of Republicans, with the race to challenge President Barack Obama set to heat up. Bachmann narrowly pipped libertarian Ron Paul to the post, winning with nearly 29 per cent of the vote — just 152 votes ahead of Paul. Supporters of the more-ideological Paul [...]
House prices drop throughout London August 14, 2011 LONDON’S house prices have collapsed in August, yet a leading analyst has said that global financial worries will not impact the housing market across the UK. Asking prices were down in all 32 London boroughs this month, plummeting 3.4 per cent across the capital, according to the Rightmove index released this morning. Prices in London [...]
Supermarkets kick off price war over petrol August 14, 2011 TESCO today reduced its fuel prices by up to two pence per litre (ppl). The price cut covers both unleaded and diesel and is in addition to the price cut of up to 1ppl announced earlier in the week. Yesterday Morrisons took two pence off the price of a litre of unleaded and diesel. The [...]
UK confidence dips on ailing factory sector August 14, 2011 BUSINESS morale has slumped again this month, according to research released this morning by accountants’ group BDO. Economic growth in the UK has been “profoundly hampered by ongoing fragility in the manufacturing sector”, the group’s business trends report said. The factory sector has been in contraction for two straight months, BDO said, with the risk [...]
