WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 21, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES FSA FINES WILLIS ARM A RECORD £6.9M The UK arm of Willis, the number three global insurance broker, has been fined a record £6.9m by the City watchdog for anti-bribery and corruption failings related to commissions paid overseas. The fine is the largest meted out by the Financial Services Authority for failings in [...]
TMX Group to start talks with Maple over bid July 21, 2011 CANADA’S stock exchange group TMX has relented and agreed to start talks with the Canadian consortium that ended its ambitions to merge with the London Stock Exchange. TMX Group, whose shareholders vetoed the LSE merger last month, will meet the Maple consortium to discuss the C$3.8bn (£2.5bn) hostile takeover bid it tabled in June. Canada’s [...]
Summer of riots to take over Greece July 21, 2011 GREECE’S opposition Left Coalition party expects public anger over government austerity measures to rise to new heights after the summer and force a snap parliamentary election, its leader said yesterday. Often blamed by the socialist government for inciting violent protests in May and June, the smallest of five parties in parliament opposes the European Union/International [...]
No debt deal yet, says White House July 21, 2011 THE WHITE House last night vehemently denied that President Barack Obama had come to a deficit reduction agreement with Republicans that did not include tax hikes. “Anyone reporting a $3 trillion (£1.8 trillion) deal without [higher tax] revenues is incorrect,” White House spin doctor Dan Pfeiffer said. The White House had earlier refuted reports that [...]
IS THE EURO NOW SAFE? July 21, 2011 Q. Does this plan bring greece’s debt burden down by enough? A. Not really. Even if it manages to deliver the promised 12 per cent cut to Greece’s debt pile, which is 140 per cent of GDP, many commentators do not regard this as sustainable, and the programme is subject to Greece getting its spending [...]
Public sector borrowing at £14bn in June July 21, 2011 RISING government spending saw public borrowing hit £14bn last month, official figures unveiled yesterday showed. Public sector net borrowing (PSNB) was up £300m from the same time last year, and “about £1.5bn above market expectations”, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Central government spending was £51.96bn in June – up from £49.54bn in [...]
Manufacturing in China shrinks July 21, 2011 CHINA’S factory sector shrank for the first time in a year in July, a survey showed yesterday, feeding worries among the country’s main trading partners that its growth is unsustainable and could lead to a slump. The HSBC flash purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 48.9 in July, suggesting the manufacturing sector contracted at its [...]
Japan’s exports bounce back up July 21, 2011 JAPAN’S exports rose in June and the pace of annual declines slowed, bringing the trade balance back into surplus as factory output and sales steadily recover from the 11 March earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown. Exports jumped 5.4 per cent from May and were down 1.6 per cent from June 2010, less than a median [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT THE DEFICIT? July 21, 2011 RICHARD SMART | ARGO INSURANCE “Yes, I am worried. But given the precarious economic climate, I feel Osborne is doing an admirable job, and I think we should appreciate how unfair it is that he is left cleaning up the mess caused by our previous government.” REMCO VAN EEUWIJK | MN SERVICES “I am not [...]
Wall St cheers after Morgan Stanley jumps July 21, 2011 MORGAN Stanley’s stock jumped 8.9 per cent after it unveiled better-than-expected quarterly results yesterday. But the bank still made a pre-tax loss of $655m (£401m) on the back of poor performance from its joint Japanese venture with Mitsubishi UFJ. The results saw the bank’s pay-to-revenues ratio shoot up to 57 per cent – versus 49 [...]
