House prices slip in June July 12, 2011 House prices fell more than expected last month, as worries about the economic outlook deterred homeowners from putting their properties up for sale and buyers remained hesitant, a survey showed Tuesday. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ seasonally adjusted house price balance inched up to -27 in June from -28 in May, below forecasts for [...]
News Corp puts Sky bid on hold July 11, 2011 ■ Competition Commission probe to last up to a year ■ Gordon Brown says sick son was target of News Int NEWS CORP yesterday made the shock decision to effectively put its bid for BSkyB on ice for up to a year. Rupert Murdoch’s firm withdrew concessions made to the media watchdog over the takeover, triggering [...]
Eurozone’s debt talks fail as Italy nears crisis July 11, 2011 CRUNCH talks among Eurozone ministers broke down in failure yesterday, leaving a much-trumpeted final deadline for an agreement on a second Greek bailout to pass with no sign of a deal. The Eurozone’s inability to thrash out a new package leaves the region exposed to the growing threat of contagion, which saw the interest on [...]
MPs agree to up IMF loans July 11, 2011 THE UK government last night voted through a proposal to make extra loans worth around £9bn available to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). MPs won a Commons vote by a majority of 28, authorising the Treasury to make the additional loans, despite opposition from a number of Labour and Conservative MPs. The Treasury said there [...]
Eurozone crisis is set to engulf Italy July 11, 2011 SLOWLY but surely, the Eurozone crisis is escalating. There is no longer a “risk” of contagion – it is already here, big time. Forget about Greece – and even Portugal. The European and UK economies would just about survive their default. The real nightmare would be if Italy or Spain were also to hit the [...]
Bank says it’s losing staff July 11, 2011 THE BANK of England is struggling to hold on to staff despite its generous remuneration and pension schemes, it said in its annual report last night. Governor Mervyn King, whose latest annual earnings totalled £308,252, recently defended the Bank’s policy of keeping pensions tied to the retail price index (RPI) rather than the typically-lower consumer [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 11, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES INSURERS TO FUND POLICE TEAM IN FRAUD CRACKDOWN Insurers are to spend £8.2m funding a specialist police unit that will be dedicated to cracking down on the growing problem of insurance fraud, which costs an estimated £2bn a year. A new unit of 35 specialist fraud detectives and police support staff will be [...]
Cooper may drop bid for Laird July 11, 2011 Shares in UK electronics manufacturer Laird fell almost nine per cent yesterday after its US suitor Cooper Industries threatened to walk away from merger talks rather than launch a sweetened offer. Cooper said it may consider a higher bid than the £493m offer it made last month if due diligence supported a higher price, but [...]
Strauss-Kahn court date delayed July 11, 2011 New York prosecutors and the lawyers for Dominique Strauss-Kahn have agreed to postpone the next court date in the sexual assault case for two week to give both sides more time to investigate. The delay to 1 August from 18 July was announced in a letter to the judge yesterday. The move came as defense [...]
Virgin could prefer Rock bid to Lloyds July 11, 2011 VIRGIN Money has submitted a bid for some 600 branches being sold by Lloyds, but could drop the offer after it sees Northern Rock’s sales document this week, City A.M. has learned. The information memorandum detailing the Rock assets on sale is due “imminently”, according to a source familiar with the situation, after George Osborne [...]
