ECB slams EU’s Greece stance May 18, 2011 THE EUROPEAN Central Bank (ECB) has rejected a softening of the EU’s stance towards Greece, saying that Athens’ problems cannot be solved by restructuring. In a sign of the divisions at the heart of the Eurozone, ECB board member Juergen Stark said yesterday: “It is an illusion to think that a debt restructuring, haircut or [...]
We are not facing a jobless recovery May 18, 2011 IT is the story the doom-mongers don’t want you to hear. There are now 416,000 more people in work in the UK than there were a year ago. So much for a jobless recovery: it is a complete myth. The total number of people in work rose by 0.4 per cent in the first-quarter and [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 18, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES IRAN SETS STAGE FOR TENSE OPEC MEETING Iran’s president, who has declared himself “acting” oil minister, might chair next month’s meeting of Opec, according to a senior aide, setting the stage for a highly politicised gathering of the cartel. Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, who is locked in a power struggle with rivals in Iran’s conservative [...]
Fed seen as more hawkish May 18, 2011 THE FEDERAL Reserve should begin to normalise interest rates at the end of this year, according to several members of the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) as revealed by minutes of the Fed’s 26-27 April meeting released last night. However, the committee is split, with others believing that “underlying inflation remained subdued” and “longer-term inflation [...]
New rules for credit rating agencies May 18, 2011 Credit rating agencies would have to reveal more about how they judge financial products, and how those ratings perform over time, under proposals issued by US securities regulators yesterday. The Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously to seek public comment on more than 500 pages of reform proposals on everything from conflicts of interest to [...]
TUI unveils pensions shake-up May 18, 2011 In a unique deal aimed at reducing its pension costs, holiday firm TUI Travel yesterday revealed a plan to overhaul its pensions structure, saving the firm £38m a year and limiting growth in its defined benefit schemes to 2.5 per cent a year. TUI has also pledged to hold up value in its Thompson and [...]
Glencore stock starts trading May 18, 2011 CONDITIONAL trading kicks off in the biggest float in London’s history this morning, with newly issued shares of commodity giant Glencore expected to open at a price of 530p. That would be precisely in the middle of the 480-580p price range it set before its investor roadshow. The price values the company at $60.1bn or [...]
Lloyds to sell off branches as boss signals bonus clawback May 18, 2011 LLOYDS Banking Group is speeding ahead with the forced sale of 600 branches by the end of this year, chairman Sir Win Bischoff has said, despite uncertainty over whether it could be made to sell more by the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB). Bischoff also indicated that the bank could be the first to make [...]
Biggest residential-backed bond issue since before financial crisis May 18, 2011 SANTANDER UK yesterday completed the biggest issue of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) since before the financial crisis, raising £3.75bn. The bank denied that the sale was due to its float, which is set to raise between £4.5bn and £5bn, being pushed back to the end of this year or early next. Instead, it said that [...]
CBI to Clegg: carry on with cuts to deficit May 18, 2011 THE BUSINESS community gave a clear message to deputy prime minister Nick Clegg last night – “Keep calm, and carry on!” The coalition government’s deficit reduction plan was given an uncompromising endorsement at the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) annual dinner. “Deficit reduction was the only way,” CBI president Helen Alexander told the assembled diners. [...]
