Housing lifted by government scheme boost November 8, 2012 MORTGAGE lending climbed rapidly through the third quarter and into October, two sets of data showed yesterday, as the Funding for Lending scheme finally appeared to be having an impact on lending. This came in tandem with a reversal in the downward house price trend of the past few months, revealed by another set of [...]
London house price growth set to outstrip rest of UK for years November 8, 2012 London house price growth will be well ahead of the UK average for at least the next five years, estate agent Savills predicted yesterday. Central London housing will get 25.6 per cent more expensive over the five years to the end of 2017, the estate agent said, compared to 10.2 per cent growth in the [...]
Opec admits shale supplies will hit demand for its members’ oil November 8, 2012 OPEC acknowledged for the first time yesterday that technology for extracting oil and gas from shale is changing the global supply picture significantly, and said demand for crude would rise more slowly than it had previously expected. In its annual World Oil Outlook, Opec (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) cut its forecast of global [...]
Who’s switching jobs November 8, 2012 Houlihan Lokey Sascha Kroissenbrunner has been appointed director in the investment bank’s industrials group. He joins from UniCredit Group in Vienna, where he was managing director and head of the general industrials group for central and eastern Europe. He has also held senior positions at the Royal Bank of Scotland in London and Frankfurt. State [...]
Best of the Brokers November 8, 2012 IMAGINATION TECHNOLOGIES UBS has upgraded the chipmaker from “sell” to “neutral” with a 480p target. The broker sees the firm’s purchase of rival MIPS as positive, but generating returns could prove difficult. RWE Morgan Stanley rates the German owner of Npower “overweight” with a €40 target. The broker thinks RWE’s cost cutting is adding to [...]
America is failing to face up to the truth behind its looming fiscal cliff November 8, 2012 AMERICA, we are told, is a nation divided. But this wasn’t the closest presidential election in recent times. Far from it. Barack Obama won both the popular vote by a reasonable margin and stormed the electoral college. Obama’s fellow Democrats also rebuffed their opponents in races for the Senate. The only consolation for the Republicans [...]
The Lord Mayor’s Show: A celebration of commerce and military discipline November 8, 2012 COMMERCE and peace do best together. In her history of trade and culture in the Renaissance, Worldly Goods, Lisa Jardine points out that, within days of the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Genoese sent ambassadors to negotiate their continued right to trade within the Ottoman Empire. The work that commerce still does today to [...]
Mixed corporate earnings see FTSE end down as Eurozone fears grow November 8, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index fell yesterday as mixed earnings reports combined with concerns about the Eurozone’s economy and debt troubles to weigh on sentiment. Tate & Lyle and Land Securities were among fallers in heavy volumes after releasing disappointing earnings updates. Land Securities had gained 25 per cent year to date, with Tate & Lyle [...]
US stocks fall further on fears over economy November 8, 2012 US stocks fell yesterday and could be in line for more weakness as worries about Washington’s ability to find a timely solution to the “fiscal cliff” dominate investor thinking in coming weeks. The S&P 500 dropped for a second day and closed below its 200-day moving average for the first time in five months. The [...]
Economic realities push Europe closer to a Greek decision November 8, 2012 ONE down, one to go. The Greek government has got through one crucial vote this week, and looks likely to ride out its budget vote on Sunday. Although markets and Eurozone leaders will breathe a sigh of relief, as Greece makes it through another crucial week in its economic crisis, the government has not been [...]
