UK retail sales rise in September October 18, 2012 UK retail sales rose last month as Britons stocked up on new winter clothing and school uniforms, according to data out today. Sales volumes including petrol jumped 0.6 per cent last month, after dipping 0.1 per cent in August, the Office for National Statistics said this morning. Year on year, retail sales were 2.5 per [...]
Man Group reports $2.2bn outflows in third quarter October 18, 2012 Hedge fund Man Group reported $2.2bn (£1.3bn) in outflows over the three months to September, up from $1.4bn over the previous quarter. The outflows were concentrated in lower margin product lines, said Man. The group said this morning total assets rose 14 per cent over the three months to the end of September to $60bn, [...]
China grows at slowest pace in three and a half years October 18, 2012 The Chinese economy grew 7.4 per cent over the three months to September, the slowest quarter of growth since the financial crisis. Industrial production, retail sales and investment figures were slightly up on forecasts, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The economy grew buy 7.7 per cent in the first nine months of [...]
BP eyes $28bn deal as oligarchs bow out October 17, 2012 A GROUP of oligarchs last night bowed out of buying British oil major BP’s stake in embattled Russian joint venture TNK-BP, opening the way for BP to begin talks on a multi-million pound deal in a Russian state oil producer. Russian consortium AAR last night called time on its troubled relationship with BP over joint venture [...]
Plot to bomb Fed Reserve foiled October 17, 2012 THE FBI last night arrested a man after he allegedly planned to blow up the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Officers swooped on the 21-year-old Bangladeshi national following an elaborate sting operation that involved an undercover agent providing him with a fake 1000-pound bomb. The FBI say Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis travelled to the United States in [...]
Tucker warns bankers the worst may be yet to come October 17, 2012 BANK of England deputy governor Paul Tucker warned the City’s largest lenders yesterday that they should guard against another potentially huge crash in global financial markets. Tucker, a leading candidate to replace governor Sir Mervyn King at the top of Threadneedle Street next year, was addressing the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) annual conference in London. [...]
Jobs are the one good news story in an otherwise gloomy UK October 17, 2012 REMEMBER all those people predicting that unemployment would rocket because of austerity? How the private sector would never be able to compensate for the cuts in the public sector’s workforce? Fortunately, it turns out that the doom-mongers got it wrong. The economy is hardly in a good state, of course, and tragically far too many [...]
Fund manager Coffey to retire October 17, 2012 GREG Coffey, who spent decades investing money at some of the world’s biggest and best-known hedge funds, is understood to be leaving Moore Capital and plans to retire from the industry. The 41-year-old Australian, who oversaw several portfolios at the $15bn (£9.2bn) firm from London, told investors by letter that the demands of his job [...]
Libor abuse to become illegal October 17, 2012 THE COALITION yesterday made good on its promise to make the manipulation of key inter-bank interest rate Libor illegal, by inserting provisions into the Financial Services Bill currently before parliament. The Financial Conduct Authority, the new city watchdog, will be given powers to force banks to make Libor submissions, and to create a code of [...]
Capital rules may ease to raise lending October 17, 2012 REGULATORS could lower several bank capital requirements to allow more lending and help boost the economy, top regulator Andrew Bailey said yesterday. The boss of the Prudential Business Unit at the Financial Services Authority said the new regulatory system has two targets – primarily financial stability, but also supporting growth and jobs. As a result, [...]
