How Washington created sub-prime September 4, 2011 AMERICANS love lawsuits. It’s the way they do business. But the news that the authorities supervising the US housing agencies are suing 17 banks over the sub-prime crisis was unintentionally hilarious. To see why, recall that the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp (Freddie Mac) – government sponsored [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 4, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BERLIN PREPARES TO TAKE EADS STAKE The German government is preparing to take a stake in European aerospace company EADS after no buyers for part of Daimler’s holding came forward. Berlin has been seeking buyers for the 7.5 per cent stake – a third of the holding controlled by the carmaker – since [...]
Italy promises action September 4, 2011 Italy’s economy minister Giulio Tremonti promised yesterday to meet Italy’s budget commitments after the European Central Bank stepped up pressure for action by the struggling centre-right government. Tremonti, under mounting pressure to present a credible plan to fulfill a pledge of balancing the budget by 2013 and cutting Italy’s 1.9 trillion euro debt pile, told [...]
Nice approves Roche drug September 4, 2011 NICE, the NHS rationing agency, has recommended Roche’s drug MabThera for use with more chemotherapy regimens. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which decides if drugs are cost effective for NHS use, had already recommended MabThera in combination with CVP, the most common chemotherapy treatment for the incurable disease. Today it said [...]
Housing boom would create 200k new jobs September 4, 2011 AS the government’s proposed planning rules are debated by environmentalists and concerned “nimbys”, a report out today claims a housing boom could create 201,000 jobs. The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) estimates that policies which free up the housing market supply to match the level of demand would create a housing explosion. In [...]
LSE may face rival offer for Clearnet September 4, 2011 MARKIT could be drawn into a bidding war for LCH Clearnet after the London Stock Exchange (LSE) trumped its earlier bid. The LSE is keen to flex its muscles in the wake of its collapsed merger with Canadian bourse TMX and a deal for LCH Clearnet would strengthen its position by giving it its own [...]
Business needs large pensions September 4, 2011 MULTI-million pound pension pots can be justified for the leaders of Britain’s top companies, according to the Confederation of British Industry. The CBI spoke out after the Trades Union Congress (TUC) said the five largest pension pots of FTSE 100 directors are worth more than £84m combined. “High rewards for real business achievements which secure [...]
Merkel knocked by election blow September 4, 2011 CHANCELLOR Angela Merkel’s coalition bloc suffered another stinging defeat yesterday in a regional election in Germany’s poorest state, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, with both her conservatives and their Free Democrat allies losing support. With the Eurozone crisis looming, Merkel’s Christian Democrats fell to 23.3 per cent from 28.8 per cent in 2006, according to a TV projection. It [...]
QE is back on Bank’s agenda September 4, 2011 LOW confidence, high inflation and continuing fears for the Eurozone are giving the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) a headache for Thursday’s interest rate decision. Last month the MPC’s two most hawkish members, Spencer Dale and Martin Weale, voted to keep rates on hold at 0.5 per cent. That marked a change from [...]
European Central Bank faces pressure to cut interest rates September 4, 2011 WORSENING economic data has shifted the European Central Bank’s (ECB) focus towards new interest rate cuts. The headline rate currently stands at 1.5 per cent following increases in April and July. Since then inflation expectations have slightly fallen and growth has ground to a halt. The German economy grew by just 0.1 per cent in [...]
