Markets remain volatile after ECB action August 8, 2011 The FTSE 100 initially fought back this morning as investors found new confidence in banking shares after the European Central Bank (ECB) moved to stabilize the beleaguered Spanish and Italian economies. Italian and Spanish bonds are being bought by the ECB to avoid a potentially catastrophic debt default by the two countries. Bond yields fell [...]
Rio and Mitsubishi offer £950m to buy out Coal & Allied August 8, 2011 Rio Tinto and Mitsubishi Corp have proposed buying out Coal & Allied for A$1.49bn (£950m), aiming to take full control of the Australian miner to take advantage of strong coal prices. Rio and Mitsubishi offered A$122 a share, a 34 per cent premium to the coal miner’s last trade, to buy out the 14 per [...]
Bullion hits new record after US downgrade August 8, 2011 Bullion roared to record highs above $1,700 an ounce on Monday as an unprecedented downgrade to the US credit rating sent investors scrambling out of riskier assets, hammering equity markets and the dollar. Both US gold futures and cash gold could rise further if pledges by the Group of Seven nations to support battered financial [...]
Evolution seals deal for BNP Paribas arm August 8, 2011 Investment bank Evolution, which is the subject of a bid approach from South African financial group Investec, said it had sealed the takeover of BNP Paribas Private Investment Management. Evolution had said last month that it was in talks over buying the unit, as part of its plans to grow its wealth management arm. Evolution [...]
TRICHET’S GAMBLE August 7, 2011 ECB POISED TO BUY SPANISH AND ITALIAN BONDS THE European Central Bank (ECB) last night signalled that it will start buying Spanish and Italian bonds in a desperate attempt to stop the rot spreading to the third- and fourth-largest Eurozone economies. “The ECB will actively implement its Securities Markets Programme… to ensure price stability in [...]
G7 rushes out statement to calm markets August 7, 2011 THE G7 group of industrialised nations rushed out a statement before the open of Asian bourses this morning, pledging to take “coordinated action where necessary” to prevent serious disruption and ensure liquidity in markets. Finance ministers from the US, UK, Italy, Germany, France, Japan and Canada also said they would “cooperate as appropriate on foreign [...]
The end of an era for Cloud Cuckoo land economics August 7, 2011 IT came as a shock but not as a surprise. America’s downgrade is another psychologically important moment in the decline of the West: the US and much of Europe, once uncontested superpowers, are now the world’s weakest economic link. The post-Bretton Woods era is coming to an end. Asia and the emerging nations are on [...]
Bank of England expected to cut growth forecast August 7, 2011 ECONOMIC growth will be lower than the Bank of England previously thought, the central bank’s Inflation Report is expected to admit this week. The Bank had forecast growth for this year of around 1.75 per cent in May’s report, yet economists now see the UK expanding by just 1.3 per cent, according to data compiled [...]
Middle Eastern markets drop as panic hits stocks August 7, 2011 STOCK markets across the Middle East provided an early glimpse of what traders in Europe and the US can expect today, with widespread losses reported as bourses reacted for the first time to Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the US credit rating, as well as ongoing turmoil in the Eurozone. The Dubai Financial Market fell [...]
WEEK OF TURMOIL August 7, 2011 MONDAY Last-minute rush to raise US debt ceiling; UK factory sector goes into decline TUESDAY Markets still fall despite US debt resolution; S&P 500 and Nasdaq down almost three per cent WEDNESDAY Silvio Berlusconi forced to make statement after markets close to reassure investors that Italy will not default; promises reforms THURSDAY Jean-Claude Trichet fails [...]
