Relief rally fails to cheer Italy’s banks July 12, 2011 INVESTORS surged back into Italian banks yesterday but still failed to lift their shares above levels seen before Monday’s dramatic sell-off. Overall, Italy’s main lenders have seen their share prices plunge over the last week since political infighting sparked a panic over the country’s debt levels. UniCredit rose 6.2 per cent yesterday but is down [...]
Bill to cap UK public debt levels draws support of grandees July 12, 2011 ELEVEN highly respected backbench MPs have signed up to sponsor a bill that would cap the UK’s national debt as a percentage of GDP, legally forbidding the government from racking up IOUs above a certain level. The MPs acting as sponsor to a bill put together by former Deutsche Bank managing director Sajid Javid MP [...]
Unknown unknowns stalk the banks July 12, 2011 THERE is by now a depressing familiarity to investors’ Eurozone moodswings. They begin with a nagging anxiety about mounting debt levels, sweep into panic mode and overselling that forces policymakers into action, and then embark upon an excessive relief rally. The difference, this week, is that bank share prices rebounded despite politicians’ least impressive performance [...]
Crisis hinders key caja float July 12, 2011 ONE of Spain’s flagship savings bank flotations was put back by a day yesterday as the sovereign debt crisis forced book-building down to the wire. The initial public offering (IPO) of Banca Civica, one of two vitally important deals underway in Spain, will be pushed back by a day to 19 July, giving investors an [...]
Ireland rating slashed to junk July 12, 2011 MOODY’S Investors Service yesterday cut Ireland’s credit rating to junk status, saying the country will likely need further official financing before it can return to international capital markets. Chances that European policy makers will force the private sector to share the burden of future bailouts also weighed on Moody’s decision, as the agency believes that [...]
Banesto hit by high provisions July 12, 2011 SPANISH retail bank Banesto reported a 25 per cent drop in first-half net profit yesterday, hurt by high funding costs and provisions against bad loans. The decline in profit was less than expected, but Banesto’s shares plunged in line with other Spanish banks amid growing fears of a spreading Eurozone debt crisis. “It’s total panic [...]
Early summer sales tame UK inflation July 12, 2011 EARLY summer sales in British stores saw consumer price inflation tamed down to 4.2 per cent in June, yet analysts still expect the index to rise above five per cent in the coming months. “With surplus stock to shift, this year’s summer sales appear to have started relatively early, and perhaps with bigger price cuts [...]
Public pension deficit at £1.1trn July 12, 2011 PUBLIC sector pension liabilities stand at a staggering £1.1 trillion, the Treasury will reveal today when it publishes accounts drawn up to private sector standards. The figure has jumped from £770bn in 2008 – when the government last revealed the accrued pension rights for public sector workers – due to worsening market conditions, a Treasury [...]
Trade balance widens further on the back of surging new imports July 12, 2011 A SURGE in visible imports saw the UK’s trade gap widen from £3.1bn to £4.1bn in May, suggesting that the country could struggle to “rebalance” towards a more export-driven economy. The deficit on trade in goods climbed to £8.5bn in May from £7.6bn in April, well above the average expectations of economists. The trade balance [...]
Migration into OECD states falls July 12, 2011 MIGRATION into wealthy countries fell by seven per cent in 2009, the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) announced yesterday. It was the second year in a row that migration into OECD countries fell, from just over 4.5m in 2008 to 4.3m in 2009. The change reflected lower demand for workers in OECD countries, [...]
