FXall snaps up Citi forex platform January 4, 2010 INVESTMENT bank Citi has agreed a deal to sell its electronic foreign exchange platform, LavaFX, to electronic forex platform FXall, it said yesterday. FXall, which has some 800 institutional clients including large hedge funds and asset management firms, did not disclose the terms of the deal. The firm said the acquisition, for an undisclosed fee, [...]
Total signs $2.25bn deal with Chesapeake January 4, 2010 France’s Total signed a $2.25bn (£1.49bn) tie-up with Chesapeake Energy, becoming the latest oil firm to gain a foothold in US shale-gas fields Total said it would take a 25 per cent stake in Chesapeake’s Barnett Shale gas fields in north Texas, paying $800m in cash and providing $1.45bn toward the fields’ development for up [...]
Staffline earnings to rise January 4, 2010 SHARES in Staffline, the blue-collar recruitment and training specialist, closed 5.8 per cent up yesterday after the company said its full-year earnings would be in line with upwardly revised market expectations. The board said the performance of the Aim-listed firm had been driven by new contract wins since June and a cost-cutting programme. Chief executive [...]
UK mortgage loans at a 20 month peak January 4, 2010 UK MORTGAGE approvals rose in November to their highest level since March 2008 as confidence trickles back into the property market, Bank of England figures showed yesterday. Loan approvals numbered 60,518 over the month, rising from an upwardly-revised 57,718 in October and more than double the record low of 27,162 set in November 2008. The [...]
Debt repayments rise again January 4, 2010 NET consumer credit fell by £400m in November as cash-strapped consumers continued in their attempts to improve their financial stability in the ongoing uncertain economic environment. November’s fall in consumer credit marks the fifth net repayment in as many months, including the record £600m of debt that was paid down in October. Credit card lending [...]
Bank’s QE programme boosts UK money supply January 4, 2010 THE BANK of England’s benchmark gauge of the money supply rose in November at its fastest monthly pace since April, in another sign that credit conditions in the UK economy are beginning to ease. M4, money supply excluding intermediate other financial corporations, rose by 0.9 per cent month-on-month, though it fell 2.2 per cent over [...]
Factories hard at work as strong order books buoy global manufacturing data January 4, 2010 MANUFACTURING activity in the world’s largest economies jumped in December, underpinning the tentative signs of recovery from the financial crisis, data showed yesterday. The US manufacturing index grew for a fifth consecutive month to 55.9, beating forecasts of 54.3 and hitting its highest level since April 2006. Meanwhile, factory activity in the UK expanded at [...]
CITY VIEWS: DO YOU THINK ECONOMIC PROSPECTS FOR 2010 ARE BETTER THAN THEY WERE IN 2009? January 4, 2010 ANDY APPELBAUM | DIAGONAL CONSULTING “I hope they don’t raise interest rates too quickly this year because my mortgage would cost more. I think levels of unemployment are going to stay about the same, but I think we’re through the worst of the recession.” BEVERLEY GALLEY | SMBCE “I’m quite optimistic. I think the market [...]
Bank buyers circle as Rock splits off unit January 4, 2010 THE race to snap up the good assets of Northern Rock heated up yesterday, with Virgin Money and National Australia Bank (NAB) emerging as the frontrunners. Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank owner NAB is understood to have held meetings with potential advisers including Lazard, Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley ahead of a potential bid for [...]
Irish minister battles cancer January 4, 2010 IRISH finance minister Brian Lenihan will continue to implement his fiscal reform programme but will not perform non-essential tasks for months as he undergoes therapy for cancer, he said yesterday. Lenihan, who has won praise from investors for halting Ireland’s steep budget deficit rise by presenting three budgets in just over a year, is understood [...]
