Obama confident in Geithner October 8, 2009 US President Barack Obama has “tremendous confidence” in Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner and the job he is doing, spokesman Robert Gibbs said yesterday. Gibbs had been questioned over the repeated appearance of bankers on Obama’s meeting schedule, and whether the President was losing faith in Geithner’s ability.
Lloyds, RBS to be scrutinised over lending October 8, 2009 LLOYDS BANKING GROUP and Royal Bank of Scotland are being scrutinised by the government, which suspects the taxpayer-owned banks of pricing their loans to small and medium businesses at artificially high levels, resulting in them missing lending targets. Both banks, which turned to the government for help in the downturn, have between them agreed to [...]
IBM in US probe over claims it unfairly abused dominance October 8, 2009 IBM, the computer hardware giant, is facing a US Department of Justice (DoJ) investigation over allegations it abused its dominance of the mainframe market to squeeze out its rivals. The anti-competition probe was announced yesterday by Ed Black, chairman of the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), which had urged the DoJ to step in. [...]
Mandelson snubs Magna bid October 8, 2009 Business secretary Lord Mandelson has refused to back Magna’s bid for Vauxhall and Opel in its current form, after bringing in PricewaterhouseCoopers to go over the plans. PwC were brought in to review Magna’s bid separately from Germany, as concerns on UK jobs grew. If the UK doesn’t back the bid, Opel will miss out [...]
Shell to build giant gas ship October 8, 2009 Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell said yesterday it was planning to deploy the world’s first floating liquefied-natural-gas (LNG) facility. The landmark project, which is set to be the world’s biggest vessel, will be placed off the coast of northwestern Australia. Other super-majors, who have also been floating the idea of a floating station, will monitor [...]
M&S clothing slips into third place October 8, 2009 Marks & Spencer has fallen into third place among Britain’s fashion retailers in terms of volume of clothes sold, trailing behind George at Asda and Primark, according toTNSFashion Trak. M&S fashion sales have suffered as consumers switched to cheaper rivals during the recession.
Go-ahead for Wharf tower October 8, 2009 LONDON Mayor Boris Johnson yesterday used his new planning powers to overturn a local council decision and approve a Docklands skyscraper. The Columbus Tower, developed by Commercial Estates, will stretch 63 storeys – making it bigger than Canary Wharf’s iconic Canada One tower, and even the Heron Tower and the Pinnacle, buildings currently under construction. [...]
US jobless claims fall to nine month low as retail sales rise October 8, 2009 THE number of US workers filing new jobless claims hit a nine-month low last week, and retailers posted their first monthly sales gain in over a year, easing fears recovery from recession would be unsustainable. The Labour Department yesterday said first-time applications for unemployment benefits dropped 33,000 to a seasonally adjusted 521,000 last week, the [...]
CITY VIEWS: WAS BORIS RIGHT TO INTERVENE OVER THE COLUMBUS TOWER? October 8, 2009 JIM HAYES EASTERN LAKE INVESTMENT COMPANY“It is important that he overturns decisions that are not logic-based. The building will be an iconic expression of progression, and will help us compete with other cities that produce megastructures. It will give everybody something to aspire to.” CORINNE PITMAN DEUTSCHE BANK“The council should be able to make the [...]
Citigroup trio under threat October 8, 2009 THE future of three of US bank Citigroup’s biggest names has been thrown into doubt following an external review of the company. A report by consultancy firm Egon Zehnder, commissioned by regulators earlier in the year, found that Citi’s management team, led by chief executive Vikram Pandit, was generally up to scratch. But the report [...]
