US Bancorp beats forecasts but credit losses mirror US economic troubles July 22, 2009 US BANCORP posted a 76 per cent year-on-year decline in second quarter profit yesterday, as it suffered mounting credit losses amid ongoing deterioration in the US economy. Second-quarter net income fell to $221m (£134m), or $0.12 a share, compared to $926m, or $0.53, a year earlier, despite a nine per cent rise in revenue to [...]
KeyCorp underperforms and turns to cost cutting July 22, 2009 REGIONAL US bank KeyCorp fell to a worse-than-expected second-quarter loss of $390m, (£237m) or $0.68 per share, yesterday. The figures represent a turnaround from the $1.13bn, or $2.70, lost in the same quarter of last year, but still underperformed an analysts’ consensus of a $0.41 per share loss. Chief executive Henry Meyer said the results [...]
Goldman is finally free from Tarp July 22, 2009 GOLDMAN Sachs has finally escaped the US government’s Troubled Asset Relief Programme (Tarp), after redeeming stock warrants issued to the Treasury. The bank, which booked record profits of $3.44bn (£2.1bn) in the second quarter, said it had repaid $1.1bn to the government for warrants issued when the Treasury ploughed $10bn into the bank via Tarp. [...]
Drug giants are bullish on future July 22, 2009 GlaxoSmithKline takes orders for 195m doses of its swine flu vaccine… PHARMA giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has taken 195m orders for its swine flu vaccine and is currently in talks with over 50 countries over stockpiling the drug, it said yesterday as it unveiled second quarter results. The firm will also ramp up production of its [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT’S ON THE HORIZON FOR GLAXOSMITHKLINE? July 22, 2009 SAVVAS NEOPHYTOU PANMURE GORDONWe are encouraged by good gross margins and strong revenue growth across GlaxoSmithKline’s portfolio, particularly in vaccines. GSK is building towards a diversified business model that will be attractive to risk-averse investors and, although we are not fans of conglomerates, we remain buyers. JAMES KNIGHT COLLINS STEWARTPharma companies have a proven ability [...]
Correlations prove a useful guide in trading the FX market July 21, 2009 MIXED macroeconomic data over recent weeks has seen investors’ risk appetite rise and fall on an almost daily basis, making it difficult for foreign exchange traders to take anything other than a very near-term view on a currency pair. If you’re not a short-term trader looking to jump in and out of the market, then [...]
CHINA’S GDP THREATENED BY US SAVERS July 21, 2009 BORIS SCHLOSSBERGDIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT LAST week China released its GDP figures for the second quarter of 2009. While it missed the vaunted 8 per cent target, the country’s economy did expand at an impressive rate of 7.9 per cent. Compared with the miserable results from the G3 universe (US GDP -2 per cent, [...]
Adjust your tactics to the time horizon July 21, 2009 MARKET volatility during the financial crisis meant that traders shortened their time horizons and looked only to trade in the very near-term. Massive swings in the markets, currencies included, meant that it was impossible for investors to make long-term trading decisions and hedge them appropriately. But with conditions calming considerably to pre-Lehman levels, medium and [...]
The champagne days are over as firms cut costs July 21, 2009 ONE OF THE less visible casualties of the credit crunch has been the corporate and press hospitality industry. Legal journalists wistfully recall the days, now gone, in which they were magically whisked away by a fleet of chauffeur-driven cars to take first class transatlantic flights to check out Linklaters’ New York office or when they [...]
MAKE SURE YOUR WILL IS SHIP SHAPE July 21, 2009 WYNNE THOMASSENIOR PARTNER AND A PRIVATE CLIENT PARTNER AT DAWSONS LLP THE death of Michael Jackson has, predictably, turned into something of a circus, with doctors, hangers-on and family members all keen to get across their side of the story. What has added to the interest and drama in this sad case is the fact [...]
