Soros drops out of Forbes top 10 richest September 19, 2012 INVESTOR George Soros has dropped from 7th to 15th place in Forbes magazine’s list of the wealthiest Americans. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates retained the top spot, with his wealth estimated at $66bn (£40bn), while Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett took second place ($46bn). New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, founder of the media firm, is tenth with $25bn.
Bank minutes show one dove in favour of QE September 19, 2012 ONE BANK of England rate-setter strongly considered voting for expanding quantitative easing (QE) in August, meeting minutes revealed yesterday, though in the end there was a unanimous vote against. Analysts agreed that this lone dove on the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was probably David Miles, known for his pro-QE stance. A bigger contingent of the [...]
Do you think the bank of England should print more money ? September 19, 2012 ROSHIM SOOD | TECH MAHINDRA “Yes – printing more money and lending at a low rate as the banks have been doing is good. It’s important to let the economy flow, and banks need to be taking more risks to get positive results.” ROB STECK | IVY MASON HR CONSULTING “I think it’s a good [...]
Sberbank sale sparks more privatisations September 19, 2012 RUSSIA’S second largest bank yesterday announced it is seeking to sell shares next spring, following the central bank’s successful sale of a stake in the country’s largest institution Sberbank. VTB’s boss Andrei Kostin said “we will go ahead” with a $2bn (£1.2bn) sale next year, which could include new shares as well as some privatisation. [...]
Lloyds first bank to use cheap funds from state programme September 19, 2012 LLOYDS became the first bank to use the government’s new Funding for Lending scheme (FLS) yesterday, drawing down £1bn from the Bank of England. It pledged to lend the money on to businesses and households. However analysts said they do not expect Lloyds’ overall lending to rise, as the bank is still rebalancing in the [...]
Gains ease after market rally prompted by Japan stimulus September 19, 2012 THE BANK of Japan’s (BoJ) decision to push its monetary easing programme above the $1 trillion mark saw global shares rally in early trading, although stocks later pared gains due to ongoing economic worries. The announcement that a further 10 trillion yen (£79bn) will be added to the BoJ’s asset buying and loan programme initially sent [...]
Lonmin secures wage deal but strikes spread September 19, 2012 LONMIN shares spiked nine per cent in opening trade yesterday, as miners at the Marikana mine are due to return to work this morning. Over the six weeks since the strike started on 10 August, Lonmin’s share price has dropped from 753p to 654p. It ended down 0.62 per cent at the close of play [...]
Out of the frying pan into the fire for the miners of platinum September 19, 2012 LONMIN finds itself stuck between a rock and a hard place in South Africa. Getting its miners back to work might seem an unmitigated positive, but it runs the risk of returning the price action in the sector – and on the metal it mines – to some very ugly fundamentals. Which may go some [...]
Amec buys stake in Brazilian firm September 19, 2012 ■ International engineering and project management firm Amec has acquired a 50 per cent stake in Brazilian Kromav Engerharia in a $12.5m (£7.7m) deal. Completion is expected later this year. The acquisition of Kromav, a privately-owned offshore oil and gas engineering firm based in Rio de Janeiro, is a strategic move for Amec, which wants [...]
Adobe misses revenue expectations September 19, 2012 ■ Adobe Systems, maker of Photoshop and Acrobat software, last night reported a third quarter that missed revenue expectations due to currency effects. Net income for the third quarter was $201.3m (£123.9m), or 58 cents per share. Adobe said that revenue rose slightly to $1.08bn from a year earlier, but missed Wall Street estimates of [...]
