Europe to soften rules over credit rating agencies June 19, 2012 BRUSSELS will water down moves to force firms to rotate which credit rating agencies they use to evaluate their debt, it emerged yesterday. Yet the European parliament also voted in favour of new restraints on the ability of rating agencies to downgrade its member governments. Under new plans, agencies will only be able to announce [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 19, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Hedge funds bet on Bunds sell-off as Eurozone woes weigh on Berlin Leading hedge fund managers are betting on a significant sell-off in German government bonds in the coming months after a sharp fall in yields on the debt paper driven by a flight to safety in the Eurozone. One small step for [...]
UK and Argentina in G20 row June 19, 2012 Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday spoke out again in favour of a referendum for Falkland Islanders over whether the country remains a self-governing British territory. “We want to put this issue beyond doubt. This referendum will be something of a game changer,” said Cameron at the close of the G20 summit. The tension between UK [...]
Adobe cuts its revenue outlook June 19, 2012 Adobe Systems, maker of Photoshop and Acrobat software, yesterday cut its full-year revenue outlook as weak demand in Europe could affect sales of the recently launched versions of its design software. Adobe now expects revenue growth of six per cent to seven per cent, implying full-year revenue of $4.47bn to $4.51bn and an adjusted profit [...]
Assange seeks asylum in Ecuador June 19, 2012 Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is seeking political asylum at Ecuador’s London embassy, the country’s foreign minister Ricardo Patino said. Last week the UK’s Supreme Court refused Assange’s bid to reopen an appeal against extradition to Sweden over alleged sex crimes he denies.
Abnormal share price changes at 10-year low June 19, 2012 UNUSUAL share price changes in UK companies ahead of a deal announcement have fallen to a decade low, but still take place in a fifth of cases, according to new data from the City watchdog yesterday. In the Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) final annual report before it is split into two new regulatory bodies, it [...]
Ryanair embarks on a third bid to take over its rival Aer Lingus June 19, 2012 BUDGET airline Ryanair has made a third bid to take over Aer Lingus, claiming its €694m (£560.6m) cash offer is the best chance for its rival to remain in Irish hands. The offer of €1.30 per share represents a 46.7 per cent premium over Aer Lingus’s six month average. Ryanair believes there is a better [...]
JP Morgan boss defends bank June 19, 2012 JP MORGAN chief executive Jamie Dimon yesterday defended his firm against a grilling from US politicians, insisting that the firm has been upfront with investors on its multibillion-dollar trading loss. Dimon, appearing before a House of Representatives committee, tried to reassure irate Republicans that his bank would never ask taxpayers to foot the bill for [...]
China is set to fund UK nuclear June 19, 2012 CHINA may soon have a major stake in one of the UK’s biggest nuclear projects after two Chinese state firms teamed up with Western players to bid for the £15bn Horizon joint venture. Areva and Westinghouse are believed to have picked separate Chinese nuclear firms to help fund bids for Horizon, which was put on [...]
Julius Baer in talks for BAML wealth division June 19, 2012 JULIUS Baer is in talks with Bank of America about buying Merrill Lynch’s non-US wealth management unit, valued at up to $2bn (£1.3bn), in what would be a massive deal for the acquisition-hungry Swiss private bank. Consolidation in the wealth management industry has been a major theme since the 2008 financial crisis, as an increase [...]
