SPORT | IN BRIEF October 6, 2011 Hamilton protests his innocence FORMULA ONE: Britain’s under-fire Lewis Hamilton has defended his driving style this season which has drawn significant criticism from his peers. The McLaren star has been in trouble for a spate of incidents, including a clash with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa at the last race in Singapore. “I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m trying [...]
Easy money October 6, 2011 • Bank stuns markets with £75bn more QE • ECB to boost liquidity with €40bn bond buy-up • Osborne poised to give credit to private firms SIR Mervyn King, the Bank of England governor, stunned markets by turning Britain’s electronic printing presses back on yesterday, as he announced a second round of quantitative easing (QE) worth [...]
Moody’s slashes ratings of UK banks October 6, 2011 THE FRAGILE UK banking sector was further knocked today by a downgrade by Moody’s, the credit rating agency. Moody’s has decided to reduce the ratings of 12 UK banks and building societies by up to three notches, to reflect the removal of implicit government support in the event of possible failure. The news sent bank [...]
Sentance: inflation may soar as MPC loses focus October 6, 2011 “THE EUROPEAN Central Bank (ECB) has delivered price stability. That is good for the economy and good for jobs,” boasted outgoing ECB boss Jean-Claude Trichet yesterday. The same cannot be said in the UK, where CPI inflation hit 4.5 per cent in August and is expected to rise to more than five per cent in [...]
Why Mervyn King is wrong about QE October 6, 2011 IT was strange for Mervyn King to claim yesterday that the financial crisis may yet turn out to be worse than the Great Depression. The world faces monumental challenges. But the mass unemployment, protectionism and rise of fascism of the 1930s has so far been avoided and many emerging markets are still buoyant. Over-using apocalyptic [...]
A GUIDE TO QUANTITATIVE EASING October 6, 2011 Q.WHAT DID QE DO LAST TIME? A.The Bank of England says the £200bn of QE between March 2009 and January 2010 boosted the economy by between 1.5 and two per cent – but it also raised CPI inflation by between 0.75 and 1.5 per cent. Q.WILL IT WORK NOW? A.It works primarily by increasing the [...]
KING TURNS ON THE ELECTRONIC PRINTING PRESS October 6, 2011 “Clearly the impact of the rest of the world on the UK does threaten our recovery. That is why we took action today to try to head that off.” SIR MERVYN KING “The evidence shows it will keep interest rates down and boost demand and that will be a help for British families.” GEORGE OSBORNE [...]
Trichet bows out with support plan for banks October 6, 2011 JEAN-CLAUDE Trichet signed off as president of the European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday, sticking to his guns over interest rates yet pledging to pump funds into the banks. Trichet’s press conference was far calmer than last month’s, when he railed against criticism and demanded that “congratulations” be extended to the ECB for delivering price stability. [...]
QE2 sees stocks surge as pound drops sharply October 6, 2011 MARKETS were rocked yesterday after the Bank of England announced its even higher than expected extension of its quantitative easing. Stocks soared in afternoon trading, the FTSE closing a whopping 3.7 per cent higher on the day, at 5291.26. Yields on government debt initially plummeted on the news of the Bank’s extra £75bn of asset [...]
Dexia shares suspended as bailout looms October 6, 2011 SHARES in Dexia were suspended yesterday as Belgium prepared to nationalise its arm of the ailing bank. The stock plunged 17 per cent to €0.85 as tempers frayed between France and Belgium over how to divide the bill for its latest rescue. Didier Reynders, the Belgian finance minister, said his nation did not want to [...]
