ECB set to buy up to €1.7tr of national debt May 10, 2010 THE European Central Bank could buy up to €1.7 trillion (£1.4 trillion) of securities from troubled Eurozone countries alongside the unprecedented €750bn rescue fund unveiled yesterday. World equities soared as the ECB started buying bonds on secondary markets, lifting the pressure on Greece and Spain after weeks of hammering by speculators. The move came as [...]
Does EU rescue change the liquidity backdrop? May 10, 2010 MOST of the Eurozone rescue package – EU budget funding, Eurozone intra-government loans/guarantees, the IMF contribution – will have no implication for liquidity. The key issues are the scale of European Central Bank (ECB) government bond purchases – as well as the impact of its expanded lending operations and the US dollar swap on the Eurozone [...]
Fed acts to give liquidity boost to swap market May 10, 2010 AMERICA’S Federal Reserve has moved to shore up liquidity in the international money markets by reopening currency swap facilities with the world’s major central banks, echoing steps it took to ease market concerns after the failure of Lehman Brothers. The Fed said it would provide dollar swaps for the European Central Bank, the Bank of [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE YOU SURPRISED BY THE STRONG PERFORMANCE OF THE MARKETS, GIVEN THAT WE DO NOT HAVE A GOVERNMENT? May 10, 2010 CHRIS BAKER | SQUARE ONE “The markets rallied on news of the aid package for Greece. The UK’s political situation is only a tiny issue for the markets and we need to keep some perspective. At the same time Clegg and Cameron need to make a decision quickly or panic will set in.” SIMON CARD [...]
Easter timing hits retailers May 10, 2010 THE timing of Easter, combined with consumers’ ongoing uncertainty, caused UK retail sales to fall 2.3 per cent on a like-for-like basis last month compared to April 2009, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) will say today in its monthly retail sales monitor. This year, only two days over Easter fell in April compared to all [...]
Bank of England sticks to its wait-and-see policy approach May 10, 2010 THE Bank of England kept monetary policy on hold yesterday, adopting a wait-and-see attitude in the face of both political and economic uncertainty emanating from Westminster and Greece. As the markets expected, interest rates were kept at their historic low of 0.5 per cent and quantitative easing was on hold at £200bn. Although there are [...]
Estate agents predict bounce in activity and sales post-election May 10, 2010 UNCERTAINTY over the election was not enough to dampen estate agents’ sentiment last month with surveyors expecting a post-election bounce, the Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors showed yesterday. A net 17 per cent of estate agents reported rising rather than falling house prices, up from just 9 per cent in March. And the positive sentiment [...]
Goldman set to fight more legal actions May 10, 2010 GOLDMAN Sachs yesterday warned that it is preparing to be swamped with a deluge of further legal actions connected with its role selling complex mortgage-backed financial products, in the wake of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) fraud charges against it. Goldman said in a quarterly regulatory filing that it is preparing to fight more [...]
Nomura pushes back profit target after hit from crisis May 10, 2010 JAPANESE bank Nomura yesterday said it had pushed back its target of achieving a 500bn yen (£3.6bn) profit by a year, though it now sees itself as being on a par with the world’s top tier of investment banks. Nomura had set the goal of posting a pre-tax profit of 500bn yen by the year [...]
Close Brothers arm renamed May 10, 2010 CLOSE Brothers Corporate Finance has been renamed as DC Advisory Partners after being taken over by Japan’s Daiwa in July last year. The firm, which has over 200 staff, plans to open more offices in Europe this year as part of a growth drive in M&A, distressed investment, restructuring and debt advisory services. DC Advisory [...]
