Car registrations up in key Eurozone areas December 2, 2010 NEW car registrations are up across core Eurozone countries, according to figures released yesterday by Barclays Capital Research. The group estimates that car sales across the single currency area could rise to 10.26m in November, a 4.3 per cent rise on October. French sales have maintained their momentum, in spite of a government scrappage scheme [...]
Growth steady in Europe but Greece still in decline December 2, 2010 THE Eurozone economy expanded by 0.4 per cent in the three months to September, it was revealed yesterday. The rate of growth slowed, down from one per cent in the previous quarter, said the European Commission’s Eurostat office. Yet household consumption also grew, creeping up by 0.3 per cent. Growth continued to be driven by [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS December 2, 2010 MORGAN STANLEY UNVEILS GROWTH PLAN Morgan Stanley this week announced the launch of its new FTSE Defensive Digital Growth Plan, which lasts for six years. The plan offers a fixed return of 60 per cent at maturity if the FTSE 100 rises or even if it falls by less than 20 per cent over the [...]
FED’S $3 TRILLION IN EMERGENCY AID December 1, 2010 Ben Bernanke: Banks and firms used our temporary liquidity facilities 21,000 times during the crisis EUROPEAN banks were some of the biggest beneficiaries of the Federal Reserve’s $3.3 trillion emergency loan programmes during the darkest days of the financial crisis when the US central bank desperately tried to keep the global system functioning. The biggest [...]
Optimism for US recovery December 1, 2010 STEADY growth is being observed in the US, the central bank reported last night. In its latest beige book, the Federal Reserve said the economy “continued to improve, on balance” from early/mid-October to mid-November. Manufacturing activity continued to grow in “almost all” districts, reflecting optimistic results from yesterday’s ISM manufacturing index. The beige book found [...]
BarCap to cut hundreds of London jobs December 1, 2010 BARCLAYS Capital has confirmed plans to shed hundreds of jobs in its UK office even as the firm continues to hire in growth hotspots in Asia. Both front and back office jobs are set to go as the firm cuts down on costs in line with a fall in revenues this year. BarCap – the [...]
HSBC spins off Asian private equity unit December 1, 2010 HSBC’s Asian private equity unit has been taken over in a management buyout and renamed Headland Capital Partners, it emerged yesterday. The sale is the first of five planned management buyouts of HSBC’s private equity businesses. It is the latest to respond to pressure from regulators on banks to spin off their private equity activities. [...]
Commodities and banks help FTSE snap its losing streak December 1, 2010 BRITAIN’S leading share index staged its biggest one day really in three months yesterday, clawing back some of the losses made in the past three sessions, with commodities boosted by upbeat Chinese data and banks rallying after being hit by sovereign debt concern. The rally was also boosted by hopes the European Central Bank (ECB) [...]
LISTED PRODUCT NEWS December 1, 2010 DB X-TRACKERS LISTS MORE ETFS IN SPAIN Deutsche Bank’s exchange-traded funds (ETF) arm db x-trackers yesterday launched its second set of ETFs on the Spanish stock market. Db x-trackers yesterday announced 10 more ETFs listed on the Bolsa de Madrid, which provide exposure to developed and emerging market equities, to two short indices, and also [...]
UK banks sign up to tax code November 30, 2010 IN A last minute scramble the UK’s 15 largest banks have signed up to a government code of practice aimed at reducing tax avoidance, deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said yesterday. The code, which had a deadline of 30 November, but until October had only been supported by four of the 15, requires the banks [...]