Don’t let a long sugar trade leave you with sweet nothing October 24, 2010 SUGAR prices have shot through the roof in the last week, with sugar number 11 – the main benchmark for raw sugar prices – rallying comfortably over 28 cents per pound, double its price in late 2008. Commodity traders might be licking their chops at the thought of a sharp correction – or even a [...]
Betfair float values company at £1.4bn October 22, 2010 Betfair has priced its initial public offering at 1,300 pence per share – valuing the company at £1.4bn Betfair, the world’s largest bettingwebsite, said it had sold 16.2m shares in the offering, excluding an overallotment option, or 15.2 per cent of the company. It had offered the shares at 1,100-1,400 pence. The company has more [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 21, 2010 Schroders The asset management firm has hired Philippe Lespinard as its new chief investment officer of fixed income, effective from 1 November. Lespinard joins from Brevan Howard in London, where he was a partner and head of absolute return strategies. Prior to that, he was chief investment officer at BNP Paribas Asset Management in Paris. [...]
PROPERTY NEWS October 21, 2010 HOME BUYERS GO GREEN It appears that Britons’ global conscience is alive and well. A new survey commissioned in advance of Energy Saving Week (25-31 Oct) says that over half of people are attracted to a new home because of its energy efficiency. Well, ok, maybe there is a little bit of self-interest there: the [...]
BlackRock says it has stabilised as it beats earnings predictions October 20, 2010 BLACKROCK, the world’s largest asset manager, posted sharply better-than-expected quarterly earnings last night, as it attracted more assets from clients and earned stronger fees on the back of a stock market rally in September. New York-based BlackRock said earnings rose to $551m (£347.9m)?during the three months to the end of September, compared to $317m a [...]
Fears of an overshoot grow as budget deficit jumps unexpectedly to £16.2bn October 20, 2010 PUBLIC borrowing unexpectedly rose to a record high for September, demonstrating the sheer scale of the challenge facing the coalition government as it yesterday unveiled deep spending cuts. Excluding the temporary effects of financial intervention, net borrowing was £16.2bn, well above the consensus forecast of £14.3bn. Including the effects of this intervention, net borrowing was [...]
JP MORGAN BOSS DIMON WARNS ON UK REGIME October 20, 2010 MUCH has been made of rumours that JP Morgan is to abandon plans to build itself an all-singing, all-dancing new HQ in Canary Wharf, with talk rife that the UK’s punishing tax regime and regulatory changes are behind the bank’s reluctance to commit. And in a little-noticed interview aside recently, JP Morgan’s chief executive Jamie [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 20, 2010 RBC Capital Markets The investment bank, part of the Royal Bank of Canada group, has hired Jonathan Guy and Tim Huff as directors in its equity research team, with a focus on mining. Huff, pictured, joins RBC with over 17 years of experience, most recently gained at the Royal Bank of Scotland. Prior to that, [...]
FTSE 100 ends up following mixed reactions to the cuts October 20, 2010 Britain’s top share index closed higher yesterday, led by miners on the back of firmer metals prices, with investor sentiment buoyed by positive corporate earnings releases from the United States. The market reaction to the government’s spending review was muted. The FTSE 100 ended up 25.04 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 5,728.93, having closed [...]
A Qatari takes on Wall St October 20, 2010 KAPITOIL BY TEDDY WAYNE Duckworth, £8.99 IT’S 1 October, 1999 and Karim, a genius computer progammer from Doha, is landing in New York. He’s been brought to help a company called Schrub Equities protect itself from the Y2K bug – New York’s biggest security concern at the time. The opening of this first novel by [...]