When weaving a commodities basket, traders must be skilful October 18, 2010 GOLD bullion was down 0.7 per cent to $1,361 while the dollar gained ground against all major currencies except the yen yesterday. Talk of the inverse link between these safe havens is not new and the chart below shows it in action over the last four days. But this relationship is not only true of [...]
Cable ups the heat on banks October 17, 2010 BRITAIN’S biggest banks are today set to face up to small business organisations and business secretary Vince Cable in an attempt to show that they are committed to rebuilding trust between the sector and smaller firms struggling to get access to credit. Cable will chair the first meeting of the Small Business Economic Forum, which [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 17, 2010 THE SUNDAYS The Sunday Telegraph LORD LAWSON URGES OSBORNE CUTS Lord Lawson of Blaby, the former Chancellor and a man used as a sounding board by George Osborne, has urged his successor to “be bold” when making cuts to expenditure in this week’s Comprehensive Spending Review. Lord Lawson said that in spite of fears of [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS October 17, 2010 BARCLAYS According to Evolution, the UK is most likely to follow Switzerland and implement higher minimum Core Tier 1 ratios. Barclays will have a roughly 8.7 per cent Core Tier 1 by 2012: if the “UK finish” is a 10 per cent ratio, Barclays will be £7bn short of capital. The broker warns a “deal-cum-rights-issue” [...]
Enter the corporate entrepreneur: Britain’s best hope for real recovery October 17, 2010 CO-FOUNDER, MARKET GRAVITY THE UK’s recovery from the deepest recession in eighty years is dependent on sustained private sector growth. Corporate earnings may be recovering, but too much is due to cost cutting, not real growth, and this trend is not sustainable. Recent analysis from Market Gravity illustrates that while 75 per cent of FTSE [...]
WOLF WHISTLES FOLLOW STYLISH CITY LADIES DRESSED FOR SUCCESS October 17, 2010 WHERE does a City woman go when she needs to out-dress her TM-Lewin-clad male counterparts? Designer Britt Lintner – who is also still a full-time professional at hedge fund GLG – is making a new bid to make her clothes the ultimate go-to items, and she has recruited a line-up of swanky femme fatales from [...]
Barclays mulls new bond to boost capital October 14, 2010 BARCLAYS is working on a new debt instrument to shore up its capital base ahead of the introduction of the Basel III rules. A bond that would pay out less if the bank’s core Tier 1 capital ratio dropped below the Basel threshold of seven per cent is in the works. The instrument would differ [...]
Laing to float fund on LSE to raise £270m October 14, 2010 Infrastructure group John Laing yesterday unveiled plans to list an infrastructure fund in London raising up to £270m. Laing, owned by asset manager Henderson Group, will sell up to £256m of infrastructure schemes to the newly formed John Laing Infrastructure Fund (JLIF), in a move flagged up earlier this month. The fund will use the [...]
FTSE weighed down by talk of more banking rights issues October 14, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index closed lower yesterday, dragged down by banks on worries about rights issues in the sector, while mobile phone heavyweight Vodafone rose following an upgrade from Nomura. The FTSE 100 ended down 20.14 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 5,727.21, after gaining 1.5 per cent on Wednesday to its highest closing level [...]
John Laing to float infrastructure fund October 14, 2010 Infrastructure group John Laing has announced its intention to list an infrastructure fund in London raising up to £270m. Laing, owned by asset manager Henderson Group, will sell up to £256m of yielding infrastructure assets to the newly formed John Laing Infrastructure Fund, in a move that was flagged up earlier this month. This forms [...]