Hayward meets Abu Dhabi crown prince over BP’s future July 7, 2010 BP’S embattled chief executive Tony Hayward yesterday met with Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan amidst suggestions the oil rich country could buy a stake as high as 10 per cent in the oil major. The group would not be drawn on the exact details of the conversation but sources suggested the [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 7, 2010 BMW Barclays Capital reiterates a “strong buy” for BMW, based on its new forecasts. BarCap said that it believes that the luxury market provides a safehaven in the volatile European auto sector, due to its net exports, strong emerging market sales and lack of exposure to scrappage schemes. PERSIMMON JP Morgan Cazenove said that Persimmon [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 7, 2010 Religare Enterprises The Indian financial services group has appointed Stuart Pearce, pictured, and Kathryn Matthews as independent board directors. Pearce has over 35 years of experience in the sector and was previously chief executive and director general of the Qatar Financial Centre Authority. He has also worked as chief executive of UK investment management at [...]
FTSE is boosted by banks as stress test fears begin to ease July 7, 2010 BRITAIN’S leading share index ended higher after a choppy session yesterday, driven by a recovery in banking stocks on reassuring comments from US peer State Street and an easing of stress test fears. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was 49.82 points higher, or up 1.0 per cent, at 5,014.82, its high for the [...]
FTSE hits one-week closing high aided by miners as low prices tempt traders July 6, 2010 FIRMER miners helped push Britain’s top share index to a one-week closing high yesterday on improving risk appetite, while signs of strength in Europe’s banking system lifted banks. The FTSE 100 closed up 141.47 points, or 2.9 per cent, at 4,965.00, its highest closing level since 28 June, and its biggest one-day percentage rise since [...]
Top economic forecaster Martin Weale to join Bank’s rate-setting committee July 5, 2010 LEADING economist Martin Weale has been appointed as an external member of the?Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) by chancellor George Osborne. The director of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (Niesr) will join the MPC in time for the August rate-setting meeting and the forecast round leading up to it, the [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 5, 2010 SWIP The Scottish Widows Investment Partnership has appointed Ramsay Urquhart as its new finance director and part of the executive committee, reporting directly to managing director Dean Buckley. Urquhart joins from Barclays Wealth, where he has been head of investment operations since September 2006. Prior to that, he spent 14 years at Dutch financial services [...]
Weak banks and miners hurt FTSE July 5, 2010 WEAK banks and miners, beset by doubts over the health of the global economic recovery, pulled down Britain’s top share yesterday, while BP rose on media reports it is seeking a strategic investor. By the close, the FTSE 100 index was down 14.56 points, or 0.3 per cent at 4,823.53, having ended 0.7 per cent [...]
Rates to stay on hold but tensions rise July 4, 2010 TENSIONS are growing within the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) but they are not yet sufficient to cause a hike in interest rates from the current level of 0.5 per cent, economists say. The minutes of the June meeting showed that Andrew Sentance voted for a 0.25 per cent rise while the other [...]
HOW MUCH TENSION IS THERE AMONGST BANK OF ENGLAND MPC MEMBERS? July 4, 2010 MICHAEL SAUNDERS | CITIGROUP “Recent MPC comments hint at a vigorous debate, and some members appear to believe that a broader range of factors is behind the pick-up in inflation. If inflation expectations continue to rise then the MPC could feel obliged to hike rates to show they take the inflation target seriously.” PHILIP SHAW [...]