FTSE 100 hits one-month low as Greek deficit fears weigh April 22, 2010 The London Report FTSE 100 hits one-month low as Greek deficit fears weigh BRITAIN’S top shares fell to a one-month closing low yesterday after news that Greece’s deficit widened more than expected hit investor sentiment, sending commodity and bank stocks into reverse. A downgrade of Greece’s debt rating from Moody’s Investors Service added to investor [...]
GOLDMAN AND GORDON HAVE SEEN BETTER DAYS April 21, 2010 GORDON Brown’s savage attack on Goldman Sachs for being “morally bankrupt” must have come as a surprise to those who can recall a time when the Prime Minister’s attitude to the bank was rather different. BGC’s veteran market commentator David Buik yesterday reminisced about a fundraising gala dinner he attended years ago in aid of [...]
Northern Rock director quits over FSA probe April 21, 2010 Northern Rock’s finance director quit yesterday after becoming the focus of a Financial Services Authority (FSA) probe. The watchdog is investigating allegations David Jones was aware of a deal struck between executives to hide almost 2,000 problem loans from investors. The FSA confirmed he is the subject of an investigation. Jones was the last surviving [...]
LISTED PRODUCT NEWS April 21, 2010 FIRST LISTING FOR RBS’S ETC PLATFORM Standard Commodities, the Royal Bank of Scotland’s exchange-traded commodities (ETC) platform, launched its first product on the Frankfurt Xetra stock exchange this week. Its physical gold ETC gives investors exposure to the performance of the London gold market fix price and the ETC is denominated in euros. The ETC [...]
Lower commodity prices and concerns over Greek debt weigh on FTSE stocks April 21, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index ended down yesterday as lower commodity prices hit miners and oil stocks and concerns over Greece’s debt returned to haunt banks, though positive broker comment boosted food retailers. The FTSE 100 index closed down 60.26 points, or 1 per cent, at 5,723.43, giving back Tuesday’s one per cent gain. “Equity sentiment [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 20, 2010 Merrill Lynch The bank has appointed Patrick Ramsey as chief executive of Merrill Lynch Bank Suisse, the Swiss wealth management division. Ramsey, who will report to Merrill’s EMEA head of wealth management David Jervis, joined the group in 2002. He most recently held the role of head of European private banking. Prior to joining Merrill, [...]
Tech stocks the apple of every trader’s eye April 19, 2010 AS THE recovery gathers momentum, business spending on technology is creeping back. In the leaner, greener post-recession world, enhancing productivity through more efficient technology is one way that firms are able to keep costs down. Now that firms are more confident about their business prospects they can start to make investment decisions – analysts are [...]
Concerns over Goldman Sachs weigh on the FTSE 100 as mining shares fall April 19, 2010 UNCERTAINTY over the fallout from fraud charges against Goldman Sachs and the grounding of flights across Europe depressed London blue chips yesterday, led by risk-sensitive banks and miners and travel firms. The FTSE 100 closed down 16.05 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 5,727.91, extending Friday’s 1.4 per cent fall. Banks were rattled as investors [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 18, 2010 THE SUNDAYS The Sunday Telegraph BARCAP TO RAID ECM BANKERS Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of barclays bank, is creating a bold plan to catapult its equity capital markets (ECM) business into a global top-three player in under five years. The ambitious strategy just 18 months after its $1.85bn (£1.2bn) acquisition of Lehman Brothers’ [...]
Third former Northern Rock banker caught up in scandal April 18, 2010 A THIRD former Northern Rock executive has been implicated in the scandal that last week saw the stricken bank’s former deputy chief executive slapped with a £504,000 fine. It was reported yesterday that David Jones, the bank’s former finance director, is being investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). It is alleged Jones was aware [...]