German delay on Greek deal rocks market April 26, 2010 GERMANY and the International Monetary Fund demanded clearer details on Greece’s planned budget cuts yesterday, spooking markets into pushing the country’s borrowing costs to the highest level in 12 years. German chancellor Angela Merkel said the €45bn (£38.8bn) support package offered by the European Union and the IMF would stand firm provided “tough measures” were [...]
BlackRock shares slide after its anaemic results April 26, 2010 BlackRock, the giant money management firm, reported weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings as its funds businesses saw outflows and customers shifted to passive funds over more actively-managed ones. The asset management firm’s shares were down as much as 8.8 per cent as investors focused on the weaker-than-expected earnings as well as weaker-than-forecast revenue numbers even as overall [...]
Vive la France: banks are looking good value April 26, 2010 RISKS to the financial sector are finally starting to abate, according to a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published earlier this month. It also reduced its estimates of bank writedowns caused by the financial crisis by $0.5 trillion. But banks still face a mountain of challenges, and the future of the sector is [...]
ANALYSIS | UK BANKS April 26, 2010 WHILE banker bashing has become something of a national sport here in the UK, it has had little discernible impact on the share prices of our largest financial institutions, which have posted strong performances since their lows in the first quarter of 2009. The partially nationalised banks, RBS and Lloyds Banking Group, have seen their [...]
FTSE 100 closes up as the market is boosted by rising mining companies April 26, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index closed higher yesterday, boosted by miners as metals rose and overcoming wariness about the outcome of Greece’s debt problem. The FTSE 100 closed up 30.20 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 5,753.85, extending Friday’s one per cent rally, but below yesterday’s intra-day peak of 5,800.66. Antofagasta, Eurasian Natural Resources and Kazakhmys [...]
Diamond to testify in US April 25, 2010 A RAFT of high-profile figures from Barclays and Lehman Brothers will appear before a US court over the coming fortnight in a case to determine whether the British bank underpaid for the American firm. Bob Diamond, president of Barclays, will join former Lehman president and chief operating officer Bart McDade to run over Barclays’ dramatic [...]
Barclays in line for strong profit haul April 25, 2010 BARCLAYS will this week continue the bumper first quarter earnings trend set by the major US banks, with profits set to be buoyed by declining impairment charges and a strong start to the year in investment banking. Barclays is expected to post first-quarter pre-tax profits of between £1.8bn and £2bn when it unveils numbers on [...]
Barclays April 25, 2010 AS oxymorons go, “good credit crisis” is right up there with “classy strip club” and “luxury studio flat”. But compared to rivals, Barclays has emerged from the near meltdown of the financial sector in fine fettle. Over the last seven years, top line income has grown by a compound annual growth rate of 18 per [...]
Fed to keep interest rates on hold again April 25, 2010 A GROWING economy, a rising stock market, and rising employment suggests that normality is returning to the United States. Indeed, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, appeared notably upbeat about the economy earlier this month. The US economy is forecast to grow at an annualised 3.5 per cent in the first quarter – [...]
Author of Dead Aid signed up to join Barclays bank board April 22, 2010 DAMBISA Moyo, the Zambian-born economist who last year made headlines with the publication of a controversial book arguing the inefficacy of aid to Africa, has joined the board of Barclays as a non-executive director. Moyo made her name in the financial world, working for the World Bank’s Europe, Central Asia and Africa departments and then [...]