Oyster Shed: Jeremy Clarkson’s Hawkstone helps pub chain Young’s to biggest day of takings in 200 years
Euro chaos as markets reel over rumours September 13, 2011 NERVOUS investors jumped at every rumour yesterday, as politicians failed to calm the spiralling Eurozone crisis and choppy markets. The euro gained against the dollar on reports of an impending “Merkozy” statement between Germany’s chancellor and France’s president. But the single currency slumped back as President Sarkozy’s office denied that any joint statement would be [...]
EU ministers fail to address euro’s flaws September 13, 2011 SUCH is the precariousness of the Eurozone project that every bit of hearsay sends the currency markets scrambling. Yesterday afternoon, the word was that we would see a reappearance of Merkozy – the Euro-Frankenstein merger of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French premier Nicholas Sarkozy that first had life breathed into it at an emergency [...]
Colfax weighs in with £1.5bn Charter offer September 12, 2011 US industrial giant Colfax raised the stakes in the battle for Charter International yesterday, tabling a formal bid valuing the company at £1.5bn and gaining the backing of Charter’s board. Colfax, which makes industrial pumps and valves, tabled a 910p per offer with 80 per cent in cash and the rest in its shares, trumping [...]
Hope of help for Italy lifts stocks September 12, 2011 US stocks rose yesterday, bouncing back in late trading, as hopes that Italy could get financial support from China tempered investors’ worst fears over the Eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis. Traders started the day braced for a possible downgrade of France’s top banks by Moody’s rating agency, but sentiment improved as various European officials succeeded in [...]
Osborne agrees deal for UK as renminbi hub September 8, 2011 CHANCELLOR George Osborne agreed to develop London into an offshore trading centre for China’s renminbi currency after meeting Chinese vice-president Wang Qishan yesterday. The move gave official Treasury support for the City’s push to trade the renminbi, a market expected to grow rapidly for trade, foreign exchange and bond issuance. The step reflects efforts by [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 7, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES LIBOR ENQUIRY EYES CRIMINAL ANGLE The US investigation into alleged manipulation of interbank lending rates is focusing on possible violations of a commodities law that has previously been used to send financial executives to prison. According to people familiar with the probe into the setting of London and Tokyo interbank offered rates, US [...]
China set to allow UK renminbi trades September 7, 2011 CHINESE authorities are set to approve the trading of the renminbi by British banks in London, it emerged last night. China has been gradually relaxing its control of the yuan over the last 12 months. The news came after a think tank under China’s cabinet endorsed internationalising the yuan, particularly to neighbouring markets. The stride [...]
Green shoots for PhosAgro September 7, 2011 THE chief executive of PhosAgro said he did not plan to cash in his shares in the fertiliser group, as it announced its maiden results since its $538m (£337m) listing in London in July. Maxim Volkov told City A.M. he was “not inclined” to sell his stock after PhosAgro went public, in a float that [...]
Yahoo faces struggle after sacking Carol Bartz September 7, 2011 CONTROVERSIAL Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz was unceremoniously axed yesterday, ending her strained tenure at the helm of the struggling internet giant. In typically frank style, she informed staff by sending a mass email saying the chairman had just fired her over the phone. Few employees will shed tears for their notoriously ruthless former boss, [...]
HONG KONG: HSBC CAN COME HOME September 6, 2011 HSBC is being wooed by regulators in Hong Kong, who have assured the bank that it would be welcome if it decided to leave Britain and re-domicile back to its original homeland. City A.M. has learned that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), whose permission HSBC would need to move back to the city state, [...]