What the other papers say this morning January 30, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BANKS WATCH BARCLAYS’ COCO PLANS Big banks on both sides of the Atlantic are weighing whether to follow Barclays as it pushes ahead with a plan to pay bonuses with innovative bonds, dubbed cocos. According to several banks present at last week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, the idea of using contingent convertible [...]
Priced out by foreigners, bankers are on the move January 27, 2011 BONUS season is in full swing and – despite the dire economic figures released earlier this week – there is likely to be no shortage of cash being splashed in the next few months. Recent figures from Savills show that bankers are due to spend £1bn on homes this year. But whereas in the old [...]
Porsche sales in China jump by 63 per cent January 26, 2011 Porsche yesterday announced it has smashed its sales record in China, shifting almost 15,000 vehicles in 2010, an increase of 62.7 per cent on a year earlier. The German carmaker’s four-wheel-drive Cayenne model was the most popular, selling nearly 9,000 units. Sales of sports cars including the iconic 911 and the newer Boxster model rose [...]
Asia inflation may hit growth January 26, 2011 CHINESE inflation is structural and risks derailing the global economic recovery, according to a quarterly inflation report by business consultancy McKinsey. The report, released at the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos, warns leaders that China is in danger of overheating and causing major disruption to worldwide demand. “The entire system is now [...]
The emerging market debt boom is about to fall apart January 26, 2011 THESE are fairly tragic times for investors in developed world sovereign debt. Thanks to the combination of quantitative easing and a flight to (perceived) safety, bond yields have been pushed down to historic lows. Two year US Treasury notes issued on Monday yielded 0.63 per cent. Even 30-year notes are hardly doing much better, yielding 4.59 [...]
What the other papers say this morning January 24, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES FSA CHIEF SEEKS NEW SAFEGUARDS The head of the Financial Services Authority has called for a “radical rethink” of consumer protection in the UK, including the possible imposition of fee caps and bans on some retail financial products. The regulator has historically adopted a “light touch” approach for the regulation of financial products, [...]
Dragons eating up a hoard of black gold January 24, 2011 THE Chinese dragon continues to eat up fuel. Chinese demand for oil hit another record high in December, climbing to 9.618m barrels a day – an annualised increase of 19.9 per cent. At least partly as a result, the price of crude oil has climbed up significantly over the last few months, with Brent crude [...]
THE FLOW OF HOT MONEY CONTINUES January 24, 2011 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT INFLATIONARY expectations are picking up across all major economies. Rising commodity prices are presenting difficulties everywhere, but are particularly problematic for developing countries. Brazil raised rates last week and warned that additional tightening was likely. Annual inflation there is just shy of 6 per cent and their latest 50 basis point [...]
Wall St rises led by commodities stocks January 24, 2011 WALL Street resumed its rally yesterday, led by natural resources and tech shares as investors saw stocks regaining momentum lost late last week. A share-buyback from Dow component Intel helped revive optimism, which has been reinforced by more strong profit reports. Three-quarters of the 84 S&P 500 companies that have reported results so far in [...]
Chinese giant to buy into Bank of East Asia January 23, 2011 INDUSTRIAL and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s top lender by market value, will pay about $140m (£87.5m) for 80 per cent of Bank of East Asia’s US unit, the two companies said yesterday. The deal, first mentioned in a report on Friday, will require approval from regulators in China and the United States before [...]