Banking levy hangs over S&P financials January 12, 2010 US stocks slid in a broad sell-off yesterday as investors pummeled financials on concerns about a potential government levy on banks, while Alcoa’s disappointing results tempered optimism about the economic recovery. The benchmark S&P 500 broke a six-day streak of gains as banks led the financial sector lower, sending the KBW bank index down almost [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 11, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES LEHMAN WARNS ON US CLAIMS Big banks seeking to make windfall profits by making “outrageously unreasonable” claims against Lehman Brothers’ US business will be forced to prove their case in public courts, the executive leading the unwinding of the failed bank has warned. Bryan Marsal, the chief executive of Lehman Brothers Holdings, who [...]
Strength in energy issues is offset by weakness in miners January 11, 2010 BRITAIN’S leading share index ended flat yesterday with strength in energy issues countering a sell-off in miners, weak financial issues and uncertain progress on Wall Street. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was up 3.83 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 5,538.07, having touched a 16-month intraday peak of 5,600.48 early in the session. [...]
China tops forecast with strong growth January 10, 2010 Growth in China’s exports and imports last month blew past expectations, figures yesterday revealed, providing fresh evidence of the vigour of the economy and strengthening the case for Beijing to let the yuan start climbing again. Exports leapt 17.7 per cent from a year earlier, dwarfing the 4.0 per cent rise forecast by economists and [...]
Trades to suit all views and risk levels for the year ahead January 7, 2010 THE LAST couple of years have been a rollercoaster for investors, and while 2010 is not shaping up to be quite so unpredictable, there are certainly some bumps in the road ahead. It’s just the sort of environment where covered warrants come into their own. For one thing the most you can lose is your [...]
Trades to suit all views and risk levels for the year ahead January 6, 2010 THE LAST couple of years have been a rollercoaster for investors, and while 2010 is not shaping up to be quite so unpredictable, there are certainly some bumps in the road ahead. It’s just the sort of environment where covered warrants come into their own. For one thing the most you can lose is your [...]
Rusal float set to earn millions for Rothschild January 3, 2010 RUSSIAN aluminium firm Rusal, owned by billionaire Oleg Deripaska, is planning a $2.6bn (£1.6bn) flotation this month, tipped to earn millions for merchant bank NM Rothschild, it emerged yesterday. Rusal will sell 1.61 billion shares at up to HK$12.50 (£1) a share to cut $14.9bn (£9.2bn) of debt in a float set to value Rusal [...]
HSBC Shanghai plan to boost expansion December 20, 2009 HSBC is poised to become one of the first foreign companies to list on the Shanghai stock exchange, returning to its Asian roots. The bank wants to raise its profile in China as it opens more branches and considers taking stakes in Chinese lenders. It first announced in May last year that it wanted to [...]
Sun, sea and Hinduism all come together in Mauritius December 14, 2009 THE first thing that you notice about Mauritius is that it is a real place. By that I mean that it is a contrast to its holiday competitors in the Indian Ocean, the Seychelles and Maldives. They are made up of dozens of tiny islands which are often owned by resorts and have been turned into [...]
Rio and BHP seal deal December 6, 2009 MINING giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto shook hands on their proposed $116bn (£67.8bn) iron ore tie-up over the weekend, putting paid to reports that competition bodies would interfere with the deal. The agreement, which is expected to produce synergies of $10bn, has been a bone of much contention for Chinese customers, who say it [...]