Experts urge caution for UK market gains August 16, 2009 RECENT market exuberance may be ill-advised as the UK faces further pain before it can follow France and Germany out of recession, economists warned yesterday. The benchmark FTSE 100 index of Britain’s biggest companies touched a 10-month high of 4,755 points during last week’s trading. But these heights may not be underpinned by economic fundamentals. [...]
US stocks buoyed by Fed’s optimism August 12, 2009 US stocks powered higher yesterday as the Federal Reserve said it saw signs of a more stable economy. Stocks had been on track to close at their highest level in 10 months, led by technology and financials, but shares lost steam in the last half hour of trading. The Federal Reserve said the economy was [...]
Cash calls up, dividends fall August 11, 2009 UK COMPANIES raised more capital than they paid out in dividends in the first half of 2009, according to research to be published by Capita Registrars today. The Dividend Monitor will show that falling profits have led firms to pay out just £28.3bn in dividends in the period, nine per cent lower than in the first [...]
Careful not to cut spending too soon August 11, 2009 ANOTHER day and further signs there is some life left in the poor battered UK economy.. Yesterday it emerged that house prices rose for the third month in a row in June, according to government figures. And takeovers are back, it would seem, with the blue-chip insurer Friends Provident succumbing to an increased £1.85bn bid [...]
Local bank fears reignited as another three US lenders fail August 9, 2009 ANOTHER three US regional banks failed over the weekend, as authorities continue to monitor over 300 problem lenders that may not survive the harsh economic environment. Fears that retail banks are far from through the worst of the credit crunch were heightened after two banks in Florida and one in Oregon failed, taking the tally [...]
ABI joins FSA Osborne row August 5, 2009 TORY shadow chancellor George Osborne is facing mounting opposition over his plans to scrap City watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA), with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) now lobbying against the move. The ABI believes the FSA has shown it can adapt to a new era of regulation, and disagrees with Osborne’s plans to [...]
Old Mutual earnings dive as new business is hard to find August 5, 2009 OLD MUTUAL, the insurer listed jointly in the UK and South Africa, reported a bigger-than-expected drop in statutory profits yesterday, despite making improvements at its troubled US life business. South Africa’s largest insurer said its earnings were boosted by investment returns from its US bond portfolio, offsetting weakness in Europe and South African arm Nedbank. [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS August 5, 2009 ExecutionExecution has taken on Joseph Dickerson to strengthen its banking equity research team. Joseph will be responsible for developing coverage on HSBC, Standard Chartered and the Spanish banking sector. He joins Execution from Citadel Investment group where he was a senior analyst. He will work with Fiona Swaffield and Anke Reigen in the company’s experienced [...]
SocGen sees profits slide as bad debts mount, but investment banking thrives August 5, 2009 SOCIETE Générale (SocGen) suffered a 52 per cent decline in net profit, the French bank said yesterday, as losses on bad loans mounted and it wrote down its derivatives holdings. France’s second largest bank, posted profits of €309m (£269m) for the quarter, down from €644m in the same period of last year, despite revenue rising [...]
Grey panther made head of APA August 2, 2009 Former Credit Suisse banker Jeremy Bennett has been named as interim head of the Asset Protection Agency (APA), which runs the government’s £600m toxic bank asset scheme. Bennett was one of the “grey panther” regulators at the Financial Services Authority, who prowl insurers looking for rules failures.