Why Dodd-Frank is pushing the US towards impending financial crisis January 17, 2013 IT’S been more than two years since the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was signed into law by Barack Obama. Passed in the aftermath of the financial crisis, and involving some of the most significant changes to regulation since the Great Depression, regulators have been writing rules at an astonishing pace ever [...]
Wall Street’s big banks roar again while cutting costs January 16, 2013 EVEN the most committed banker-basher should find something to like in the latest results from Wall Street. Huge rises in profits at JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs from a year ago came alongside reductions in staff and salaries and a boost in lending to small businesses and homebuyers. JP Morgan announced it was cutting chief [...]
Fed’s Beige Book says economy is improving at moderate pace January 16, 2013 ECONOMIC activity across the US expanded at either a moderate or modest pace in recent weeks with consumer spending picking up, the Federal Reserve said last night, suggesting little change in terms of the recovery’s strength. The US central bank painted a cautiously positive picture of an economy gathering steam across its 12 districts, although [...]
Steady inflation and positive economic data boosts US hopes January 16, 2013 AMERICAN investors were given a brief respite from the US debt ceiling row yesterday, as fresh data revealed steady inflation, high home-builder morale and a rise in industrial output. US consumer prices stayed flat in December, the Labor Department said, potentially giving the Federal Reserve scope to continue its ultra-loose monetary policies. The consumer price [...]
UPS and TNT fail to deliver £4.3bn tie-up January 14, 2013 SHARES in delivery firm TNT Express slumped more than 40 per cent yesterday after its long-awaited €5.2bn (£4.3bn) takeover by United Parcel Service (UPS) collapsed under regulatory pressure. Despite efforts to appease the European Commission with offers to amend the deal, the firms were told on Friday that the EC intended to prohibit the purchase. [...]
Improved outlook rouses investors January 14, 2013 US housing revival could give boost to sales of associated products WE’RE off to a flying start. The first full week of trading in 2013 saw US equity funds attract $18.3bn (£11.4bn). This was, according to Thomson Reuters’s Lipper service, the fourth best-performing week for net inflows to equity funds since records began. For the [...]
Fed rules out plan for $1 trillion platinum coin to avoid debt limit January 13, 2013 THE US TREASURY this weekend stamped on the idea of minting a $1 trillion (£620bn) platinum coin as a way of funding government spending and dodging the debt ceiling. The Treasury and the Federal Reserve both concluded that the novel way of getting around the fierce political row on public spending was not a viable [...]
Ivanovic horror show leaves Blues facing shock cup exit January 9, 2013 CHELSEA 0 vs SWANSEA CITY 2 CHELSEA manager Rafael Benitez last night refused to blame defender Branislav Ivanovic after two catastrophic errors left the European champions on the brink of a shock Capital One Cup semi-final exit. Ivanovic’s dawdling in possession allowed Michu to put Swansea in front with his sixteenth goal of the season [...]
What the other papers say this morning January 8, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Telecoms discuss Europe network Europe’s top telecoms executives are discussing the creation of a pan-European infrastructure network to unite the continent’s fragmented national markets, following prompting from Brussels to consider more radical options. The idea of pooling telecoms infrastructure emerged at a private meeting between Joaquín Almunia, the EU’s competition chief, and bosses [...]
Banks hammered by $20bn mortgage bill January 7, 2013 US BANKS were hit with compensation payments and settlement costs of almost $20bn (£12.4bn) yesterday as regulators and the industry moved to end long-running rows over the toxic debt and aggressive repossessions of the credit crunch era. Ten banks will have to pay a total of $8.5bn in compensation and mortgage assistance to customers who [...]