San Fran Fed wants fiscal boost January 10, 2012 Tax and spending policies must be changed to boost the US economy, John Williams, president of the San Francisco Fed, said yesterday. Moves to control the budget deficit “are essential in the long run” but are “damping the economy, not boosting it” currently, he said. Williams praised the steps the Fed has taken to loosen [...]
Murray fourth seed in Aussie Open January 9, 2012 TENNIS: Britain’s Andy Murray has been seeded fourth for the 2012 Australian Open which begins on Monday. Meanwhile, Great Britain have been drawn in the same group as the Netherlands, Israel and Portugal for Judy Murray’s first tie as Fed Cup captain.
Swissie scandal engulfs governor January 4, 2012 SWISS National Bank governor Philipp Hildebrand will today break his silence on controversial currency trades made by his wife. Hildebrand has come under increasing pressure to clarify events, after details of foreign exchange transactions made from his personal accounts at Swiss private bank Sarasin were leaked by one of its employees to lawyers for the [...]
Fed says it will publish interest rate projections January 3, 2012 THE FEDERAL Reserve will from this month onwards publish quarterly projections of future interest rates, in a move widely seen as a further attempt to stimulate the economy. The policy change “could provide an opportunity for a back door policy easing in January”, said Harm Bandholz of UniCredit last night. “If for example most participants [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 3, 2012 Avanti Communications Group Paul Walsh, chief executive of Diageo, has joined the board of satellite data company Avanti Communications as a non-executive director. He is also a non-executive director of FedEx Corporation and Unilever. Prior to joining Diageo, Walsh held financial and commercial positions with InterContinental Hotels and in the GrandMet food business, becoming CEO [...]
US markets begin the year on a high January 3, 2012 STOCKS and the euro started the year with a sharp rally yesterday, boosted by better-than-expected global data and hopes the Fed could ease monetary policy further, even as crude surged on tensions between the US and Iran. A number of Federal Reserve officials believed economic conditions could “well” warrant a further easing of monetary policy, [...]
Central bankers aren’t to blame for the crisis January 2, 2012 THE conventional story of the credit crunch is that following the dot-com boom the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates, creating an inflationary debt-fuelled boom that manifested itself in housing. But is the Fed to blame? US economists Jeffrey R. Hummel and David Henderson prompted controversy by lending support to Ben Bernanke’s theory of a [...]
US economy growing less than hoped December 22, 2011 US CONSUMER confidence is at its highest in six months, leading indicators point to growth into 2012 and new jobless claims last week were the lowest since 2008, according to a raft of upbeat data out yesterday. But GDP growth for the third quarter was revised down by the Commerce Department, while industrial activity slowed [...]
In dark days let Christmas spirit shine in the City December 22, 2011 JOYFUL and triumphant” are not the most appropriate words to describe the City at the end of 2011. It feels more like being “in the bleak mid-winter”. Yet the Christmas story is one that still inspires. It can lift us from the “woes of sin and strife”, dispel “the mighty dread” and renew a sense [...]
FTSE given lift by airline deal December 22, 2011 The FTSE 100 nudged up this morning led by BA owner International Airlines group (IAG) which announced a deal for Lufthansa’s bmi. Overall European shares started higher with the FTSEurofirst 300 index gaining around one per cent in early trade while global stocks, as measured by MSCI world equity index, were edged up 0.2 per [...]