AIG freed for share sale after Fed payback January 14, 2011 THE recapitalisation of bailed-out insurer American International Group has closed, clearing the way for the US government to sell its 92 per cent stake. AIG has repaid the Federal Reserve Bank of New York $47bn (£30bn), the US Treasury said, which includes the outstanding balance on the $85bn loan granted to the company in 2008. [...]
US retail sales back to annual growth January 14, 2011 SALES at US retailers in 2010 reversed two years of contraction and posted the biggest gain in more than a decade, a government report showed. Retail sales rose 0.6 per cent in December, slightly less than expected, but the growth was still the sixth straight month of growth, the Commerce Department said. And total sales [...]
ECB buys time with strong Spanish sale January 13, 2011 THE euro rose to a three-week high against the Swiss franc and regained some of the ground lost to the dollar after successful bond auctions in Spain and Italy yesterday. However, with strong suspicions that the European Central Bank (ECB) is buying up bonds to keep a lid on yields, the relief is likely to [...]
Fed: Economy is recovering January 12, 2011 AMERICA’S end of year economic uptick was confirmed by the Federal Reserve beige book last night. The report, based on anecdotal accounts from businesses across the Fed’s regional branches, painted a “positive, although still generally cautious” picture. “Economic activity continued to expand moderately from November through December,” the report said. “Conditions were generally said to [...]
Wall St gets boost from banking stocks January 12, 2011 US stocks ended solidly higher yesterday after European debt fears eased and sparked a broad advance, led by banks and commodity-related shares. Investors expect further flows into equities on speculation the economy will strengthen. About seven stocks rose for every three that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Sectors typically helped by rising inflation, [...]
JPMorgan Chase ready to up dividend January 11, 2011 JPMORGAN Chase is ready to pay an annual dividend of 75 cents to a dollar once the Federal Reserve completes stress-testing of the largest US banks and gives its approval, chief executive officer Jamie Dimon said yesterday. The Fed is currently gauging whether banks have enough capital to weather another economic shock – similar to [...]
FED’S PLOSSER REVEALS SPLITS OVER QE2 January 11, 2011 THE recent upturn in the American recovery is unlikley to have been helped by the Federal Reserve’s second phase of quantitative easing (QE2), a leading Fed official said yesterday. Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser said it “stretches things” to argue that QE2 has impacted “the real economy.” Yet on Monday his Fed colleague Dennis Lockhart [...]
Fed makes $81bn profit January 10, 2011 THE US Federal Reserve reported record earnings yesterday, with profits jumping by more than 50 per cent to $80.9bn (£52bn) thanks to vast interest payments on its lending programmes. The Fed will turn over more than $78.4bn to the US Treasury, its highest ever contribution, as its $2.16 trillion portfolio of securities including US government [...]
The odds on volatility shorten January 10, 2011 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT AFTER a strong start to the New Year, equities began to flag at the end of last week. Wednesday’s blow-out ADP employment numbers were largely ignored as investors held off for Friday’s non-farm payrolls. These proved to be a disappointment, despite upward revisions to the two preceding months. Apart from the [...]
Fed’s Lockhart stands by QE2 January 10, 2011 The American economy’s recovery was partly attributed to the Federal Reserve’s controversial second phase of quantitative easing (QE2) by a top Fed official yesterday. “I won’t claim that all those developments have been the direct result of the monetary policy actions, but I definitely believe policy has contributed to accumulating momentum and a better outlook,” [...]