Spain’s debt costs rise June 15, 2010 SPAIN’S financing costs jumped at a T-bill auction yesterday but demand was solid as a newspaper reported a government move to reassure investors over the strength of Spanish banks. The Treasury issued just over €5bn in 12-month and 18-month bills. Average yields jumped more than 70 basis points from May’s auction in a sign of [...]
SPREAD BET GURU June 13, 2010 MARKET STRATEGIST josh@cityindex.com Q. Dear Josh, what are the markets expected to be like during the World Cup? A. If you were thinking that traders are likely to be keeping a close eye on the World Cup and that this could affect volumes, then you are right. Historically, the financial markets have tended to be [...]
Feds may take bite of Apple… June 10, 2010 Apple’s growing feud with Google took a fresh twist yesterday, with US anti-trust regulators preparing to investigate Steve Jobs’ firm. The iPad-maker sparked fury at Google after announcing changes to its advertising platform, iAds, that effectively block rivals. It means Google will be excluded from the expected deluge of advertising revenue gathered from Apple’s iPad [...]
US watchdog panel slams AIG bailout June 10, 2010 A REPORT by the Congressional Oversight Panel, set up by lawmakers to monitor the $700bn (£476bn) bailout fund, blasted the government’s $182bn bailout of insurance giant AIG for its continued “poisonous effect” on financial markets and said it’s still unclear whether taxpayers ever will be fully repaid. “For now, the ultimate cost or profit to [...]
Bernanke is still cautious June 9, 2010 FEDERAL Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said yesterday the US economic recovery was on a solid footing but cautioned it could be years before the jobs lost during the deep recession of 2008-2009 are restored. While Bernanke said the economy had made an “important transition” to relying less on government support, his emphasis on the struggles [...]
London rises on comments by Fed chairman Bernanke June 9, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index closed higher yesterday, lifted by gains in miners and banks, as investor appetite for risk was boosted by positive comments on the US economy from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The FTSE 100 closed up 57.71 points, or 1.2 per cent, at 5,085.86, after a choppy session which saw the index [...]
Wall St slides after BP fall triggers fear June 9, 2010 US stocks fell yesterday in another late-day roller-coaster ride, dragged lower by BP and other energy shares as the US probe of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico deepened. The late retreat stocks triggered a bid for safe-haven assets, which pushed US government bonds into positive territory, while the euro edged higher boosted [...]
Bernanke: Europe is committed to euro June 8, 2010 EUROPEAN leaders are committed to ensuring the survival of the euro and have enough money to meet obligations of heavily indebted member countries, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said yesterday. In remarks to the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington, Bernanke said a euro stabilisation package of nearly $1 trillion was “a lot of money” and [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE YOU FED UP WITH THE CONSTANT IPHONE UPGRADES? June 8, 2010 RUSSELL HARRISON | NATWEST PRIVATE BANKING “I find it very useful especially the map and the GPS. I don’t think people will get fed up with upgrades because Information technology is always going to be useful.” FABIEN HUESO | LLOYDS BANKING GROUP “I am very happy. I don’t feel pressured at all because I am [...]
US MULLS INTEREST RATE HIKE June 3, 2010 Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank president Thomas Hoenig yesterday said that the central bank should raise rates to one per cent by the end of the summer to avoid having to raise borrowing costs abruptly as the economic recovery gains momentum. His board colleague Dennis Lockhart also said that the US economy is almost strong [...]