Fed prepares to detail new bonus regime September 20, 2009 THE US Federal Reserve is to unveil a four-pronged approach to reforming remuneration structures, as the G20 world leaders prepare to meet in Pittsburgh this Friday, with pay and bonuses high on the agenda. America’s central bank, chaired by Ben Bernanke, aims to link pay to long-term performance, as part of an international drive to [...]
Mood of markets is upbeat September 20, 2009 Although it’s widely expected that US interest rates will be kept on hold in the 0 per cent to 0.25 per cent range once more in the announcement from the Federal Open Market Committee scheduled at 19:15 London time on Wednesday, talk is picking up that the Fed will start tightening monetary policy sooner than [...]
FURTHER BAD NEWS TO PUSH BUCK LOWER September 20, 2009 JANE FOLEY RESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COMAYEAR after the fall of Lehman Brothers, the established rhetoric in the markets is that the shocks that unbalanced the finance system and the global economy have still not dispersed. However, the markets are saying otherwise. Shorting the US dollar has become de rigueur. The euro, Australian and New Zealand dollars [...]
USand EU closer to bonus deal September 20, 2009 A RADICAL plan by the Federal Reserve to regulate USbank bonuses has made a deal at this week’s G20 summit much more likely, analysts said last night. The US shift has significantly reduced the gap with the EU’s position, but other nations and national parliaments would still have to endorse any agreement. The Fed now [...]
Long-term incentives no panacea for City September 20, 2009 SLOWLY but surely, the US and the European positions on regulating bonuses are becoming more similar. At the risk of courting unpopularity, it is therefore worth injecting a few facts into a discussion which to date has been characterised by hysteria and demagoguery rather than reason. It is true and deplorable that some bankers were [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 17, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES UK RAISES OPEL ‘SUBSIDY WAR’ FEARLord Mandelson called on Brussels last night to ensure that Germany’s offer of multibillion-euro subsidies to smooth the sale of General Motors’ European arm does not begin a “subsidy war”, with governments using state aid to protect jobs. The UK business secretary’s intervention in the political row over [...]
A true chalet paradise in the Alps September 16, 2009 ACTIVE Ski Retreats is not your average ski holiday resort. It’s not just that Sting has stayed in the chalet– it provides exceptional all-inclusive service, from the provision of the perfect ski boot, to delicious aperitifs to four course dinners, with an efficiency and enthusiasm that you’d be hard pressed to find elsewhere. All wood [...]
US industrial output rises again September 16, 2009 US industrial production rose for a second straight month in August, reinforcing views the recession had ended, while a spike in petrol costs pushed up USinflation. A Federal Reserve report said industrial production increased 0.8 per cent after gaining one per cent in July. The data came a day after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said [...]
Bernanke: recession over at last September 15, 2009 FEDERAL Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke last night said that the worst US recession since the Great Depression was probably over – but he warned that the recovery would be slow and painful. In declaring the recession over, Bernanke went slightly beyond the Fed’s most recent assessment that the economy was levelling off and that indications [...]
Bad banks must be allowed to fail again September 14, 2009 ONE year after Lehman’s demise, there is much we should be grateful for. The economy has shrunk by about 6 per cent, compared to the 25 per cent or so collapse suffered in the US during the Great Depression. We have got off relatively lightly, even though it doesn’t feel that way to the hundreds [...]