Fed is cautious on mortgage securities June 4, 2009 THE Federal Reserve was yesterday playing down expectations that it would prop up the market for mortgage-backed securities. The preisdent of the New York Fed said it was still assessing whether or not to include residential mortgage-backed securities in its ambitious consumer lending programme. “No decisions have been made yet,” William Dudley said in response [...]
Asia tycoons jump on AIG fund arm sale June 3, 2009 ASIAN investors are scrambling to add their names to the consortium of buyers set to snap up AIG’s asset management unit, which is being sold as part of the insurer’s fire-sale to repay its US government bailout loans. Singapore’s Temasek and the Hong Kong tycoon Richard Li are close to joining a consortium, led by [...]
MStanley in race to repay TARP funding June 2, 2009 MORGAN Stanley became the latest Wall Street bank to raise capital in an effort to meet the US government’s criteria for paying back state rescue funds yesterday, announcing that it plans to sell common stock worth $2.2bn (£1.3bn). Ten US banks were told to raise new capital earlier this year, after stress testing by regulators [...]
Nadal exit will not faze me, says lucky Fed June 1, 2009 WORLD No2 Roger Federer dismissed suggestions that Rafael Nadal’s shock French Open exit was on his mind after coming within a whisker of suffering a similar fate in Paris. The Swiss ace looked destined to follow his big rival through the Roland Garros trapdoor after going two sets down in a nerve-jangling fourth round clash [...]
RAMSAY RUFFLES A FEW RIVAL FEATHERS May 31, 2009 AFTER years of back-stabbing and open mutual hatred, you’d have thought Gordon Ramsay would have checked his facts before starting a slanging match with arch rival Marco Pierre White. Both celebrity chefs have fed many a wealthy City mouth at the likes of Maze and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and White’s Marco at Stamford Bridge and [...]
MARK ON THE MARKETS May 31, 2009 THERE will be plenty for the market to mull over this week. Amongst the economic news, we are expecting PMI surveys, consumer confidence and PPI out of the UK; unemployment figures from the eurozone; as well as consumption data-including the Fed’s preferred inflation measure-from the US. On Wednesday we will hear the views of Fed [...]
GERMAN DATA PUTS EURO ON THE BACK FOOT May 31, 2009 THIS week brings policy meetings from the Bank of England, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Bank of Canada and the European Central Bank. While the market is not expecting a change in policy from any of these central banks, the rhetoric will be closely monitored for any signs of cautious optimism. The ECB’s policy [...]
Brilliant Barca ruin United’s Euro dream May 27, 2009 BARCELONA (2) vs MANCHESTER UTD (0) MANCHESTER UNITED’S dream of becoming the first team to retain the Champions League fell apart last night in Rome, unpicked by masterful Barcelona and their Argentine inspiration Lionel Messi. United swaggered into the Stadio Olimpico as slight favourites but shuffled out having been soundly beaten, Samuel Eto’o’s early strike [...]
THE GLOOMY NEWS ISN’T ALL OVER YET May 25, 2009 THERE was a little corrective activity in the middle of last week, but the story this quarter for the S&P 500 has been positive: the index has notched up gains of over 11 per cent. But we shouldn’t start getting too excited just yet. The S&P’s gains sit uncomfortably with the gloomy rhetoric that is [...]
Fed’s pessimism is a blow to US shares May 20, 2009 US stocks fell yesterday, led by financials in a late-stage sell-off, after the Federal Reserve gave a more pessimistic view on the economy, tempering hopes for a quick recovery. The Fed cut its 2009 forecast for gross domestic product and raised its outlook for unemployment, tempering the recent optimism that the economy might be turning [...]