Battle to halt BP oil spill has almost ended August 4, 2010 US President Barack Obama said yesterday that BP’s Gulf of Mexico spill is “close to coming to an end” after scientists agreed that three-quarters of the oil is gone and engineers successfully killed the leaking well. “The long battle to stop the leak and contain the oil is finally close to coming to an end,” [...]
BGC Partners looks to emerging markets August 4, 2010 INTERDEALER broker BGC Partners plans to expand in China and the Americas after reporting a 45 per cent rise in second quarter pre-tax profits. BGC, which brokers financial instruments for banks and traders, said it planned to target emerging market economies for growth. The company has established a presence in Sao Paulo, Moscow and Beijing [...]
Russia calms wheat price August 3, 2010 WHEAT prices have fallen back from a 22-month high after Russia stated that its exports would remain stable despite the drought that has ravaged the country’s crops. Russia’s agriculture ministry said the country’s grain crop will drop this year but insisted large stocks will prevent a shortage. High temperatures and a long period of drought [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 3, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BARCLAYS OFFLOADS LOANS IN STRUGGLING CONNAUGHT Lenders to Connaught have started selling their loans to the company, in a sign of their concern about the state of the embattled social housing maintenance group. Barclays, one of Connaught’s syndicate of banks, which is led by Royal Bank of Scotland, on Monday night sold its [...]
WHEAT PRICES SURGE August 2, 2010 WHEAT prices hit a two-year high yesterday of $7.11 (£4.47) a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade as worsening weather continues to ravage Russia’s grain crops and heavy rains in Pakistan are estimated to have destroyed 15 per cent of that country’s crop. Wheat prices soared 42 per cent in July, the biggest monthly [...]
Silver lining for Great Britain after securing best-ever Euro medal haul August 1, 2010 GREAT BRITAIN’S athletes swept to treble medal success in Barcelona last night to secure their best-ever return at a European Championships. Martyn Rooney led home the men’s 4x400m relay team to silver in the final event of the championships, taking the medal tally to 19 over the five days, one more than achieved in Split [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 29, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES LI KA-SHING PAYS £5.8BN FOR UK UTILITY EDF of France is set to sell its UK electricity networks business to Cheung Kong Infrastructure of Hong Kong for £5.8bn, 45 per cent more than the price originally suggested for the deal, according to a person close to the negotiations. The state-controlled French electricity group [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 28, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES ICBC SAYS IT WILL RAISE £4.26BN Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s largest lender by market value, said yesterday it planned to raise up to £4.26bn in a rights issue in Hong Kong and Shanghai to shore up its capital base. The rights issue is the latest in a string of [...]
PIMCO’S GROSS LOWERS THE TONE WITH A TOUCH OF TOILET HUMOUR July 28, 2010 FULL marks to Pimco managing director Bill Gross, who has excelled even his own high standards of witty repartee in his latest Investment Outlook newsletter. The most recent missive is dedicated to none other than the humble toilet – more specifically, the advent of electronic “eye” sensors in place of a manual flushing system. “It’s [...]
Russia plans $29bn state asset sell-off July 28, 2010 RUSSIA plans to sell $29bn worth of assets on the open market, a senior government official said yesterday, allaying investors fears about the transparency of the biggest privatisation since the 1990s. The planned asset sale is designed to fill budget holes that Russia is to battle for the next few years. “We will sell significant [...]