LONDON WEEK AHEAD July 29, 2012 RESULTS season continues with a slew of banks, energy and leisure firms due to update this week, while the Bank of England’s monthly decision on interest rates is due on Thursday. Today’s biggest news comes in the form of interims from under-fire banking giant HSBC and household goods behemoth Reckitt Benckiser. The Bank is set [...]
Fed poised to offer stuttering economy monetary support July 17, 2012 The Federal Reserve stands ready to offer additional monetary support to a US economy that has slowed significantly in recent months, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told lawmakers. He told the Senate Banking Committee the recovery was being held back by tighter financial conditions due to Europe’s debt crisis and uncertainty surrounding US fiscal policy. Financial [...]
Returns diminish as central banks act July 15, 2012 FIVE years on from the start of the financial crisis, have markets become immune to central bank action? Three recently unveiled another batch of stimulus: the Bank of England increased its asset purchase programme by £50bn; the European Central Bank cut its marginal lending rate, cut interest rates by 25 basis points and, perhaps most [...]
Barclays isn’t the only one engaged in the manipulation of interest rates July 9, 2012 IT HAS recently emerged that a UK bank has been manipulating a key interest rate. The only disappointment I have is that people are wasting so much energy on the wrong bank and the wrong interest rate. The Bank of England has far more influence over the banking system than Barclays – it is, after [...]
CITY VIEWS | SHOULD THE BANK OF ENGLAND CUT INTEREST RATES? July 2, 2012 PHILIP WASLING ADM INVESTOR SERVICES I think on balance they should keep the interest rates where they are. I don’t think it will stimulate spending at all. It’s not suddenly going to pour money into people’s pockets, unless mortgage rates come down on the back of it. TIM MILLS FIDELITY I can’t see the benefit [...]
LONDON REPORT July 1, 2012 ALL eyes this week will be on the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which is on Thursday expected to inject another £50bn into the British economy. The decision is likely to be influenced by last week’s news that the double-dip recession is deeper than first thought. The Office for National Statistics said the [...]
WALL ST THE WEEK AHEAD July 1, 2012 US stocks finished the first half of the year with a bang as investors welcomed news that the Eurozone is a step closer to solving its 30-month-long debt crisis. Now for the question: Is this rally strong enough to last for more than a day? The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted their best daily [...]
The UK’s consumer debt burden is stifling hope of economic recovery June 27, 2012 THE Eurozone crisis has grabbed all the headlines. Yet Britain’s economic problems are not exactly the same as those of the Eurozone. In Euroland, the crisis has centred on banking and sovereign debt. In Britain, we have already given our banks plenty of capital. Remember the part-nationalisation of RBS and Lloyds TSB? It was in [...]
Government’s plan to subsidise credit could easily backfire June 15, 2012 USUALLY, formal dinners at Mansion House in the City are highly enjoyable but somewhat predictable affairs. This one was unusually exciting. For the first time I can remember, the speeches from George Osborne and Sir Mervyn King included major news bombshells. The Bank is launching an £80bn “funding for lending” plan to cut the cost [...]
Government’s plan to subsidise credit could easily backfire June 14, 2012 USUALLY, formal dinners at Mansion House in the City are highly enjoyable but somewhat predictable affairs. This one was unusually exciting. For the first time I can remember, the speeches from George Osborne and Sir Mervyn King included major news bombshells. The Bank is launching an £80bn “funding for lending” plan to cut the cost [...]