Miners lead FTSE up as China injects confidence July 13, 2011 The FTSE 100 bounced back today despite the deepening Eurozone crisis which has seen Ireland’s credit rating downgraded to junk by ratings agency Moody’s. Miners led the fight back on the blue chip index while investors across Europe were given a boost by positive economic data from China. Its GDP rose 9.5 per cent in [...]
Inflation rate unexpectedly falls July 12, 2011 The inflation rate fell unexpectedly in June, with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure down to 4.2 per cent from 4.5 per cent. The Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation – which includes mortgage interest payments – also fell, from 5.2 per cent to five per cent, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures [...]
EU guilty of credit rating hypocrisy July 7, 2011 SOME people simply can’t win. The largest credit rating agencies – Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch – were rightly pilloried for providing ridiculously optimistic advice in the run-up to the financial crisis, deeming bundles of sub-prime mortgages to be as safe as the debt of very cautious and successful companies or governments. It was [...]
EU guilty of credit rating hypocrisy July 6, 2011 SOME people simply can’t win. The largest credit rating agencies – Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch – were rightly pilloried for providing ridiculously optimistic advice in the run-up to the financial crisis, deeming bundles of sub-prime mortgages to be as safe as the debt of very cautious and successful companies or governments. It was [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 6, 2011 ASSOCIATED BRITISH FOODS Deutsche Bank rates the food-to-fashion conglomerate as a “hold” and raises its target price from 950p to 1,050p, seeing extremely favourable dynamics in European sugar as likely to keep prices high and generate a major windfall for the group. The broker upgrades its 2011-12 earnings per share forecast by £70m or around [...]
House prices rise in June July 6, 2011 House prices rose 1.2 per cent in June, their biggest month-on-month rise since October, mortgage lender Halifax said. That confounded analysts’ expectations for an unchanged reading and left prices 3.5 per cent lower in the three months to June compared with a year ago. “Low interest rates, an increase in the number of people in [...]
Optimism of housebuilders is misguided July 5, 2011 PERSIMMON tried to sound an upbeat note yesterday, insisting it expected the housing market to pick up over the rest of the year. We don’t share the housebuilder’s optimism. House prices have been moving sideways for the past six months and mortgage lending remains tight. Would-be first-time buyers, unable to find the 20 per cent [...]
FTSE extends gains as talk of takeovers boosts the market July 5, 2011 THE FTSE 100 rose for an eighth straight trading day yesterday, as earnings hopes lifted Tullow Oil and bid talk boosted Reckitt Benckiser. Tullow, up 3.8 per cent, said it expected to post record first-half revenues as it ramped up output in Ghana and also said it was a few weeks away from completing a [...]
Banks expect more defaults on mortgages June 30, 2011 DOWNBEAT mortgage lenders fear that defaults on payments could rise again in the coming months, a Bank of England survey revealed yesterday. Despite a “broadly unchanged” number of defaults in the second quarter of this year, losses made on defaults rose for the third quarter in a row – and “lenders expected the default rate [...]
House prices flat in June June 30, 2011 House prices in England and Wales held steady in June, and this trend of broadly static prices is likely to continue for the rest of the year, mortgage lender Nationwide said. Nationwide’s June house price index showed no change on the month, compared to a 0.3 per cent rise in May, and was 1.1 percent [...]