Wall St recoils over Obama bank plans January 21, 2010 US stocks suffered their worst one-day percentage drop since October yesterday as US President Barack Obama proposed tough restrictions on banks that would squeeze profits. Major banks slid, with Goldman Sachs falling 4.1 per cent despite posting stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter results, and JPMorgan Chase shed 6.6 per cent, after Obama proposed limiting how banks invest their [...]
Morrisons is Xmas winner as sales surge January 21, 2010 SUPERMARKET chain WM Morrison posted the biggest rise in Christmas sales among Britain’s top four grocers – but urged caution about 2010. Sales at stores open at least a year rose 6.5 per cent, excluding petrol and VAT, in the six weeks to 3 January. Total revenue rose by 10.8 per cent for the period. [...]
Bank of America posts loss after repaying bailout January 20, 2010 BANK of America has posted a quarterly loss and its first full-year deficit in more than 20 years after repaying US bailout money and defaults on consumer loans. The fourth-quarter loss including the cost of exiting the Troubled Asset Relief Program widened to $5.2bn (£3.2bn) or 60 cents a share, from $2.4bn, or 48 cents, [...]
IBM profits rise due to cost-cutting January 19, 2010 COMPUTER giant IBM yesterday raised its profit target for 2010 after posting solid results for its 2009 fourth quarter. Cost-cutting helped the company increase its earnings by nine per cent in the final three months and it made a net profit of $4.8bn (£2.9bn) between October and December, up from $4.4bn a year earlier. Revenues [...]
The City’s most fearsome litigator still has plenty of fire in his belly January 19, 2010 Change is on the way at Herbert Smith as David Gold, who over the last 36 years has built a reputation as one of the most fearsome commercial litigators in the country, will stand down after five years as the City law firm’s senior partner in April. In a distinguished career, Gold has represented Abbey [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 18, 2010 Piper Jaffray The mid-market investment bank has poached Ian Wainwright from Canaccord Adams to join its corporate broking team as a principal. Wainwright has been a managing director at Canaccord since 2007, and was instrumental in building the firm’s life sciences franchise. Prior to that, he was in specialist biotech, medtech and pharma sales at [...]
Take the plunge, don’t be afraid January 14, 2010 SITTING in a leather armchair in the atrium just below his office in Chancery Lane, Grant Challis is musing on the last two years. In that time he has gone from working for a listed investment bank to starting up his own firm, Frostrow Capital: “The scary part is taking the plunge, the reality is [...]
Factory data weak but UK set to grow January 13, 2010 BRITAIN’S manufacturing output failed to grow in November, raising yet further concerns about the strength of the recession-hit producers and the sustainability of the UK’s still fragile recovery. More positively, the wider industrial production measure managed to post a gain of 0.4 per cent, official data showed. But this was entirely a reflection of increased [...]
Even in 2010, some gay lawyers say coming out can damage your career January 12, 2010 AN article counselling young gay lawyers on the tricky matters of etiquette for coming out at work includes the following advice: “Do take your significant other to the firm’s Christmas party… probably best to avoid getting heroically drunk and snogging to slow numbers”. Perhaps it’s no surprise that it has proved a controversial New Year [...]
Cooking up an idyllic holiday January 10, 2010 THERE’S no getting away from the fact that it takes a long time to get to the Cook Islands. Located between Samoa, Fiji and Tahiti, they are as remote as it gets. The flight from London is over 20 hours. However, they are a perfect stop-over to stretch your legs on the way to Australasia [...]