Alistair Darling, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced that he is open to discussion on the possibility of scaling back on the interest rate charges which Iceland is required to make on the £3.4 billion pound losses from failed online bank Icesave. After talks between the governments in London, Darling was reported as saying that although British taxpayers "must get their money back" the Treasury could be willing to negotiate terms. The Treasury is considering two options to scale back interest rate charges while insisting that both options must see debts being fully recouped. The Icelandic government is seemingly eager to arrive at a more flexible compromise as opinion polls in the country suggest the initial deal that was hammered out would be more than likely rejected in a forthcoming referendum.

According to a very recent survey, the UK personal computer (PC) market saw fourth quarter growth for the first time in a year, despite a fall in sales from the business sector. Holding the top spot were Acer with 19.1 per cent market share, with HP hot on their heels with an 18.9 per cent market share. Dell was in third place with 16.5 per cent, followed by Toshiba and Samsung with 10.4 per cent and 6.5 per cent respectively. The total UK market in terms of shipments in the fourth quarter of 2010 was 3.8 million units. A market analyst reported that the personal computer market in the UK was becoming increasingly dependent on laptops (mobiles), which accounted for 70 per cent of the total PC market, with growth in demand reaching 24 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009. However, the report did state that despite the overall growth, the professional PC market declined by 25 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009.

The much loved general interest magazine Reader’s Digest UK has been forced into administration after failing to gain support from the UK pension’s regulator over an agreement for funding their £125 million pension deficit. The UK subsidiary of U.S. Reader’s Digest Association have recently brokered a deal with trustees of its pension plan and the Pension Protection Fund. The deal would have seen a capital payment alongside the transfer of a one-third interest in the equity of the UK business to the UK pension scheme trustees. The UK is the only branch of the multiple national Readers’ Digest Association with a large pension shortfall. The parent company said the UK insolvency is not liable to have a material impact on its other global operations.

Legal & General (L&G) has revealed plans to supply "longevity insurance" to pension funds, in a move which will see the insurer compete against the major European insurance companies. The launch of the new insurance product by L&G will precede similar plans by others in the insurance sector including Prudential, who are also considering moving into this market. A spokesman for L&G emphasised that the provision of longevity swaps will "develop alongside and not necessarily compete with" L&G’s bulk annuity business. Babcock International and RSA were reported to be the first companies to take out longevity protection in 2009.

Private equity group HgCapital Trust is seeking to raise more capital from investors by preparing a share issue to shore up its finances, amid expectation of a rise in new investments. Industry sources suggest the London-listed group could raise as much as 50 million pounds. As one of the best-performing listed private equity groups with a market capitalisation of 210 million pounds, HgCapital is hoping to appeal to investors from its position of strength by making a placing of ordinary shares with subscription shares attached. A spokesman for the company projected that HgCapital will invest more than it sells, as the market conditions present bargains.

Shares in Barclays were up 2.9 per cent to 302 pence on a positive response to their recent results. Ahead of their results due to be issued next week, Lloyds Banking Group rose 3.2 per cent to 50½ pence and Royal Bank of Scotland took on 1.9 per cent to 34 pence.

Sterling continued to slip against both the Euro and the Dollar. It closed at $1. 5392 while settling on 1.1409 against the Euro.

Overall, the FTSE 100 added 32 points to 5,307.85, meaning that it has risen for seven of the last eight sessions.

According to a report released on Thursday, certain of the states of the U.S. look like facing a total shortfall totaling no less than $1 trillion in their funds for employees’ pensions and retirement benefits. The state of Illinois is reported to be in the worst shape, with only 54 percent of its pension obligations funded, according to the report, taken into account only the fiscal years up to June 2008. That fact makes the picture even less than rosy as the downturn that began in the final six months of 2008 and continued till the end of 2009 – was when many funds’ investment portfolios suffered their most serious devastation. Regardless of stock market fluctuations, pension funds were destined to fall down a budget hole, the non-profit research center who prepared the report pointed out.

The US Federal Reserve has predicted that the US economy is still on target to grow strongly during 2010, but unemployment will remain high, has warned. In its latest forecast, the Fed said that the economy would expand between 2.8% and 3.5% in 2010, with the unemployment rate expected to remain between 9.5% and 9.7% in 2010.

Encouraging January housing starts, better-than-expected earnings and receding fears on the European sovereign debt situation boosted risk appetite prompted Wall Street stocks to rise moderately for the second consecutive session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 93 points to 10,392.9 while the NASDAQ Composite rose 15 points to 2,241.71

Hewlett-Packard (HP) has raised its outlook for its financial year after strong sales over the Christmas period lifted its profits by 25%.

Higher demand for its personal computers and servers saw its net profit for the three months to 31 January total $2.32 billion (£1.48 billion).

This compares with $1.86 billion for the same first quarter period a year earlier. HP’s revenues for the quarter were up 8% to $31.2 billion, as its results came in ahead of market expectations.

The price of oil has risen sharply as the dollar, the currency in which the commodity is priced, weakened against the pound and the euro.

US light crude rose by $3 to $ $77.01 with London Brent settling at $75.68 a barrel.

financial

• Thirsty markets eye water By Sarah O’Connor Published: July 23 2008 16:17 | Last...
• Wynn Macau Expects Higher Q-3 2008 Returns Wynn Resorts, Limited (Nasdaq: WYNN) announced preliminary expectations of its...
• Beside Soaring Profits MGM Mirage Will Go Ahead With Cotai Strip Project There is little mention about their Macau Casinos, except on...

Tags: Alistair Darling, Babcock International, Banking, Barclays, British Economy, British Pound, Credit Crunch, Currency, Economy, Financial News, FTSE, Hewlett-Packard, HgCapital, Icesave, Legal & General, Lloyds Banking Group, Money, NASDAQ, Reader's Digest Association, Recession, Retail, Royal Bank of Scotland, RSA, Savings, Stocks and shares, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Wall Street

A recent report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has stated that the expected substantial cuts in the public sector, will mean that around one in three of the employers in the sector plan to shed jobs during the first quarter of 2010, which is now halfway through.

Despite the UK emerging from recession, CIPD’s latest quarterly survey found that the jobs outlook had worsened. UK unemployment currently stands at 2.46 million, with the number of people out of work steadily rising since the summer of 2008, despite a surprise fall in the three months to November.

British investors concerned about the outlook for UK inflation, consumer spending and the public finances following the recession, received some news that their fears would be confirmed. Inflation spiked up to a 14-month high of 3.5% in January, data released by the Office for National Statistics confirmed, as effects of the VAT hike and a number of other one-off factors such as the sharply falling oil and food prices of a year ago began to take their toll. The Bank of England’s forecasts suggest inflation should fall below the 2 per cent target in 2011 even though its latest analysis concedes that inflationary pressures are currently stronger than anticipated.

Taxpayers could be forced to wait five years before they start recouping the tens of billions of pounds spent propping up the banks.

UK Financial Investments, which oversees the Government’s stake in RBS, Lloyds and Northern Rock, fears it will be 2015 before it can sell off the shares.

It had hoped to start off-loading sooner after the bailout led by Chancellor Alistair Darling, but now believes that may not be possible without big losses. Officials, who have been careful not to give a timetable that could drive down share prices, are working on the basis of five years, while the Treasury fear that they may be forced to retain their minority stake for much longer.

According to a survey held by the Institute of Directors, sixty percent of UK companies who applied for a bank loan in 2009 ended up getting turned down. This sad and ridiculous situation has even led to company owners and directors being reduced to borrowing on their credit cards. Results of the Institute of Directors’ survey shows that the banks are simply not listening to Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling orders to start lending again as payback for pumping £850 billion into the economy.

Even more of a cause for concern is that the report shows that 83% of businesses who were rejected for bank finance are also not receiving any information about alternative finance that may be available to them, including the Government’s Enterprise Finance Guarantee.

The report shows that increasingly more businesses, and especially the smaller ones, are turning to forms of expensive unsecured finance, such as credit cards, to get them through their short-term cash-flow problems. Particularly hard hit by the loan famine are small to medium sized UK companies whose desire to expand will be critical to creating jobs and dragging Britain out of recession.

On the same tack, credit card interest rates in the UK have climbed to their highest level since 1998. Millions now find themselves facing crippling repayments on their debts, despite the historically low Bank of England base rates. Average credit card interest has now soared to a staggering 18.8%, leaving consumers facing the prospect of paying more than 40% on the cash they have borrowed, an increase of 25% in the last four years.

Barclays Bank has announced an increase in their full-year profits of 92% in 2009. There full year profits were an outstanding £11.6 billion ($18.2 billion), with the figure being largely boosted by the sale of its BGI fund management arm to US firm BlackRock last year. Without the input from the sale of BGI, Barclays would have made just £5.3 billion, with £2.5 billion of that coming from their investment banking division…

Barclays, who did not take any direct state help during the financial crisis, also saw the level of its total bonus payouts rise to £2.7 billion, with £1.5 billion of that to be paid out for 2009 and a further £1.2 billion to be paid out over the coming three years.

Virgin Media are believed to be in the final stages of an agreement over the sale of its television channels to rival BSkyB. , the channels that are entirely owned and produced by Virgin Media, Virgin 1, Bravo, Challenge and Living, are due to be sold to BSkyB. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has a 39.1 percent share in BSkyB.

Meanwhile, Cheltenham based fashion retailer Supergroup, have announced that they ate to launch a flotation designed to rise up to £125 million pounds. If successful, the valuation of the company is expected to be around £400 million, roughly nine times Supergroup’s forecasted 2011 earnings

The pound fell back against the dollar, closing at 1.5633 while also slumping to 1.1453 against the Euro.

Overall, the FTSE 100 was stronger at 5,244.06, a rise of 58 points, and its sixth rise in seven trading days

Foreign demand for US Treasury bonds and notes in December fell by $53 billion as China was seen to be reducing its holdings. China cut its holdings by $34.2 billion, will still remaining the second-biggest US debt holder after Japan.

On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average continues to climb up 169.67 points at 10268.81. The NASDAQ gained a further 30.66 points to close on 2,214.19

financial

• Skier Profile for Resi Stiegler Resi Stiegler was born on November 14, 1985 in Jackson...
• The Two Personal Finance Lessons We Should Learn from the Demise of U.S. Investment Banks Lehman Brothers Faces the Hard Truth Lehman Brothers has been...
• What The Effects Are of A Rising Interest Rate In Terms Of Its Currency: Look At Australia Australia just became the first major central bank to raise...

Tags: Alistair Darling, Bank, Bank of England, Banking, Barclays, BGI, Bravo, British Economy, BskyB, Challenge, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, CIPD, Dow Jones, Economy, Enterprise Finance Guarantee, Financial News, FTSE, Institute of Directors, Living, Lloyds, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Northern Rock, Office for National Statistics, RBS, Recession, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, Supergroup, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK Financial Investments, UK government, UK Recession, Virgin 1, Virgin Media, Wall Street

According to a recent survey conducted by the Confederation for British Industry (CBI), around a third of the UK financial services companies were said to be more optimistic about their situation and that of the sector in general. This makes for the third consecutive quarter that confidence has risen in the financial services industry, making for a 100% increase since the middle of 2009. The increased optimism comes despite slightly weaker volumes being recorded than forecast in the fourth quarter, coupled with some fears that business will contract in the first quarter of this year.

There were smiling faces all around as retailer House of Fraser delivered a trading update on Monday showing a new record for festive sales. Signs that the UK consumer was shrugging off the recession came as the privately-owned department store chain showed sales rising by 7.1 percent in the eight weeks to Jan. 2nd as well as Boxing Day sales figures that were up climbed 27 percent on 2008.

Less happy were the management team at, Tesco, who according to a global study has dropped to fourth place in a league table of the world’s biggest retailers. Tesco dropped one place pushed down by the German retail group, Metro. Sales figures for Tesco for the six weeks to January 9 is expected to report like-for-like sales growth of about three percent for the period.

Some good news for those UK householders whose boilers are rated at G level or lower. In addition to the two combined subsidies from the UK government and British Gas that is liable to cover around a third of the estimated cost of buying and installing a new boiler, British Gas has just added a further £452 in cost savings for those who will be replacing their boiler under the scheme which will come in two forms.

• A set of comprehensive radiator controls for the home or office valued at £248.
• Homecare 200 repairs cover for the boiler costing £204.

Anyone who is liable to receive these subsidies, which in general should include anyone who has a boiler more than 15 years old may be eligible to receive these grants and subsidies, contact British Gas on 0845 074 5991 for a free consolation or click http://www.britishgas.co.uk/yourboiler

Spanish banking group Santander has announced the launch of a marketing campaign aimed at bringing its UK brands under one name. Santander will invest around £30 million pounds refurbishing the 1,000 branches across the UK coming under their label as well as printing new product literature for the Abbey, Bradford & Bingley and Alliance & Leicester banks. To add some glamour, formula one racing driver Lewis Hamilton has been chosen to publicise the company’s new image at a Santander branch to be opened in central London.

Manchester United FC have announced their plans to mount a bond issue intended to raise £500 million in order to refinance the club’s mounting debts.

The announcement came as the club announced pre-tax profits of £48.2 million for the year to 30 June 2009, compared with a loss of £21.4 million last year. The profit was swollen by the £80 million fee received by the club from Real Madrid who purchased the services of Cristiano Ronaldo during the close season. According to information issued by the club’s holding company Red Football Ltd, group turnover rose to £278.5 million from £256.2 million in 2008. Although Red Football disclosed no total debt figure was announced, estimates have it at around £700 million.

British Land has unveiled plans to manage a £300 million pound buy-to-let fund being launched by Charles Russell, the prominent UK law firm. The fund has been established to acquire prime residential real estate in London. British Land will also take a small stake in the fund as the property group rapidly expands its residential business, marking British Land’s first residential investments since selling the majority of its portfolio in 2006.

Revenue at IT services group Computacenter remained weak for 2009, largely due to a shortage of large infrastructure projects. With this factor taken this factor into account, the company instituted a substantial cost-cutting programme which look likely to see them beat profit forecasts for 2009, which could be close to £50 million pounds. On the news shares in Computacenter rose 17.7 pence to 309 pence on Tuesday.

The pound continued its recovery above the dollar in mid week trading, while moving up slightly against the Euro.

• Dollar 1.6207
• Euro 1.118

On Tuesday the FTSE 100 Index fell 0.7 percent, to 5,498.71.

Meanwhile it has been announced that during one of the biggest turn-downs in US financial history the US Federal Reserve announce that they made a profit of $52.1 billion (£32.2 billion) in 2009, marking a rise of 47% over the previous year, allowing them to pay a record $46.1 billion to the US Treasury last year.

The $46.1 billion was the largest amount ever paid by the central bank since it was creation in 1914, and was largely thanks to the Fed’s attempts to support the financial system throughout the ongoing financial crisis.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Tuesday up slightly, nine points to 10,627. The NASDAQ dropped to close on 2,282.

The recently formed US Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) is to hold their first public hearing on Wednesday.

The 10-member panel was established by Congress to examine the causes of the 2008 US financial crisis. The committee will examine the causes of the crisis, and are scheduled to hear testimony on the current state of the crisis from a cross section of private and public sector leaders.

Witnesses will include top executives from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America.

Findings and the report of the panel are due to be presented to Congress and President Barack Obama by 15 December.

financial

• Remember to Fill Out Your FAFSA Early to Receive Financial Aid and Other Tips to Reduce Student Loans It's already January again, so I wanted to do my...
• Skier Profile for Bryon Friedman The turning point in Bryon Friedman's life was when he...
• Kingfisher's woes | Advantage Lifestyle When Kingfisher introduced TV entertainment in its never before Kingfisher...

Tags: Abbey, Alliance & Leicester, Bank, Bank of America, Banking, Barack Obama, boiler, Bradford & Bingley, British Economy, British Gas, British Land, British Pound, CBI, Charles Russell, Computacenter, Confederation for British Industry, Credit Crunch, Cristiano Ronaldo, Currency, Dow Jones, Economy, FCIC, Financial News, FTSE, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Lewis Hamilton, Manchester United, Metro, Money, Money Markets, Morgan Stanley, NASDAQ, Real Madrid, Recession, Red Football Ltd, Retail, Santander, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, Tesco, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, UK retail, US Federal Reserve, US Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, US Treasury

Retailers won the closely watched holiday skirmish with shoppers, who opened their wallets a little bit despite a still struggling economy, fewer discounts than last year and limited variety on store shelves, according to recently released data. A late boost from last minute shoppers and an extra day of shopping increased total retail sales by 3.6% over the year. According to estimates Shoppers in Britain spent over £130 million pounds online on Christmas Day alone, a 29 percent increase from a year earlier. The number of U.K. customers on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, also increased, by 19 percent. Retailers avoided last year’s pre-Christmas discounting by cutting inventory to “much healthier” levels, according to Morgan Stanley analysts. Prices, which were slashed by as much as 75 percent in 2008, were down by about 50 percent on London’s Oxford Street shopping district on Dec. 26 at retailers including the Zara clothing chain, House of Fraser Ltd, Bhs and Topshop clothing outlets.

Recent data has shown that demand from house buyers in the UK fell in December for the first time since January 2009, with the number of new buyers registering with agents down 2.2 per cent. The monthly survey showed a slight rise in prices for the month of 0.1 per cent and also noted that about half of all homeowners had no mortgage or owned less than 25 per cent of the value of their home. This is the sole sector of the community said to be behind the increased demand for new houses.

Britain’s recovery from recession has so far been sluggish compared with other developed nations but stronger growth in 2010 should help it narrow the gap. The UK economy is forecast to shrink 4.5 per cent this year and Consensus Economics says that the consensus forecast is for a rebound of 1.4 per cent in 2010. The UK looks set to lag behind the recovery in the US where the consensus forecast suggests growth of 2.7 per cent. The sharp fall in the value of the pound will help UK exporters and the manufacturing sector will see a projected growth of 2.1 per cent.

Recent research has revealed that only one-in-three British businesses believe that plans by Lord Mandelson to boost production industries will do any good. In the survey of 57 manufacturers, only 20 said that the business secretary’s programme of ‘industrial activism’ was likely to benefit UK manufacturers. The remaining 37 said the programme would not help the sector or were unconvinced about its outcomes. However, there was better news regarding manufacturers’ expectations of an industrial recovery, with almost two-thirds of those polled saying the sector was in line for an upturn in 2010.

A spokesman for the Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus has said that Britain should shrug off worries about the huge government deficit and prepare to spend ‘tens of billions of pounds’ on infrastructure investment to push the economy out of recession. The spokesman went on to add that that the UK needed to draw up a ‘real industrial policy’ that would make the country more attractive to manufacturers. Lord Mandelson’s efforts to encourage ‘advanced manufacturing’ as a way of rebalancing the economy were worthy of praise, while stating that these initiatives did not go far enough, and that investment programmes should also railways, schools, roads, hospitals and other public amenities.

Virgin Money is reported to be in advanced talks to buy a small UK bank, which will provide an opening for the company to be granted a banking license, completing the Virgin’s long-standing ambition to provide a full range of financial products, including mortgages and current accounts to the British consumer.

The FTSE was closed on Friday as the market awarded itself a long weekend for the Festive Season.

Sterling remained below the $1.60 level on Fridays trading, although rising a little, whilst falling slightly s against the Euro

• Dollar 1.5962
• Euro 1.1089

A resurgent dollar is likely to power through to 2010 with its up-trend intact, as a steadily improving economy leads investors to believe U.S. interest rates will increase sooner than had been expected. The demand for riskier currencies has broken down as the year has come to an end, with the dollar now gaining on positive U.S. data. Analysts predict that the U.S. economy continues to show strength, the dollar stands to strengthen even more.

Wall Street was closed on Friday for the Christmas holiday.

In Japan early Monday the Nikkei average hit its highest close in four months on Monday as stronger-than-forecast output data boosted the manufacturing sector. Adding to the upbeat mood in the market, data before the start of trade showed Japan’s industrial output rose a better-than-expected 2.6 per cent in November, the strongest gain in six months as rising exports to Asia bode well for a recovering economy. The benchmark Nikkei climbed 1.3 per cent, or 139.52 points, to 10,634.23, its highest close since August 26.

financial

• Health Care Costs in Retirement A difficult task in retirement planning and budgeting is estimating...
• Copper cents will probably get very scarce, very soon One hundred million pennies made their way to the for...
• Crown Macau Now Busiest Casino in the World! Hot on the heels of our precious invitation from Melco...

Tags: Bank, Banking, Bhs, British Economy, British Pound, Christmas, Consensus Economics, Corus, Currency, Economics, Economy, Employment, Financial News, FTSE, House of Fraser Ltd, industrial activism, Lord Mandelson, Money, Money Markets, Morgan Stanley, Mortgage, Mortgages, Nikkei, Recession, Retail, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, Topshop, U.S. economy, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK export, UK government, UK manufacturers, UK Recession, Virgin Money, Wall Street, Xmas, Zara clothing chain

Heathrow baggage handlers and Eurostar train drivers have said they are ready to join British Airways cabin crew and strike in the lead-up to Christmas. Following a breakdown in talks with managers over pay, British Eurostar drivers announced they will go on strike on Friday and Saturday. Unite, the union representing BA cabin crew, said the 500 baggage handlers and check-in staff it covered at Heathrow and Aberdeen airports also planned to strike over pay from Tuesday 24th December, the same day that BA cabin crew are set to commence their 12-day strike action.

Meanwhile an operation is under way to recover the UK thousands of people left stranded after Flyglobespan, Scotland’s biggest airline, collapsed. After their parent company, Globespan, entered administration on Wednesday. Around 4,500 passengers were stranded by the airline’s collapse, mostly in Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Egypt, with the Civil Aviation Authority expected to be repatriating about 1,100 of those stuck overseas.

A recent poll has shown that UK business leaders have become more gloomy about the recovery of the British economy over the last month, with only 36 percent of business leaders sensing that a financial recovery is in the offing, down from 49 percent in November.

The survey, taken in the five days after Finance Minister Alistair Darling’s pre-budget report last week, found the number of business leaders who had confidence in Darling had fallen five percentage points to 20 percent following the statement. Almost three-quarters of businessmen reckoned that Darling was "out of his depth" while less than a quarter believed he "understands business".

Public sector net borrowing in the UKs hit a record high of £20.3 billion in November, according to figures issued by the Office for National Statistics.

The public sector net debt as a percentage of overall UK economic output now stands at 60.2%, a considerably rise since the start of the financial crisis.

UK insurance companies also have little positive to report about, with worldwide premium income plunging 18% in 2008 to £215.3 billion, with 2009 also looking to be a fairly tough year. The financial crisis has had a definite effect on insurance rates, with premium income it falling almost 25% to £168.1 billion in 2008. The first nine months of this year, however, do show some promise. Long-term premium income was off 35% relative to the same period in 2008, but general insurance premiums gained 8% to £47.2 billion, mostly due to overseas business.

Virgin Group controlled by billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson have announced the launch of a new company, designed to come to the rescue of consumers experiencing technical problems with their such as PCs as well as wireless networks not connecting. The opening of this new company, to be known as Virgin Digital Help, is Virgin’s up’s first new UK company in three years offers free online self-help guides such as "speed up" to make computers go faster, or "get connected" to fix links to printers or wireless networks .

Shareholders in Punch Taverns revolted on Wednesday over the pay for executives at Britain’s largest pub owner, voting against its remuneration policies, in one of the biggest shareholder protests over pay this year. 55 per cent of votes on the remuneration policies of the heavily indebted company were cast against them as shareholders objected to the scale of the awards given to executives in a year in which the group suspended dividend payments after its annual pre-tax loss quintupled to £406 million. While the vote on pay was advisory only, a spokesman for Punch announced that they are to conduct “a full review of the remuneration policy and its future implementation” in the wake of the result. The ABI, which represents shareholders that account for about 20 per cent of investments in the UK stock market, signalled its objection to the pay policies by issuing a “red top” alert to its members. Under a long-term incentive plan, Giles Thorley, chief executive, and three other executives were awarded shares worth 200 per cent of their base salary that would vest if total shareholder returns were in the top quartile of the company’s peers over three years. Mr Thorley earned a base salary of £525,000 during the 2008 financial year to August 23. The vote at the annual meeting came after the company warned slowing food sales and patchy trading at its leased estate were depressing profits. Punch shares fell 4.7 per cent to 77.3 pence.

Carphone Warehouse, broadband group TalkTalk and Channel 4 have opted into a joint venture between the BBC, ITV RTL’s AUDK.LU Five and BT to install internet video on television sets. The backing from all public service broadcasters and the UK’s two biggest broadband providers for the project to be known as Project Canvas will help it "secure the future of free-to-air broadcasting" in the Internet age. The venture partners will share an estimated £115 million in yearly costs over the next four years.

Rentokil Initial was among the talking points in the London market on Wednesday, with the stock registering its biggest gain since July.

The pest control-to-package delivery group bounced 4.8 per cent to 105 pence ahead of its relegation from the FTSE 100 next week, with Rentokil management already hinting of a further £150 million of cost savings expected for next year.

Shares in the U.K.’s second-largest drug-maker AstraZeneca Plc climbed 0.5 percent to 2,843 pence after they won a U.S. panel’s backing to expand use of the cholesterol pill Crestor in the prevention of heart disease, a move that, if allowed, could add up to £300 million in annual sales.

Imperial Tobacco Group Plc Europe’s second- largest publicly traded cigarette company, lost 1 percent to 1,894 pence on threat that Japan, the fifth-largest tobacco market, are about to announce further tax increases on cigarettes . U.K. furnishings and clothes chain known for floral pattern Laura Ashley Holdings Plc added 3.8 percent to 13.75 pence, after analysts predicted a better 2010 for the company.

Barclays, Britain’s second-largest bank, slid 6.2 percent to 273.85 pence. HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe biggest, fell 3.5 percent to 684.1 pence.

Lloyds, the 43 percent government-owned bank, lost 8.1 percent to 51.1 pence, the steepest slump since May. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc fell 3.5 percent to 30.74 pence.

Sterling lost ground against the dollar and improved against the Euro in sluggish mid week trading.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6167
• Pound/Euro 1.1273

The benchmark FTSE 100 Index slid 102.65, or 1.9 percent, to 5,217.61. The index has rebounded 49 percent since March and is heading for its biggest annual gain since 1997 as central banks cut interest rates to record lows and governments worldwide committed about $12 trillion to revive the economy

As had been widely expected, the Federal Reserve have announced that US interest rates will be kept on hold at between 0% and 0.25%, despite continuing signs that the US economy is recovering. The central bank reiterated that rates would stay at the low level for an "extended period".

The Fed’s hand was strengthened by official data showing earlier on Wednesday that US inflation remains under control, rising by just 0.4% in November, as had been predicted.

With inflation continuing to be low, the Fed is not under pressure to increase interest rates as a means to tackle any inflationary pressure.

On close of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped more than 130 points to 10, 33.61 while the NASDAQ also dropped to 2,183.55.

financial

• Greystripe And Tribal Fusion See Success With Web-To-Mobile Ad Campaigns Mobile ad network Greystripe recently partnered with ad placement service...
• Ford Has Hybrid Electric Cars in Works Recently, Ford automotive submitted to congress a business plan of...
• AIG still on the precipice?   AIG will soon be a domestic insurer if the...

Tags: Alistair Darling, AstraZeneca Plc, Bank, Bank of England, Banking, Barclays, British airways, British Economy, British Pound, cabin crew, Carphone Warehouse, Christmas, Civil Aviation Authority, Credit Crunch, Crestor, Currency, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Eurostar, Financial News, Flyglobespan, FTSE, Globespan, Heathrow, HSBC Holdings Plc, Imperial Tobacco Group Plc, Interest Rates, Laura Ashley Holdings Plc, Lloyds, Lloyds Banking Group, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Office for National Statistics, Punch Taverns, Recession, Rentokil Initial, Richard Branson, Royal Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, TalkTalk, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK insurance companies, UK Recession, Virgin Digital Help, Virgin Group

The Treasury is looking at introducing tougher requirements on bankers’ pay disclosure than those proposed last week by Sir David Walker.

Alistair Darling, the chancellor, announced a formal consultation exercise on Monday on whether legislation should go further than the Walker review, which proposed that banks should disclose the numbers of employees earning above £1 million.

Treasury officials said there was a case for greater disclosure, for example starting at £750,000 and having narrower bands.

The news came as the chairman of the Financial Reporting Council; Sir David Hogg signalled that his review of broader corporate governance at UK listed companies, published on Tuesday, would be more far-reaching than Sir David’s recommendations on bank boards.

U.K. house prices rose for a fourth month in November as the shortage of homes for sale sustained the property market, according to industry sources.

The average cost of a home in England and Wales climbed 0.2 percent from October to 156,700 pounds, meaning that prices are down 11 percent from the 2007 peak. While U.K. mortgage data due today may show loan approvals at the highest level in 19 months in October, rising unemployment may curb house price increases next year. According to Bank of England Governor Mervyn King, the economy’s recovery from the longest recession on record isn’t “particularly strong.”

Dubai World, the investment company whose $59 billion of liabilities caused stock markets across the World some anxiety will ask all creditors for a “standstill” agreement as it negotiates to extend maturities according to Dubai’s Department of Finance. Reports are that the plan will not be acceptable to most investors and would be considered a default. Dubai, the second-biggest of seven states that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE)., and its state-owned companies borrowed $80 billion to fund an economic boom and diversify its economy. The global credit crisis and a decline in property prices hurt companies like Dubai World as they struggled to raise loans and forced the emirate to turn for help to Abu Dhabi, UAE capital who hold 8 percent of the world’s oil reserves.

Barclays Bank will book a gain close to £1 billion more than expected on the sale of its asset management arm to BlackRock thanks to a 62 per cent rise in the US fund manager’s shares since the deal was struck. The UK bank on Tuesday completed the £9.1 billion sale of Barclays Global Investors (BGI) to BlackRock, which becomes the world’s biggest asset manager with more than $3,000 billion .Barclays has taken a 19.9 per cent stake in BlackRock as part of the cash-and-shares deal. The sale price was £6.2 billion higher than the value of BGI in the accounts of Barclays, and £900 million more than estimated when the deal was agreed in June.

Thomas Cook will refinance their £1.65 billion loan facilities by next summer but has no plans to use a rights issue, according to a leading company representative. The tour operator’s current facilities are due to expire in May 2011. The company has predicted that 2010 would be a tough trading year, and the refinancing plans were announced as Thomas Cook revealed that net debt had more than doubled from £292 million in 2008 to £675 million. Explanations were that the additional debt had come from completing its share buy-back programme, acquisitions and the need for increased working capital arising from late holiday bookings.

British Airways Plc has announced that they are to conduct a series of feasibility studies and tests to see if their planes can run on bio-fuels. The airline will run the trials in conjunction with Rolls-Royce. On that piece of good news for the environment, shares in BA shares gained 0.6 pence percent, to 193.8, while Rolls-Royce rose 0.9 pence to 476.4.

Cadbury Plc Chief Executive Officer’s Todd Stitzer has signaled his support for a possible bid by U.S. candy maker Hershey Co. in preference to the hostile bid from Kraft. Meanwhile JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. are being lined up to provide Hershey a further $7 billion in finance. Cadbury’s shares later advanced 3 pence to 806.

Drinks manufacturer C&C saw its share price jump almost 9 per cent yesterday on the back of an announcement that it is to acquire the British cider assets of Constellation Brands owners of the Gaymer Cider Company, the UK’s second largest cider manufacturer, for £45 million.

The transaction is expected to be completed by mid-January 2010, and will broaden C&C’s existing cider offering beyond Bulmers and Magners to include brands such as Blackthorn, Olde English as well as Gaymers.

Under the terms of the deal C&C will also acquire a cider production facility in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, and a distribution warehouse in Bristol. As well as strengthening its position in the UK cider market, the acquisition is expected to shift C&C’s focus away from on-trade sales towards the faster-growing off-trade distribution channel.

On the Foreign Currency exchanges, the Pound rose against the dollar, yen and Swiss Franc whilst falling slightly against the Euro,

• Pound/US dollar 1.6605
• Pound/Euro 1.1002
• Pound/Japanese Yen 144.5284
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6589

Fears of a further fall in share value on the FTSE 100 were dispelled as shares continued to recover, closing in Wednesday on 5312.77, up 67 points from the weekend.

US shares headed higher on Tuesday after a flurry of economic data pointed to a rebound in the economy Better reports on construction and housing suggested there was something to look forward to.

The housing figures, from the National Association of Realtors, provided the best hopes for growth, showing sales agreements 3.7% up on the month and 32% higher than this time last year.

The Dow Jones index closed up 126.66 points, or 1.2%, on Tuesday to reach 10,471.50 points, while the NASDAQ also rose, closing the day on 2175.8.

Australia’s central bank lifted interest rates for a third consecutive month on Tuesday amid signs that inflationary pressures were building in an economy expected to return to “trend” growth of 3.25 per cent next year. The 25 basis point rise to 3.75 per cent matches increases in the last two months and is part of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s strategy of weaning the economy off historically low interest rates. The benchmark rate fell to a 49-year low of 3 per cent earlier this year.

The continuing weakness of the US dollar has pushed up demand for gold to another record level. Gold struck £722.69 an ounce on the London Bullion Market, after striking historic peaks over recent weeks. The dollar index fell 0.8% against a number of currencies as early fears regarding the Dubai debt crisis continued to wane across international markets. Demand for gold has been fueled by moves by central banks to diversify assets.

financial

• Tahoe City Marina, Lake Tahoe Tahoe City Marina is located on the north shore of...
• Tennis Preview: The West Virginia Open Final preparations are currently being made for the West Virginia...
• Dr Stanley Ho's to Start Marketing SJM Listing in Hong Kong Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM), partly owned by gaming...

Tags: Alastair Darling, Bank of America Corp, Bank of England, Banking, Barclays Bank, Barclays Global Investors, BlackRock, Blackthorn, British Airways Plc, British Economy, British Pound, Bullion Market, Bulmers, C&C, Cadbury Plc, Dow Jones, Dubai World, Economy, Financial News, Gaymer Cider, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Magners, Mervyn King, Money, NASDAQ, National Association of Realtors, Olde English, Recession, Reserve Bank of Australia, Rolls-Royce, Shepton Mallet, Sir David Hogg, Sir David Walker, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, Thomas Cook, Todd Stitzer, UAE, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, United Arab Emirates

Chancellor Alistair Darling will say in his pre-Budget report that the economy performed worse in 2009 than he first predicted, Treasury sources have said.

Darling is expected to say that the UK economy shrank by 4.75% this year – more than the 3.5% originally forecast in the Budget in March.

The adjustment follows the economy’s unexpectedly poor performance in the first three months of the year. The chancellor looks likely to stick to 2010 forecasts of growth between 1-1.5%, despite the emergence of Dubai’s financial problems which now raises fresh fears that UK banks could face more write-downs on bad debts, and chimes with warnings earlier this week from the International Monetary Fund, who said that global banks had only worked through half their toxic assets since the banking crisis broke two years ago. Investors had been hoping the British financial sector had worked through much its toxic debt, which included exposure to America’s sub-prime mortgage market.

Despite this week’s setbacks, economic analysts continue to predict that the UK economy should emerge from recession by the end of the year, with the Northern Ireland and Scotland facing a more challenging recovery. The prediction came as revised gross domestic product (GDP) figures showed the UK recession was shallower than previously thought between July and September. Revised estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed a 0.3% fall in UK output in the third quarter, compared with the 0.4% slide originally stated. While UK business confidence surveys on the "mainland" bear out signs of recovery, Northern Ireland business activity continued to fall in October, albeit at the slowest rate since the start of 2008. The reasons apparently are local margins remaining under pressure, is that the manufacturing sector in the province is still reporting a lack of demand and heavy competition in difficult markets. The combination of these factors looks like meaning Northern Ireland will likely lag the UK recovery. Scotland’s growth will continue to lag behind the rest of the UK’s, according to a leading economic think tank. Similar sources also announced that they had observed some "disturbing weaknesses" in the Scottish economy and predicted growth of -4.9% this year and 0.7% in 2010. Job cuts are expected to continue, with the unemployment rate reaching as high as 8% in 2010. The only prescription for growth for both Northern Ireland and Scotland would be to switch to a more export-led economy, exploiting global markets

Jaguar Land Rover had seen its sales rise 23% in the second quarter after its new models were well-received.

Owner Tata Motors said new products such as the upgraded Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Discovery 4 had had successful launches.

Although Jaguar Land Rover made a net loss of £60 million in the July-September quarter, it was much less than the £240 million loss it made a year earlier.

India’s Tata Motors made a net profit of £2.8 million in the third quarter of, 2008, compared with a loss of £127,000 for the same period last year.

Borders U.K., the bookstore chain once owned by U.S.- based Borders Group Inc., has called in administrators after failing to find a buyer for its stores. A total of 1,150 employees are affected, according to the statement.

“All stores currently remain open for business as normal whilst the administrators undertake a review of the company’s affairs and seek a purchaser for all or some of the company’s stores in which there has already been interest,” Philip Duffy, principal administrator announced in a statement.

U.K. media have reported that HMV Group Plc’s Waterstone’s books chain is considering buying some of the stores. A spokesman for HMV declined to comment on this when contacted by Bloomberg News earlier.

The steep advertising downturn pushed U.K. publisher Daily Mail & General Trust PLC’s into a net loss for its full fiscal year, as management focused on cutting costs and its £1.05 billion ($1.76 billion) debt pile, but the company said there are signs that trading conditions are improving.

Daily Mail, which publishes the Daily Mail and its sister Sunday paper and the Metro free-sheet, posted a net loss of £303.4 million for the 12 months ended Oct. 4, compared to zero net profit a year earlier.

According to brokers, Thursday’s activity on the FTSE was very similar to when Lehman Brothers collapsed, warning that Dubai’s problems could be the catalyst for the market to fall further. RBS, which is 70 per owned by the UK taxpayer, fell 7.8 per cent, wiping off £1.73 billion of its market value. Barclays lost 8 per cent, cutting its capitalisation by £2.65 billion. HSBC fell 4.8 per cent losing £6.2 billion of its value and Lloyds Banking Group lost 5.6 per cent, wiping off £1.5 billion.

All in all around £44 billion was wiped off London’s biggest companies amid growing fears the UK financial sector could be heavily exposed to Dubai World, the state-owned conglomerate which yesterday asked for a standstill on its £36 billion debt pile. The FTSE 100 tumbled 170.68 points or more than 3 per cent to 5194.1 in its biggest one-day percentage fall since the market plunged to six-year lows in March. Encouragingly enough, the exchange recovered well on Friday, closing on 5245.73.

The pound declined against the dollar after a drop in stocks across the world prompted investors to sell U.K. assets and on speculation the government will downgrade its forecast for the economy. Sterling slipped to the weakest level since Nov. 3 against the U.S. currency as the MSCI World Index declined for a second day after Dubai’s attempt to reschedule its debt continued to rattle investors.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6553
• Pound/Euro 1.10996
• Pound/Japanese Yen 142.7188
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6565

US shares have fallen on worries about Dubai’s debt problems, with the Dow Jones ending down 154 points, or 1.5%, at 10,309.92, in a shorter trading day.

It was the first chance for markets in the US to react to news that state-owned Dubai World had asked for more time to repay its debts.

US markets were closed for a holiday on Thursday when other world markets suffered steep losses.

The Dow Jones average dropped 154.58 points on Friday’s trading to close on 10309.92 The NASDAQ lost 37.61 points to close on 2138.44

financial

• A More Expensive Alternative To Gas [& How To Profit From It] The Miami Herald reports that Washington has embraced an alternative...
• Lending Club Liquidity and Capital Resources I read through the Lending Club S1 finally...  I found...
• Its Good To Be Back I'm finally back in the States after a 6 week...

Tags: Alastair Darling, Bank, Banking, Barclays, Borders Group Inc, British Economy, British Pound, Daily Mail, Discovery 4, Dow Jones, Dubai World, Economy, Financial News, FTSE, General Trust PLC, HMV Group Plc, International Monetary Fund, Jaguar Land Rover, Lehman Brothers, Lloyds Banking Group, Money, MSCI World Index, NASDAQ, Office for National Statistics, Philip Duffy, pre-Budget report, Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, RBS, Recession, Royal Bank of Scotland, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, Tata Motors, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Waterstone's

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has lost its legal battle over bank charges with banks following the shock announcement by the Supreme Court on Wednesday. While the ruling effectively scuppers any chance of reclaiming fees in the foreseeable future it does clear the way for new rules to be drawn up that would limit charges. The Treasury did however stress that if lower bank charges could not be achieved voluntarily then it would consider passing legislation. The OFT’s four-year campaign and two-year legal case to win refunds for those overcharged by their banks after falling into an unauthorized overdraft fallen at the last hurdle. The Supreme Court, in a move that stunned campaigners, went against earlier findings by the High Court and Court of Appeal and decided the OFT did not have the right to assess the charges for fairness in the case

The good news from the U.K. economy is that it shrank in the third quarter less than previously estimated. It is now estimated that gross domestic product probably fell 0.3 percent from the second quarter, which less than the 0.4 percent drop is reported on Oct. 23, The Office for National Statistics will release its second estimate before the weekend.

More than £60 billion was secretly lent by the Bank of England to prevent Royal Bank of Scotland and Halifax Bank of Scotland from failing at the height of the financial crisis last year. In evidence to the Treasury Select Committee, the Bank revealed yesterday that such a catastrophe was averted when it decided "in exceptional circumstances" to act in its traditional role as lender of last resort and extended Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) to RBS and HBOS. Meanwhile U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling Wednesday defended authorities’ secret provision of emergency assistance to Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and HBOS during the height of last year’s financial crisis. In a written ministerial statement to parliament, Mr. Darling said any disclosure of the loan at the time would have "seriously" jeopardized financial stability and "the risk to public resources was low" given the quality of the collateral received by the Bank.

Trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) was halted for three and a half hours earlier because of technical difficulties.

The LSE said it had been affected by connectivity issues, and at 1033 GMT had placed all orders for shares into an "auction call period".

This allowed traders to put orders to buy or sell shares into the system, ready for when trading restarted.

Normal trading was then able to resume from 1400 GMT.

Big banks will be obliged to disclose how many of their UK employees are paid more than £1 million, if City banker Sir David Walker has his way. Sir David is expected to announce that half of the bonuses paid to bank employees should be deferred for three to five years.

Travelers who book holidays on the internet could receive more financial protection if things go wrong, under plans in a European review.

Consumers who make up their own packages of flights, hotels and car rentals on one website or partner sites could get more protection.

Currently, only those who have booked specific package deals have rights to cancel or refunds if operators go bust. A review will consider help for passengers if airlines collapse.

Spanish investor Jorge Cosmen, the largest stockholder is reported to have boosted his stake in National Express Group Plc, the U.K. bus and rail company three times in as many days. The investor, a company board member, has spent 5.8 million pounds ($9.6 million) snapping up shares since Nov. 20. The third purchase, announced today by National Express, brings his family’s holding to 20 percent. Cosmen, who opposed National Express, wants the London-based company to refinance debt and reevaluate strategy before any rights issue, is apparently yet to decide whether to oppose the stock sale in a Nov. 27 shareholders’ vote.

The pound retreated slightly against the dollar, Swiss franc and the yen, while rising against the Euro.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6506
• Pound/Euro 1.10997
• Pound/Japanese Yen 142.3998
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6556

After trading resumed on the FTSE, the 100 went on to finish the day at 5,194, which was 130 points down on Tuesday’s closing price, while the FTSE 250 rose dropped 200 points to close on 8,880.52. Falls on the FTSE were also felt across Europe, as concerns about the wider impact of state-owned investment company Dubai World asking for a six-month delay on repaying its debts grew.

The US dollar has hit a 14-year low against the Japanese yen with low interest rates in the US making the greenback less attractive to investors.

The dollar slipped to 86.5 yen, its lowest level since July 1995.

The US has indicated it is unconcerned about the dollar’s slide, and will not intervene to strengthen it.

Many traders are swapping dollar holdings for gold as a safer investment in the current uncertain economic climate.

The price of gold is currently at a record high of $1,194.5 an ounce

The Dow Jones average was looking stronger rising 53 points to 10464.5 The NASDAQ also rose thirteen points to finish up on 2176.05

financial

• Why Is The Dollar Falling? Much has been made of the falling U.S. dollar, especially...
• Develop Your Financial IQ: Chapter 2, Ways To Achieve Wealth 2 Wealth Building Models Everyone wants to make more money,...
• Roger Federer and Credit Suisse Sponsorship In the long list of celebrities/sportspersons-corporate partnerships, the latest is...

Tags: Alastair Darling, Bank, Bank Charges, Bank of England, Banking, British Economy, British Pound, Currency, Dow Jones, Dubai World, Economics, Economy, ELA, Emergency Liquidity Assistance, Employment, Financial News, FTSE, Gold, Halifax Bank, HBos, Interest Rates, Jorge Cosmen, legal battle, London Stock Exchange, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, National Express Group Plc, Office of Fair Trading, OFT, Overdraft, Overdraft Charges, RBS, Retail, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sir David Walker, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, Supreme Court, Treasury Select Committee, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has predicted that the recovery and growth seen in the second half of 2009 is expected to continue in 2010. Their recent figures show that its 30 member countries, including the US and UK have more than doubled its growth projections for next year. However a spokesman from the OECD warned the developed nations not to expect a smooth ride and that "growth was being held back by still substantial headwinds" and would be restrained for some time in the near future. They went on to explain that some of the very measures that were being used to help the richer nation’s economies to recover might return like a boomerang upon them. The feeling was at the OECD was that the UK, needed to come up with a concrete plan to ease concerns about the stability of their public finances, and that the results that could be achieved through continuing the country’s quantitative easing programme remained uncertain. The UK, which now has overall debt of £825 billion, is set to borrow a record £175 billion over the next two years with further details of how and why due to be set out in Chancellor Darling’s pre-Budget report on 9 December.

US investment bank JP Morgan have announced that they are to complete their take-over of UK stockbroker Cazenove. Morgan are reported to be paying a further £1 billion ($1.67 billion) for the remaining 50% of Cazenove that is not in their hands. JP Morgan and Cazenove reached a joint venture agreement in 2004, where they merged their investment banking operations.

The news that Marks and Spencer have chosen Marc Bolland, current head of Wm Morrison, as its new chief executive, saw a dramatic and immediate shift in fortunes for both companies, at least in stock market terms. Shares in M&S rose 6 per cent to close on 390 pence while Morrisons’ fell by 5 per cent to 281 pence, making for a combined £600 million swing”.

Dutch born Bolland’s appointment puts a long awaited end to the speculation of who will replace incumbent chairman, Sir Stuart Rose, who will remain with the company as part-time chairman until mid-2011.

ITN were expected to reveal the first trading first-ever loss on Thursday as the company launched a set of austerity measures which will be required to put the company back on track. ITN, who produce news bulletins for ITV, as well as for Channel 4, is owned by four media companies, ITV Daily Mail & General Trust, United Business Media and Thomson Reuters, each of whom hold a 20 percent share, except ITV who hold 40 percent. Reasons given for the drop in sales and profit were mainly the recession, which has affected advertising revenues on all commercial broadcasters, and the closure of Setanta Sports News, the news channel operated by the Ireland-based sports channel network that went into administration this year. Revenue from Setanta made up approximately 5 per cent of ITN’s sales in 2008. ITN made a profit of £4.1 million on turnover of £105 million.

Postal and parcel delivery company UK Mail, who only this moth adopted their new trading title from Business Post, have announced a rise in their interim profits, despite of a fall in revenues caused by a recession driven fall in demand. A spokesman for the company pointed out that their parcel business, which holds around a 7 per cent share of the UK market, has witnessed an upturn is sales during the period of postal strikes, as the public began to seek alternatives to Royal Mail’s service. However the company, which also handles around 17 million items of mail a day, said the strikes affected the volumes of mail handled by the company much less significantly than they had hoped for. UK Mail, who relies on the Royal Mail for “last mile” delivery of its sorted post, pointed out that the impact the strikes had been less severe than anticipated.

Sterling lost some of its gains against the major currencies in midweek trading.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6636
• Pound/Euro 1.1163
• Pound/Japanese Yen 148.0862
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6881

The UK’s benchmark FTSE 100 index lost the bulk of its early gains for the week, down 78 points to 5,267.70. The FTSE 250 took its usual midweek tumble down 165 points to 9,237.

New home construction in the US have taken a surprise drop fall in October, down 10.6% to an annual rate of 529,000 homes, making for the lowest level in housing starts since April of this year, Reasons for the decrease in demand was put down to .a fall in demand for both single and family housing.

On the news, the Dow Jones average slumped 105 points to close on 10332.42. The NASDAQ also took a tumble, but for reasons of its own and finished the day on Thursday on 2156.92.

Internet giant America on Line (AOL) have announced that they are to lay off more than 2,000 of their staff , representing one third of their entire work forces when it completes its spinoff from Time Warner, with whom they have been in partnership since 2001. Representatives from Time Warner have stated that the separation will be completed by the end of 2009.

Also cutting jobs are Air France-KLM who plans to cut their work force by cut 1,700 during 2010. Their decision comes after the airline posted a worse than predicted third quarter loss of 147 million Euros (£131 million) the job losses are in addition to the 3,000 already cut in 2009.

Silver, platinum, palladium and copper have reached fresh highs for the year while gold continued to extend its record-breaking run breaching the $1,150 mark, seen as the next key milestone in the rally, to reach a record $1,152.74 an ounce, before easing back to $1,148.

financial

• 10 Historic Events Then and Now [/caption] As we come to the close of another year...
• Five Simple Ways To Help Make Sure You Buy Stocks Low and Sell Them Higher The stock markets are ultimately unpredictable, but that doesn't mean...
• Fun Facts about New Year's "Auld Lang Syne" was written by Robert Burns in 1741...

Tags: Air France-KLM, Alastair Darling, America on Line, AOL, Bolland, British Economy, British Pound, Business Post, Cazenove, copper, Credit Crunch, Currency, Daily Mail, Dow Jones, Economy, Financial News, FTSE, General Trust, Gold, ITN, JP Morgan, M&S, Marc Bolland, Marks and Spencer, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, OECD, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, palladium, platinum, quantative easing, Recession, Retail, Royal Mail, Setanta, Silver, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, Stuart Rose, Thomson Reuters, Time Warner, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Mail, UK Recession, United Business Media, WM Morrison

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown was observed to be rapidly retreating from his proposal that a financial transactions tax be imposed to aid the global economy. Brown, made the speech on Saturday at a meeting of global finance ministers, suffered a backlash on his proposal to implement a miniscule “Tobin tax”. The Tobin tax originally saw the light of day in the early 1970s and was evolved by James Tobin, an influential American macroeconomist and recipient of the Nobel Prize for economics, of that time who proposed imposing a small tax on every amount exchanged from one currency into another. The US was among the first to criticise Mr. Brown who up till now has defended the financial sector against more aggressive moves on regulation by other European governments in the past.

A recent report has suggested that in the past six months alone, only one in ten UK savers have enjoyed an increase on the interest rates paid on their accounts despite the Bank of England’s base rate remaining static…

The study shows that 10% of variable savings accounts are paying lower rates than they were in May, with just 3.5% of variable rate accounts have seen interest rates increase over the same period, despite the implied competition for savers’ deposits.

According to the report, almost half of variable rate accounts are being paid less than 0.5%, while almost a quarter of the banks are offering returns below 0.1%.

The pound continued its recovery against the dollar over the weekend, rising also against all the major currencies.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6835
• Pound/Euro 1.232
• Pound/Japanese Yen 151.2029
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6947

As Monday’s bidding deadline drew closer, shares in Cadbury eased by 0.5 percent to 758 pence. Market analysts expect US food company Kraft to make a formal offer on Monday under the current terms whilst leaving room for maneuver at a later stage. Kraft Foods offer is projected to be around £10 billion ($16.59 billion), and will setting the battle for control of the famed British confectionary company officially in motion.

Those apparently in the know have stated that Kraft had always planned to take its offer directly to Cadbury shareholders, This they will do on Monday, in response to the U.K. Takeover Panel’s deadline to either make a formal offer or back off for six months.

On early rumours that the debt-laden rail and coach operator National Express could launch a fully underwritten £250 million placing and open offer as early as next week, their shares added 4.3 per cent to 330 pence on early trading.

Meanwhile it was reported that Vodafone are preparing a fresh round of cost cutting in an attempt to offset falling revenue at the mobile phone operator.

Vodafone intend to reduce their operating expenses by £1 billion gradually by March 2011, however market analysts now say that the target might even be increased to £1.5 billion. Expectations are that Vodafone will report turnover of £21.6 billion for the six months to September 30, meaning an increase of 8.3 per cent on the same period in 2008, with profits of £7.5 billion, up 2.8 per cent.

Rising unemployment and economic uncertainty in the UK has helped one company report revenues to increase revenues by 15.6 per cent in the six months to September 30. BrightHouse, who rents high-end consumer durables to people who have a low or non-existent credit rating, enjoyed profit growth up £94.6 million for the period. The privately owned retail chain, who supply top-of-the-range television sets, electrical appliance and furniture on a kind of rent/buy agreement without requiring large deposits. Turnover was increased thanks to the opening of 11 new stores in the period, bringing the nationwide total to 188, although like-for-like revenue also rose by close to ten per cent. BrightHouse’s earnings were up 23.7 per cent from the same six-month period in 2008.

Battery-operated robotic hamsters costing about £6 each look like becoming the Christmas hit for 2009, with demand in the UK for outgunning supply. GoGo Pets are the hottest toy of the season, seemingly on a par with demand for the famous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the smash hit of Christmas 1987. The interactive hamsters, Squiggles, Patches, Chunk, Pipsqueak and NumNums, respond to touch with squeaks and noises, and can be set to run about randomly in “explore” mode, and to “coo and chirp” calmly when held. Initial demand for the toys has proven so strong that retail giant Toys R Us had removed them from their Christmas toy catalogue to avoid disappointing customers.

On Friday, the FTSE 100 closed 17.1 points higher at 5,142.7 after a volatile session in which the market rose on early trading and then fell sharply after the release of a key US unemployment report, later recovering as the data was reassessed.

The FTSE 100 rose by 98 points, or 2 per cent for the week, its best weekly performance for a month. Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 rose 62.3 points to 9.082.7, leaving the mid-cap index up 170 points, or 2.2 per cent.

Irish airline Aer Lingus has announced a drop in sales of 9.7% in the third quarter, largely due to a drop in long-haul passenger traffic.

In the three months to September, long-haul numbers dropped 13%, offset by increase of 10%, passenger traffic in short-haul flights

Despite the reduction in turnover, share values s surged 11% to 62 Eurocents as investors recognized some clear signs that the loss-making airline was beginning to stabilise. Last month, the carrier said it would cut almost 800 jobs to try to save 97 million Euros a year (£90 million) by 2011.

The dollar jumped and Wall Street stocks look set to open lower after a crucial report on the US labour market showed unemployment at a fresh 26-year high. The unemployment rate rose from 9.8 per cent in September to 10.2 per cent last month, as the Labor Department announced that non-farm payrolls in October fell by 190,000, the highest since April 1983.

Despite the negative figures, the Dow Jones held its own, up 17.46 points to 10023.42. The NASDAQ also climbed a little, reaching 2112.44.

financial

• Macau is Fast Overtaking Hong Kong in Property Sector Macau is fast overtaking its rival Hong Kong as the...
• India's wealth drop 32% (PTI - NDTV.Com) The wealth of world's rich people dropped...
• the math hurts What is the name for what's going on with the...

Tags: Aer Lingus, Bank of England, BrightHouse, British Economy, British Pound, Cadbury, Chunk, Currency, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Employment, Financial News, FTSE, GoGo Pets, Gordon Brown, hamsters, Kraft, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, NumNums, Patches, Pipsqueak, Recession, robotic hamsters, Squiggles, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, Tobin tax, Toys R Us, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Unemployment, Vodafone, Wall Street