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

• Abercrombie & Fitch and Beyonce in "Fierce" Fragrance War Beyonce Knowles and the clothing company Abercrombie & Fitch are...
• Melco PBL On the Right Track Melco PBL Entertainment (Macau) Limited (NASDAQ: MPEL) a developer and...
• Another AIG update As the world's largest Aircraft Lessor, ILFC is still in...

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

Key figures in the UK banking world announced their dismay and subsequent anger after Alistair Darling confirmed plans for his 50 per cent "supertax" on banks’ bonus pools. The reaction from one leading UK going as far as went as far as describing the measure as an "assault on the prudent and the profitable". Bob Diamond, the president of Barclays continued to voice his displeasure by implying that that bankers and institutions were "mobile and they might desert London’s financial centre. The one-off tax will be imposed on banks rather than individuals, and will also apply to building societies

Similar moves to tax bonuses on bankers are also being considered by both Germany and France, with the German banks even considering the imposition of self-discipline on pay while France is in favor of matching the U.K.’s planned one-off tax on bank bonuses, and is likely to slap such a levy on bonuses to be paid out in 2010 for the past year.

According to a report released last week, London could be pushed into third place as a global financial centre by Shanghai within the next ten years.

Global business leaders apparently are becoming increasingly convinced that the West is facing accelerated competition from the East, with more than 90% of company owners and managers in Shanghai and Mumbai are confident in their economic outlook for 2010, compared to 22% of business leaders in London and 35% in New York.

Meanwhile to add to the U.K.’s banking system’s woes, comes the news that the Financial Services Authority intend strengthening their rules governing the amount as well as the quality of capital that banks in the U.K. need to hold against potential losses as part of an effort to implement changes to European Union rules. Their proposals are expected to result in a £33 billion, or 5%, increase in the total amount of capital held by banks, with the bulk of this required to be held by the start of 2011.

On the FTSE before the weekend, shares in Barclays Plc , climbed 4.6 percent, to 290.75 pence, possibly on news that the bank is about to eliminate around 150 jobs from its retail and commercial banking operations in India. With the news that British Airways Plc have decided to retain p full ownership of its OpenSkies subsidiary, their shares rose 1.1 percent, to close on 202.3 pence.

The U.K.’s largest CD retailer HMV Group Plc posted a loss after tax of £17.8 million in the six months period ending Oct. 24, an improvement on the loss of £19.8 million pounds in the year-earlier period. Despite the relatively positive news their stock dropped 0.2 percent to 106.6 pence.

Independent News & Media Plc, publisher of The Independent Newspaper is looking to reduce their holding in APN News & Media Ltd. One the news their shares advanced 0.2 cent to 10 cents.

As the Cadbury takeover sage continues, news that rift has opened up between Hershey’s management and the Hershey Trust over whether to trump Kraft’s hostile bid for the company. The Trust, a philanthropic body that controls Hershey, is pressing the management to go ahead with an offer while the board argues that a bid financed by extra debt could put the company’s investment grade rating at risk. Cadbury chief executive Todd Stitzer has let it be known that he considers Hershey a better cultural fit than Kraft. On Monday morning, Cadbury is expected to make a formal rejection of that Kraft offer but is unlikely to make any official statements regarding their talks with Hershey, as a formal bid has yet to table. However the company is expected to release an interim update of their trading figures.

Sterling lost ground against the dollar before the markets closed for the weekend whilst rising slightly against the Euro.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6221
• Pound/Euro 1.1081

The FTSE 100 Index rose 17.2 points to close on 5,261.57. The index has shown a 50 percent recovery since March and looks to be heading for its biggest annual gain since 1997.

The US House of Representatives has approved the most sweeping changes to the country’s financial sector since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The 223 to 202 vote is a victory for President Obama who has made financial reform one of his main goals. The bill aims to create a new agency to monitor consumer banking transactions and give the government powers to break up companies that threaten the economy. The US Senate will have to pass the bill before the president can sign it. The legislation would give regulators the power to dismantle the companies in a way which ensures shareholders and unsecured creditors, not taxpayers, bear the losses. It also hopes to strengthen the powers of the Securities and Exchange Commission to detect irregularities that could provide an early warning of fraudulent investment schemes. Plans to regulate the vast $600 trillion market in products called derivatives are also included.

On close of trading Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had risen 186 points to 10,471.5 and the NASDAQ was also up around twenty points to 2,190.31

Kenneth Feinberg, the White House "pay czar" has extended limits on the pay of executives at four US firms who were given government bailout money.

Under the restrictions, employees will not be able to earn more than $500,000 (£307,770) per year.

The companies involved are Citigroup, AIG, General Motors and GMAC, with the rule applying to the 26th to 100th highest paid staff. The top 25 at each firm had their pay limited in October. Free of any such pay restrictions are the

Bank of America who succeeded in repaying their "bailout "money as recently as this week, while Chrysler and Chrysler Financial were exempted because total pay for their second-tier executives is already under the magic $500,000 barrier.

financial

• Leveraging Debt Financial Leveraging is the borrowing of funds in order to...
• Bank of America Joins the Club of Shareholder Abusers This week Bank of America announced that it was cutting...
• How Are Corporate Executives Paid? Originally one post, I've broken it into two parts. Today...

Tags: AIG, Alastair Darling, Bank, Bank of America, Banking, Barclays Plc, Bob Diamond, British Airways Plc, British Economy, British Pound, Cadbury, Citigroup, Currency, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Financial News, Financial Services Authority, FTSE, General Motors, GMAC, Hershey Trust, HMV Group Plc, Independent News & Media Plc, Kraft Foods, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, OpenSkies, Recession, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, supertax, UK Banking, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK Recession

According to Thomas Huertas, the banking director at the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority, London’s role as the European Union (EU) equivalent to Hong Kong as a self-regulating financial center, is drawing to a close.

The group of 27 European states that comprise the EU plans to centralize oversight of markets in the wake of the global financial crisis, with proposals for new regulators for the banking, securities and insurance industries, Huertas said. Evidence of a continental European sway away from London was provided by recent statements from Michel Prada, former chairman of French market regulator "the Autorite des Marches Financiers", who said that while continental Europeans “admire the City,” the also felt high levels of jealousy and irritation towards it.

About 10 percent of jobs in Britain’s financial services industry could be cut, equivalent to over 110,000 jobs. An official from one of the UK’s leading union Unite has announced estimates that 38,000 jobs had gone this year at banks and other financial firms it represents and that was set to rise substantially.

The financial services industry employs between 1.1 million and 1.3 million people. Part-nationalised banks Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group have cut thousands of jobs, and planned restructurings at the two banks are likely to affect about 25,000 employees,

Dubai World began negotiations to restructure about $26 billion in debt and said the remainder of its $59 billion of liabilities is on “a stable financial footing. Dubai World began talks with banks; easing concern a delay in debt payments will hurt U.K. lenders.

Chelsea Building Society has confirmed it is in advanced merger discussions with its Bradford-based larger rival Yorkshire Building Society.

It said the talks are part of a detailed review of its activities, financial position and corporate structure, which includes looking at the benefits of a possible merger. However the group, which is the UK’s fourth largest building society, stressed that it remained well-funded and had strong liquidity. Yorkshire Building Society is already the UK’s second biggest society, and a tie-up with the Chelsea would create an organization with more than £35 billion of assets, 178 branches and 2.7 million members. Cheltenham-based Chelsea said the merger would boost its capital position by around £100 million. Both the societies said the deal would only go ahead if it produced mutual benefits.

According to a survey of leading UK mortgage lenders, Home owners are choosing to make bigger repayments on home loans instead of increasing spending. This news, whilst pleasing to most, will come as a blow to attempts to drive economic recovery through consumer demand. A rising household saving rate means the Bank of England must instead look to exports to fuel growth. A spokesman for the Lloyds banking group which includes Bank of Scotland, Cheltenham and Gloucester, Birmingham Midshires, Lloyds TSB and Halifax, confirmed that the percentage of customers making regular overpayment on their mortgages has doubled compared to last year. With the average monthly overpayment within the group being around £350 pounds.

BSkyB has been named as Britain’s most admired company by City experts. The media giant, owner of Sky News is the youngest company ever to win Management Today’s top award.

Tesco came in at number two, with its chief executive Sir Terry Leahy retaining his most admired leader crown. BSkyB topped its sector in every one of the nine criteria decided upon and rated by industry peers and City analysts as well as winning the ‘quality of goods and services’, ‘quality of marketing’ and ‘capacity to innovate’ overall awards.

Online retail sales are expected to rise 14 percent to £5 billion this month, According to a recent study, almost three quarters of Britons will do more than half of their Christmas shopping on the Internet,.

A leading industry body specialising in global e-retail, forecast that Monday, December 7 would be the busiest online shopping day this year, with spending reaching £350 million. The survey also states that around 90 percent of consumers plan to buy at least some of their Christmas presents online this year.

The pound retreated strongly against the dollar and the Euro whilst rising against the Yen.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6528
• Pound/Euro 1.10975
• Pound/Japanese Yen 145.6191
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6537

The FTSE 100 has rebounded 51 percent from its low on March 3 amid government stimulus programs and record low- interest rates. The gauge fell 3.3 percent from Nov. 25 till the end of trading Thursday as Dubai World’s move to delay debt payments risked triggering the biggest sovereign default since 2001. The FTSE 100 closed on Thursday on 5313.00.

According to a recent survey, the US private sector job cuts narrowed in November for the eighth consecutive month, with less than 170,000 jobs being lost last month, 26,000 fewer than in October. The US services sector shed 81,000 jobs in November, up slightly on October, with fewer jobs being lost in the manufacturing sector. According to a spokesman for the Obama administration, since the beginning of the £473 billion jobs stimulus package, passed in February, it has saved or created more than one million jobs across the US. According to the latest US Labour Department figures, the unemployment rate in the US rose to 10.2% in October, and its highest rate since April 1983. Since the recession began in the US in December 2007, the number of unemployed has risen by 8.2 million, while the jobless rate has risen from 4.9%.

The Dow Jones index closed down 86.53 points, on 10,366.15 points, while the NASDAQ remained steady on 2173.14.

Bank of America has announced plans to repay the £27 billion US government bailout it received during the credit crisis of 2008 as well as after the purchase of Merrill Lynch earlier this year.

The move is designed to allow Bank of America to free itself from government restrictions, including executive pay limits that were a stipulation of granting the funds. The bank reported a $1 billion net loss for the three months from July to September, worse than had been expected, especially when compared to a net profit of around £2 billion in the previous quarter and around £1 billion in the same period of 2008.

financial

• What Happens When A Bank Fails. In light of everything that has been going on for...
• Religare Enterprises in Financial Services This story is draft. Religare has ramped up its AUM...
• Fools Born to Buy Debt Allow Wall Street Exports to Boom With the fall of the stock market, the collapse of...

Tags: Autorite des Marches Financiers, Bank, Bank of America, Bank of England, Banking, Birmingham Midshires, British Economy, British Pound, BskyB, Chelsea, Chelsea Building Society, Cheltenham and Gloucester, Currency, Dow Jones, Dubai World, Economics, Economy, Financial News, Financial Services Authority, FTSE, Halifax, Lloyds Banking Group, Lloyds TSB, Michel Prada, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Recession, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sir Terry Leahy, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, Tesco, Thomas Huertas, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Yorkshire Building Society

The Nationwide Building Society Nationwide have recently announced that they are to substantially increase the discount on offer for first-time home buyers that participate in the company’s mortgage reservation scheme with the offer applying to three-, four-, and five-year fixed-rate mortgages in the meantime. In addition, the Nationwide are offering a complementary combined reservation and legal fee option to borrowers who are planning to move home. These offers, as well as similar, have been designed to reduce the initial lay outs involved in acquiring a property. A spokesman for the Nationwide is the world’s largest building society and one of the largest mortgage lenders in the UK predicted that with these measures they have removed some of the barriers that may have prevented people from buying a property.

In a bid to satisfy European authorities, the Royal Bank of Scotland may have no option but to either close down or farm out 312 of its branches operating s in England and Wales under the RBS banner and serving more than one million small businesses. The EU competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes appears to be forcing the RBS ’hand as they EU looks for substantial disposals to compensate for billions of pounds of taxpayer support as well as to finance the bank’s involvement in the UK Treasury’s toxic asset insurance scheme. The bank’s proposals to the EU, which are not liable to involve the company’s NatWest branch network in England and Wales, are thought to be in a well advanced state of negotiation.

The Icelandic government have announced that they have reached a fresh agreement with the UK government over the reimbursing the 400,000 savers who lost money when Icesave owner Landsbanki collapsed, leaving debts of around £3 billion. The original ruling was rejected by the UK and Netherlands governments, meaning a new bill will go before Iceland’s parliament for final agreement some time today.

A number of UK based manufacturers are combining efforts to promote the ‘Buy British’ angle in their marketing campaigns. among them are amusement ride manufacturer Amusement Technical, who, among others, want to take full advantage of the low exchange rate between sterling and the Euro to increase their export activities. A spokesman for the company explained that the low value of Sterling created a considerable opportunity for UK manufacturers competing for business in the Eurozone. The obvious downturn is that products and raw materials imported from the same region will be considerably more expensive.

The pound continued to rise in a volatile week’s trading, climbing 0.4% against the euro and 0.2% versus the dollar.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6303
• Pound/Euro 1.10989
• Pound/Japanese Yen 148.2221
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6658

The FTSE 100 fell 32.71 points on 5190.24 on Friday’s trading. The FTSE 250 dropped also shed some of its gains before the weekend, down 58.97 points to close on 9,426.20.

Bank of America have reported net losses of £612 million ($1billion) for the three months from July to September, a figure much worse than analysts predicted. The figure compares with a net profit of $3.2 billion in the second quarter of 2009 and $1.2 billion for the same period of last year. Bank of America is the fourth major US bank to report their third quarter results which are the least impressive so far.

The Dow Jones index took a tumble on Friday’s trading, falling below the 10,000 points mark, achieved during the week’s trading. The index fell 67.03 points to 9995.91 while the Nasdaq Composite index dropped 16.49 points to 2,156.8

financial

• Introduction to Mortgages pt 4 of 5 This is part four in a five part series on...
• Fishing Report: November 29, 2009 Striped Bass, Crab and Halibut In Berkeley/Emeryville, people are still...
• The GRS Garden Project: September 2009 Update Every month, my wife and I track how much time...

Tags: Amusement Technical, Bank, Bank of America, Banking, British Economy, British Pound, Credit Crunch, Currency, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Financial News, FTSE, Global Credit Crisis, Icelandic government, Icesave, Landsbanki, Money, Money Markets, Mortgage, mortgage seekers, NASDAQ, Nationwide, Nationwide Building Society, NatWest, Netherlands government, RBS, Recession, Royal Bank of Scotland, Savings, UK Banks, UK government, UK Recession

A scheme developed by the Confederation for British Industry (CBI) as an “alternative to redundancy” could stem job losses as UK unemployment figures hurtle headlong heads towards three million.

The CBI is urging the government to adopt their plan that is aimed mainly at companies that are feeling the effects of long term cash flow problems and may have difficulty in meeting their wage bill.

According the scheme, employees who were due to be made redundant , instead would take a form of unpaid holiday for up to six months, during which time they would be paid a weekly allowance, amounting to double of what the officially unemployed would receive with the payment co-funded by government and employers. During their unpaid leave, employees would be allowed to seek alternative employment and the company could exercise their option take them back when the six months ended or even earlier if business or cash flow improved.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown will be carrying a not too optimistic message with him when he attends the G8 summit to be held in Italy later this week. The message will state that excitement over the fledgling recovery of the global economy may have been premature. In a recent interview, Brown stated that the summit to be held in the picturesque setting of ’Aquila should be “a second wake-up call for the world economy According to a recent report that paints a cautious picture of the economic outlook, UK banks continue to increase investing in managing risk even as they look to make drastic cost cutting efforts.

The report also states that the majority of UK financial services companies do not expect to return to a growth situation for at least another nine months to a year, and are dug into a form of survival mode. Any investments being made are in risk controlling apparatus, whilst the one- time favourites, information technology and supply chain management are being put on the back burner for the foreseeable future.

Despite the introduction of the UK smoking ban, tax hikes and the overall state of the economy, bingo and casino operators Rank Group, remains optimistic about future. The company has stated their intention to convert some of their provincial casinos and bingo halls into modern leisure complexes, capable of competing against cinemas, pubs and restaurants. Some projects already under way include a new five million pound Mecca Bingo centre in Beeston and a Casino in Dundee.

French based water and environmental services company Veolia seem likely to put its UK water division up for sale to raise money to reduce debt.
Veolia who supply water to more than 3.3 million customers in the South East of England reportedly hope to raise around 400 million pounds million for a 48 percent stake in the group.

On the FTSE yesterday food makers proved the resilient forces with persistent talk of takeover interest in Cadbury saw their shares rise 1.8 percent to 527 pence, while SSL International also rose by 3.1 percent to 526 pence.

Manufactures of consumer goods were the investor’s favourites, as the commodity market continued to lose pace. Reckitt Benckiser was the day’s top performer, gaining 2.5 per cent to 2757 pence. The tobacco giants did well with Imperial Tobacco rising 1.5 per cent higher at 291 pence and British American Tobacco also rose by 1.8 per cent to close on 1741 pence.

The FTSE 100 Index dropped 41.37 points on the day’s trading close on 4,194.91. Also down was the FTSE 250, this time by 56.63 points as it closed on 7.320.35.

Sterling made a minor recovery against the leading currencies.

Pound/US dollar 1.6248
Pound/Euro 1.1632
Pound/Japanese Yen 154.8935
Pound/Swiss Franc 1.7649

Following its tie-up with Merrill Lynch, the Bank of America has become the world’s largest wealth manager overtaking UBS in the private banking league tables
BOA currently oversees more than $1,500 billion in assets, most of them in the US, underlining the scale the bank acquired from the Merrill Lynch merger.
A late rally on Wall Street turned US equities positive on Monday following the previous session’s heavy falls.

The index closed at the end of the day up a token 4.15 points to 8284.89, while the NASDAQ closed again down for the day, this time by 18.13 points on 1778.39

Oil prices are hovering at a five-week low of about $64 a barrel, amid fears that the global recovery looks like taking longer than thought a few weeks ago.
US crude fell $2.27 dollars to $64.46 a barrel in afternoon trade on Monday, after having dipped to $63.85, the lowest intraday price recorded since 28 May.
Brent crude oil also declined by $1.27 a barrel to $64.34

• Fishing Report: February 12, 2010 Striped Bass, Crab and Halibut A trip went out of...
• At a glance - Chile [/caption] Chile Background: Prior to the coming of the Spanish...
• What exactly does eco-friendly products and services entail? by Jerry Hart [/caption] Have you noticed big brands becoming green. A new...

Tags: Bank of America, British Economy, CBI, Financial News, G8 summit, Gordon Brown, Rank Group, UK unemployment figures

That time honoured analogy that ” if you ask you sometimes get” has just been proven yet again with the news that around 800 British Airways employees have indeed taken up the challenge laid down their chief executive, Willie Walsh by volunteering to work without pay for up to a month In addition, almost 7,000 BA staff have offered to take pay cuts, through opting for working part-time or without pay, whilst other have agreed to take unpaid A spokesman for the airline announced yesterday that the worker’s compromise would allow temporary savings of around £10 million in 2009 alone..

Walsh hailed the workers offer as “a fantastic response” despite the fact that he came under heavy attack from Unite, the biggest union at the airline.
Groupe Eurotunnel, the company that runs the Channel tunnel is considering making a bid for the UK’s only dedicated high-speed rail line.

The move comes as Groupe Eurotunnel prepares to buy back the last of a series of financial instruments formed during the company’s complex 2007 restructuring. The line known as High Speed 1 carries trains running at up to 300kph (186mph) between the Channel tunnel and St Pancras station in London.

The High Speed 1 line which cost £5.8 billion to build is likely to fetch between a third to half of that figure. The line’s current owners are none other than the UK government who took over the line’s former owner’s London & Continental Railways, on June 8.

In a deal costing around £3.5 million Clinton Cards has bought 196 Birthdays stores out of administration. Birthdays, a subsidiary of Clinton Cards, went into administration last month after Clinton cut off funding to it.

News of the buy -out, as well as forecasts that the acquisition would contribute at least £3 million in profits for the year to July for Clinton Cards, pushed shares in the company up by 24 per cent. Clinton will need to pay only £250,000 in cash for buying stores, with the balance offset by existing loan from Birthdays to Clinton.

A spokesman from Clinton announced that said that they had chosen only the stores that were making profit and that the stores that remain open will continue operate under the Birthdays label.

Signet Jewelers Limited rose to 4.58 percent to 1,187 pence in morning trading session and climbed earlier to 1,195 pence. Over the last year shares in the high street jewelry chain have fluctuated from a low of 42.50 pence to a high of 1,449 pence.

Shares in Britain’s biggest government-controlled bank, Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, climbed 4.05 percent to 37 pence; after analysts pointed out that they expect the bank’s share price to rise against opposition banks “given its lower risk strategy.”

The benchmark FTSE 100 dropped 27.31 points to reach 4,252.57 ending a run of rises lasting three days. The FTSE 250 climbed by 22.86 points to reach 7,343.31

Sterling continued its topsy turvey trail rising slightly against dollar whilst retreating against the other major currencies on a mixed day for trading.

Pound/US dollar 1.6421
Pound/Euro 1.689
Pound/Japanese Yen 157.6885
Pound/Swiss Franc 1.7912

US stocks staged an impressive broad-based rally on Thursday with retail stocks leading the way with home furnishings retailers faring especially well. The Dow Jones was up a respectable 172.54 points to 8472.4, while the NASDAQ jumped a further 27.2 points to close on 1829.54

Reacting to accusations that he had overstepped his authority during the Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch, US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke was forced to present a public defence of his actions, The House oversight committee asked him whether he had actually forced Bank of America to go through with the deal through applying excess pressure.

Prices for crude oil rose back just over the $70 a barrel mark on Thursday after an attack on a pipeline in Nigeria.

• Start Investing P2P Lending I have been investing in p2p lending on Prosper since...
• are American kids stupid about personal finance? American kids are stupid about financial matters. That's what a...
• Telecom Audit to Get Refund If your company has been in operation for two or...

Tags: Bank of America, British Economy, Clinton Cards, Economy, Financial News, Royal Bank of Scotland, Signet Jewelers, UK Recession

Official data due to be released today is expected to show the annual rate of consumer price inflation reaching 2.6 percent in February, down 0.4 percent from the previous month and standing at the lowest rate for almost a year.—Inflation rates are expected to continue to fall and even more sharply over the coming months with the effects of considerable reductions in energy prices kicking in as well as the government’s efforts to boost the economy as well as easing deflation.

If predictions on the inflation rates prove to be factual, they would amount to the first negative reading since March. Despite government efforts to the contrary, it appears that it is only a matter of time before consumer price inflation moves into negative mode.

Bad news for the 5.5 million UK households where one tenth or more of income goes on gas and electricity bills is that the Fuel Poverty Bill has been thrown out of parliament. For those who live in “fuel poverty”, the news will be especially irksome, simply because the vote fell because there was not a sufficient number of MPs present in the Commons on Friday afternoon when the vote was to take place. Of those present, 89 voted in favour and only two against. However the vote needed a minimum of 100 “ayes”, out of a possible 648. Not too much to ask for on such a sensitive subject, but apparently not on a Friday afternoon!

Another possible victim of failing to read the small print is the British Airports Authority. (BAA). Apparently the BAA could be forced into liquidation or even worse be nationalised, if the company fails to receive “full value” offers for their forced sale of the Gatwick and Stansted Airports According to terms of the contract issued by the Monopoly’s Commission, BAA will be disallowed for accepting offers that represent less than 85 percent of either of the airports’ regulated value. In the current economic climate, the company feel that is difficult to be and bids will be much lower than the more than one billion pounds that the company will require for their assets, and the airports will have no option but to reject the offers and at the same time cease to operate the airports. A scenario that doesn’t bear thinking about. In the event that such a scenario does come to pass, the UK government might have no option but to intervene to prevent the BAA from going into administration.

Birmingham-based van maker LDV, in danger of closing, apparently has a serious suitor. The Indian car manufacturer, Mahindra & Mahindra has emerged as one of two groups competing to take over the company, with a third offer, apparently from the US also emerging. The moves came after the UK government contacted the management at Mahindra & Mahindra as well as another Asian-based company over the weekend to rescue LDV and save the workforce from unemployment. A spokesman for the Department for Business announced that further talks, due to commence this week, will hopefully see a new owner in place at LDV in the very near future. .

The FTSE started the week in a buoyant mood, reacting strongly in anticipation of the announcement from the US government of their bold plan to expand the financial rescue package, designed to revive the global economy.

Banks reacted strongly to the news with Lloyds Banking Group Plc jumping 11 percent and the RBoS following suit with a modest 4.2 percent jump. Barclays Plc also saw their shares take a major step forward, 16 percent up, not just as a result of the euphoria in the US but also fueled by speculation that a firm offer is to be forthcoming shortly for their iShares unit.

Copper surged to a four-month high in London, pacing a rally in industrial metals, after imports surged into China and on speculation the U.S. Treasury plan will spur growth and boost demand for commodities. Lead climbed to the highest since November.

Shares in the world’s third-largest platinum producer, Lonmin Plc also displayed increased confidence in the global commodities marking jumping 12 percent (180 pence 1,530 pence)

The following stocks also showed an upturn on yesterdays trading. Shares in the Daily Mail rose by 3.4 percent (8 pence to 241.75). The publisher announced that they expect to exceed their targets on revenue as well as reducing costs, providing positive full-year results to be announced shortly.

The U.K. repair-service provider, Homeserve Plc also shone on the day with their shares climbing 9.1 percent (85 pence to 1,020.)

The FTSE 100 finished the session up 3.9 per cent, or 156.5 points, higher at 4,209.The FTSE 250 index rose by 1.49% or 93.35 points to 6351.92 while

The pound also advanced versus the euro as the FTSE 100 Index climbed more than 2 percent, led by Barclays Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc, boosting demand for riskier assets.

The pound rose as much as 1.1 percent to $1.4626, the highest level since Feb. 23, and was at $1.4588 by 11:13 a.m. in London. The pound also strengthened against the Euro, in a day that cautious optimism appeared to raising its head on the markets.

Pound/US dollar 1.4626

Pound/Euro 1.0187

Pound/Japanese Yen 144.91

Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6580

News of the US government’s plans to buy up to $1 trillion of toxic assets has helped the Dow Jones record the fifth largest rise in its history pushing the index up a mammoth 6.84% (497.48 points ) to close at 7775.6. The NASDAQ shared in the celebrations rising 98.5 points to 1555.7.

The programme, known as Public-Private Investment, has undertaken to take up all of the “toxic” mortgages and securities that have prevented the banks from issuing fresh loans to consumers. The US Treasury as well as the private sector will both make contributions to the programme, which is hoped will generate between $500 billion to eventually $1 trillion of new business.

Despite the euphoria, there was still some scepticism over the initiative with certain leading financial analysts warning that the programme’s success would largely depend on whether the leading banks would be prepared to take a short term loss on their “toxic” assets or wait till the US economy begins to recover.

On the news, US bank shares went only one way but up with Citigroup leading the field with a 20 per cent jump followed closely by the Bank of America who gained 17 per cent.

Global markets that opened on Monday were also equally upbeat, with Asian stocks rising to a two-month high on Monday

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock average closed at its highest level in nearly two months, gaining 3.4 per cent higher to end at 8,215.53 – its first close about 8,000 since early February. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong hit a five-week high, closing up 4.8 percent, while the Australian market rose by 2.4 per cent.

• Have Gold Prices Peaked? In case you were asleep, last week saw gold break...
• Global Markets Crash: All Non-Correlated Markets Converge In A Downturn Following the decline in the US markets and a show...
• Mutual Funds Stuck In Between a Rock & a Hard Place Think back to our two courses on mutual funds, Weakon...

Tags: Bank, Bank of America, British Economy, British Pound, Interest Rates, LDV, Money, Money Management, Money Markets, Recession, UK Banks, UK Recession