After the traumas it has gone through over the last year or so, it appears that the Lloyds Banking Group Plc, still the U.K.’s biggest mortgage lender is making strides to relive itself of some of the stigmas attached to it as the UK banking industry almost imploded in autumn of last year. The bank has reached an agreement with the U.K. government to guarantee half the risk on a portfolio of its existing short-term loans to companies, The billion pound deal will be dependent on Lloyds agreeing to increase their business lending.

As far as the high street us concerned, Lloyd’s Halifax building society unit is currently review the licensing agreements they currently hold, entailing running some 300 outlets situated in real-estate agents, lawyers and financial consultants. They have already implemented a decision to shut down 26 of the situated in independent banks. Lloyds are also reported to be interested in selling off their branches of Lloyds, TSB and the Cheltenham & Gloucester Plc in Scotland. Lloyds Banking Group is considering more job losses as the bank plans to close more than 300 “agency” counters run by its Halifax subsidiary in the offices of estate agents, solicitors or financial advisers.

The 43% state controlled banking giant has already paid off 7,500 people in 2009 so far. On the up side, Lloyds recently announced it was reviewing its decision to close down its 160 Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G) branches,

Less than cheery forecasts from insolvency specialists are beginning to emerge that a second wave of corporate restructurings are due to break this month as bankers and investment houses begin to face problematic customers. .

September has always been regarded as the second important crunch date in the year for companies and lenders, as companies involved in retailing and distribution draw heavily on working capital to stock up in anticipation of what might not be the greatest of Christmas seasons.

On a difficult day for the FTSE, Lloyds bank’ stock rose 6.3 percent, to 111.34 pence on news of their reorganisation plans.

Shares in the U.K.’s largest self- storage operator Safestore Holdings Plc also rose by 8.3 percent, to 131 pence, in anticipation of improved third-quarter earnings.

RSA Insurance fell 4.8 per cent to 124 pence following reports that the company was considering a £1 billion rights issue to reduce their debt burden

The FTSE 100 closed at a low, having been under pressure all day after market strategists recommended clients to cut their allocation of UK equities.

The FTSE returned from it August Bank holiday break to find itself not in the best of shape. The FTSE 100 dropped to 89.20 points close on 4819.70 while the FTSE 250 fared even worse, dropping 2.24 % or 197.83 points to close on 8,619.68

Sterling also continued to struggle against the major currencies

• Pound/US dollar 1.6126
• Pound/Euro 1.1349
• Pound/Japanese Yen 149.5807
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.7207

It would appear that scrapping incentives has not had too much of an effect with new cars sales generally on the increase around the world in August according to some preliminary data. Car sales in Japan rose for the first time in more than a year, while several auto manufacturing groups in Asia and Europe reported higher sales volumes than for the comparable month last year.

On Wall Street, markets continue to struggle due to continued uncertainty in the Chinese economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted by 185.68 points to close on 9310.6 while the NASDAQ Composite index dropped below the 2,000 mark yet again, down 40.17 points to close on 1968.89.

For the first time since February 2008, US manufacturing output grew according to the Institute of Supply Management’s purchasing managers. Their index rose to 52.9 points last month, up from 48.9 in July.

Any number above 50 indicates an expansion in manufacturing output, making for another significant sign of recovery in the US economy.

In a long anticipated move, the internet phone company Skype has been sold off by online auction site owners in a transaction worth about £1.2 billion

Skype will now be owned by a group of private investors, including Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen and private equity firms, in partnership with EBay who will retain a 35% stake in the firm, which it has been trying to sell for some time. The deal values Skype at $2.75bn. EBay bought Skype for $2.6bn in 2005.

Unemployment levels Euro 16 countries was reported to have hit a 10-year high in July, as despite declarations to the opposite, the impact of the recession continues to be felt.

The number of unemployed across the eurozone region in July was reported to have reached more than 15.1 million, making for a seasonally-adjusted rate of 9.5%. The unemployment figures were the worst in terms of monthly percentage since May 1999 and compares unfavourably with the numbers of unemployed with all the 27 member states of the European Union which was a total of 21.8 million, or 9%.

Crude oil prices have fallen this week as news out of China continued to raise doubts about its petroleum demand, with prices falling below the $70 a barrel mark again.

Economic concerns have hit China where the benchmark Shanghai Composite index fell 6.7 per cent in its worst one-day decline since June 2008, halting the ongoing increase in crude oil prices, which have risen steadily in 2009, after falling as low as $33 a barrel.

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Tags: Banking, British Economy, British Pound, C&G, Cheltenham & Gloucester, Currency, Current Account, Dow Jones, Ebay, Economy, Employment, Financial News, FTSE, Halifax building society, Lloyds, Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Marc Andreessen, Money Management, Mortgage, NASDAQ, Netscape, Recession, Retail, RSA, Safestore Holdings, Skype, U.K. government, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK Recession, Unemployment, US economy, Wall Street

Signs that the UKs hard hit investment banks are springing slowly back to life comes with the news that new job openings in July were at their highest for the year and the impetus is expected to continue if not increase in the autumn.

According to recent data, the number of job listings in June and July across London’s financial sector was almost double of that in December 2008 with an August looking to be even stronger.

The strong half-year results from most of the major UK banks show a dynamic upward trend, especially in investment banks, which at the peak of the financial crisis cut their staff back to the bone.

Another item of positive news from that banking sector is that the Lloyds Banking Group is to place their decision to close its 164-strong Cheltenham & Gloucester branch network on hold for the time being. Less than three months after announcing their decision, partially state owned Lloyds, are to take a second look at their decision, and while the situation is under review, the branches will remain operational after their planned closure date of November. Lloyd’s sudden change of heart is believed to be connected to its recent request for state aid approval from the European Commission.

Shares in John Menzies rose more than 24 per cent on Wednesday after demand for air travel and new contracts for newspaper delivery boosted underlying profits at their aviation services and news distribution division.

Meanwhile Menzies’ news distribution division, responsible for more than two thirds of the company’s total turnover, announced a 2 per cent reduction in sales to £573 million.

In the first half to June 30, Menzies negotiated new contracts with all the leading newspaper and magazine publishers, and is now serving an extra 3,000 retail outlets.

One of the largest and well known UK camera retailers, Jessops, who have been experiencing financial difficulties for some time now, have announced that they are close to closing a rescue deal with their bankers.

In spite of falling sales, Jessops, who operate 211 stores across the UK and Ireland, announced their intention to defer the end of their financial year to November, hopefully to allow the company sufficient time to reach an agreement with HSBC on restructuring its £60 million debt facility.

A spokesman for Jessops announced that sales had been weak for the summer months, down 4.7 per cent in the 12 weeks to August 16, on top of the expectations that the company would make a pre-tax loss before non-recurring charges for the year, following its £49.8 million pre-tax loss in the year to September 2008.

Britain’s largest bus and train operator FirstGroup, who also own and operate the Greyhound coach brand in the US, announced that the famous Greyhound buses will soon be seen on UK street, The company plans to start a bus route, running from London Victoria to Portsmouth and Southampton . .

The buses will be equipped with all the comforts that a passenger could ask for, including free Wi-Fi, power sockets for each passenger, air conditioning, complimentary newspapers and leather seats. To add a bit of character, each Greyhound bus will be named after character featured in US classic pop music, with of the names brought to mind including Peggy Sue, Billy Jean and Barbara Ann.

FirstGroup, who acquired the Laidlaw company, Greyhound’s parent company in a £1.9 billion deal in 2007, intend to provide strong opposition to their competitors through providing greater comfort and improved service at low cost. Each Greyhound coach will have a maximum of 40 seats compared with the usual 50. Customers will be able to reserve their seats over the internet.

The FTSE 100 was in good shape yesterday rising 66.91 points to close on 4,756.58. On the way back is the FTSE 250 jumping by 1.92% or 161.11 points to close on 8,531.36 at the end of the days trading.

It has been revealed that Bank of England governor Mervyn King intended to inject even more billions into the UK economy in August, but his move was vetoed by his colleagues on the monetary policy committee. The news has unnerved markets, sending the pound lower and gilt yields down. King apparently had intended to increase the central bank’s “quantitative easing” programme of injecting cash into the banking system by £75 billion to a total of £200 billion.

The pound remained fairly stable, apart from falling heavily against the Swiss Franc.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6507
• Pound/Euro 1.1582
• Pound/Japanese Yen 155.3327
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.755

In the six months to April US banks have begun to reduce consumer access to revolving loans including credit cards and home equity lines of credit for about 20% of borrowers, according to a recent study. The study shows that banks in America are becoming increasingly aggressive in cutting their lines of credit to US consumers, with the average decrease to a consumer’s credit line averaging $5,100, more than double the $2,200 average reduction in the six months to October 2008

Seemingly unaffected was the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which continued its steady recovery, up a further 45.19 points to close on 9324.35. The NASDAQ also continued to show improvement, up 14.39 points to close on 1983.63

The sudden surge in the price of oil following data showing a huge drop in crude supplies last week was what pulled US stocks out of their early week slump

US natural gas prices sank to a seven-year low on Thursday amid concerns about a possible supply glut as winter looms in the offing.

Demand for natural gas has been weak, particularly from the industrial sector. US producers have cut the number of rigs drilling for new gas by more than half since September 2008 although stocks continue to rise due to output from existing facilities.

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Tags: Bank of England, Banking, British Economy, British Pound, Cheltenham & Gloucester, Currency, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, European Commission, Financial News, FirstGroup, FTSE, Greyhound buses, HSBC, Investment, investment banks, Jessops, John Menzies, Lloyds, Mervyn King, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Recession, Stock Markets, UK Banks, US Banks