Lloyds Banking Group is to cut 5,000 more jobs by the end of next year as it continues to reduce overlap following its merger with HBOS last year.

While almost half of these posts are among staff, 2,600 permanent jobs would be lost. The union Unite accused the bank of "corporate arrogance" and short-termism following the announcement, which will mean that Lloyds will have cut 15,000 jobs this year.

Japan’s second- largest carmaker Honda Motor Co have announced that they will be widening job cuts at its UK factory in Swindon, due to a major fall in demand in Europe as the end of government stimulus programs draws close.

According to a company spokesman, Honda plans to expand their voluntary early retirement plan, which succeeded in reducing the number of workers at the factory by 1,300 last December, although the spokesman declined to say how many additional jobs would be cut. The plant, which builds the CR-V and Civic models for the European market, saw production plunge by 75 percent to 400,000 units in the year until end September 2009.

A rapid recovery in UK commercial property values conditions could see the sector turn positive this year. The recovery comes after the deepest slump on record that looks like leading to an almost boom like situation according to forecasts. Real estate values are set to overturn most of the losses suffered in the first half as booming investor demand has taken prices back to near peak levels in some sectors.

As was widely expected, Cadbury have rejected the formal bid from Kraft on Monday, going as far as to describe the US food group’s offer as “derisory”. Roger Carr, Cadbury’s chairman, declared the formal offer “worse than the proposal the board has previously rejected” as it made no attempt to improve the terms of its original offer of two months ago. In the meantime Kraft’s share price has fallen steadily since their offer in early September, reducing the value of the bid from 745 pence a share to 717. Cadbury’s shares closed up 3 pence to 761 on the FTSE, while Kraft’s shares fell 31 cents in New York in midday trading to $26.47. However, Kraft have not rules out making an increased offer during the formal takeover offer period, which could last up to three months as analysts predict that the company may wait until towards the end of the offer period before making a final offer.

Company management at Sainsburys will be feeling the pressure as recent figures show that the supermarket group sales were expanding at the lowest rate of the UKs "big four " supermarkets. Sainsbury’s sales were shown to have risen by 4.7 percent in the 12 weeks to October 31, making for the lowest turnover expansion, less than the 5.6 percent recorded by Tesco, with Asda and Morrisons leading the way.

Unofficial reports have it that Orange UK sold more than 30,000 iPhones on launch day. Orange is the second carrier to offer the iPhone in the UK behind O2, while Vodafone has announced plans to begin offering the handset early in 2010, as well as the iPhone, Orange UK have also launched a so-called business homescreen for the soon to be launched Samsung Omnia Pro B7330. The Omnia Pro is reputed to be a smartphone based on a different concept from the iPhone, featuring Windows Mobile 6.5 and a full QWERTY keypad. Orange’s new homescreen provide quick access to email, voicemail, contacts, calendar and so on, “ensuring vital business applications are right at their employees’ finger tips”. The Samsung Omnia Pro B7330 will be soon available through Orange, coming as the carrier’s first “business WM6.5 device,” targeted at medium and large business customers.

For more information about The Samsung Omnia Pro B7330 Visit Compare-Mobile.co.uk

Sterling lost ground on Tuesday after a ratings agency said the UK was the major economy most at risk of losing its AAA credit rating , Since then the pound has weakened in value over the last two days against all the major currencies.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6719
• Pound/Euro 1.1161
• Pound/Japanese Yen 149.468
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6852

The FTSE 100 has rallied strongly since the beginning of the week up 86 points to 5,230.55. The FTSE 250 also rose 38.3 points to 9,120.96. London equities principally made progress on Monday, largely thanks to strong trading in insurance stocks.

As US carmaker General Motors (GM) were seen to be making efforts to calm the waves after their surprise decision last week to retain ownership of their European plants, a spokesman for the company has forecast that Opel and Vauxhall will retain consider independence as well as receiving considerable financial support . The US carmaker has announced that that they will provide a “reasonable and sizeable” portion of the restructuring costs for Opel and Vauxhall, rather than seek 100 percent government aid. GM have forecast that they will need €3 billion ($4.5 billion) to restructure the Opel and Vauxhall operations and intend to raise at least partial funding from interested European governments.

The Dow Jones has made some major steps forward since the weekend, up 243 points to 10246.97, closing at the highest level since October 2008.

The NASDAQ also jumped, reaching 2151.08.

US software company Adobe Systems has announced that it is to cut almost 10% of its workforce, a total of 680 jobs. Adobe Systems best known for Photoshop, Flash and Acrobat, said the cuts were necessary to cut costs.

Gold extended its record-breaking run above the $1,100 mark on Monday while crude oil raised more than $2 a barrel as markets made a strong start to the new trading week. Gold hit a record at $1,110.85 a troy ounce, a rise of 26.5 per cent this year, before easing back to $1,107.00, up 1.1 per cent on the day as analysts digested the implications of India’s decision last week to buy half of the gold the International Monetary Fund has put up for sale.

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Tags: Acrobat, Adobe, Adobe Systems, ASDA, Banking, British Economy, Cadbury, Currency, Dow Jones, Economy, Employment, Financial News, Flash, FTSE, General Motors, GM, Gold, HBos, Honda Motor Co, International Monetary Fund, iPhone, Kraft, Lloyds, Lloyds Banking Group, Money, Money Markets, Morrisons, NASDAQ, O2, Oil, Omnia Pro, Opel, Orange UK, Photoshop, property values, Recession, Retail, Roger Carr, Sainsburys, Samsung Omnia Pro B7330, smartphone, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, Tesco, UK Banks, UK commercial property, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Vauxhall, Vodafone

The announcements that Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group are to sell off hundreds of branches has added a smile to the face of.

Alistair Darling as well as the European Commission, who had insisted that the banks sell off some of their branches. In a recent statement, the chancellor confirmed his opinion that the sales, were in the "best interest" of the wider UK banking sector.

Lloyds will dispose of more than 600 branches over the next four years, while RBS will sell 318 of their high street outlets. The Spanish banking group, Santander will be allowed to bid for Royal Bank of Scotland’s branches when they are put up for sale. Under competition rules agreed between London and Brussels, Santander will be eligible to bid for some of the branches as the currently hold less than 8 per cent of the UK small business lending market. Meanwhile, Sir Richard Branson is reported to be interested in moving into the world of high street banking as his Virgin Money group has applied to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for a banking licence.

There are even some contentious rumors around that no less a company than PayPal might find them on the UK high street. Reports have it that PayPal already have an EU banking license, granted to them in May 2007, so why not a place for the outsiders!

Britain’s fourth-biggest supermarket group, WM Morrison have sent a message to their major suppliers that they will be looking for increased support for their increased and more aggressive promotion campaigns, The campaigns are aimed to increase their market share in what has become an increasingly competitive market. Morrison’s move comes as the prices of basic food stuffs begin to drop.

Europe’s biggest low-cost airline Ryanair announced on Monday that it is considering slowing down its rapid expansion program, and instead break with tradition by distributing cash earmarked to buy new aircraft to their shareholders instead. The company raised the possibility of the strategic shift while announcing a 46 per cent rise in second-quarter profits. The company has kept its full-year profit forecast steady, although they expect that figures for the third and fourth quarters will be less than rosy.

Sterling continued to weaken against the dollar, whilst rising slightly against the Euro and holding its own against the rest of the major currencies.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6398
• Pound/Euro 1.1168
• Pound/Japanese Yen 148.3102
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6874

The FTSE spent time under the 5,000-point mark on Tuesday with banking stocks taking the biggest toll. At close of trading, the FTSE 100 was seen to be holding its own on 5,037.2.

The FTSE 250 continues to suffer from a consistent run of heavy losses, falling more than 15% of its peal of 10,000 just a few weeks ago. At close of trading yesterday it was sitting on 8,756.68.

Troubled US commercial lender CIT Group, filed for bankruptcy on Sunday after attempts at a restructuring or bail-out failed. In a statement, CIT, who have been a key figure on the American banking scene for more than a century, announced that they had requested that the court quickly confirm its prepackaged bankruptcy plan. The plan, which has broad support from its debt holders, and in particular from Carl Icahn its billionaire investor. Icahn has agreed to provide a $1 billion line of credit, allowing the company to remain confident that they would be able to emerge from bankruptcy by the end of the year.

The US Dow Jones index made some recoveries from the last two days trading; up 61 points to 9,774.1 The NASDAQ were also fairly stable, reaching 2047.46.

The market was taken by surprise by the announcement of a swing to profitability by the auto manufacturing giant Ford. The company posted its first quarterly profit in more than a year, thanks to the implementation of cost-cutting and the government’s “cash-for-clunkers” rebates helped produce earnings of nearly $billion, or 29 cents a share, during the third quarter. Shares in Ford closed up 8.3 per cent at $7.58.

Australia’s economy continues to be the rising star of the global economies, so much so that it central bank has increased its interest rate for the second consecutive month, up a quarter percent to 3.5%. The Australian economy is the only one in the developed world to expand in the first half of 2009, with the continent largely managing to steer clear of recession, only entering into negative growth for the last quarter of 2008. The bank’s confidence was justifiably increased by the release last week of the lowest inflation figures in Australia for 10 years.

The price of gold price hit a fresh record high on Tuesday as India agreed to buy 200 tonnes of bullion from the International Monetary Fund. The move caused traders to speculate that there would be further purchases by the emerging economies. India’s purchase valued at around $6.7 billion, accounts for half of the IMF’s expected disposal of gold and signals a growing appetite among developing countries’ central banks for bullion in the wake of the global economic and financial crisis, coming after China had revealed earlier in the year that it had quietly almost doubled its gold reserves to become the world’s fifth-biggest holder.

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Tags: Alistair Darling, Bank, Banking, British Economy, British Pound, Bullion, Carl Icahn, cash for clunkers, CIT Group, Credit Crunch, Currency, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, EU banking license, European Commission, Financial News, Financial Services Authority, Ford, FSA, FTSE, Gold, Government, Interest Rates, International Monetary Fund, Lloyds, Lloyds Banking Group, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Paypal, RBS, Recession, Retail, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ryanair, Santander, Savings, Sir Richard Branson, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, UK banking sector, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Virgin, Virgin Money group, WM Morrison

The UK economy was stunned back on its heels on Friday when the eagerly awaited GDP figures were announced. They showed that the UK economy had contracted by 0.4% for the third quarter instead of showing growth of 0.2% that had been. This news means that tat the UK remains in recession. Despite recent euphoria, this setback means that the UK gross domestic product (GDP) has contracted for six consecutive quarters, for the first time since quarterly figures were first released more than half a century ago. However officials from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have hastened to state that the figures are not final and could still be subject to revision, as they are only the first estimate. There were some recent indications that the expected growth would not be met in the period including July to September, including negative growth in retail sales during September, and a 2.5% decline in industrial output in August.

Sterling fell by more than one percent after it transpired that analysts had incorrectly forecast that the economy would emerge from recession aid record quarterly growth of 0.2 percent. The pound lost some ground against the dollar, while strengthening against the Euro.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6307
• Pound/Euro 1.10879
• Pound/Japanese Yen 150.1223
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6758

The FTSE 100 recovered a little of Thursday’s losses, as attention turned to economic data thought likely to show an end to recession in the UK. Despite news to the contrary, the index stood its ground, up 35.21 points to close on 5242.57. The FTSE 250 25 wound up a week of constant fluctuations up just 4.74 points to 9323.65.

The number of US bank failures so far in 2009 has reached more the 100 mark. The figure was reached after US federal regulators shut down a trio of small Florida banks. So far bank failures have cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) fund an estimated $25 billion this year, with

More US banks having failed this year than in any year since 1992.

Microsoft, the US software giant announced their third quarter profits were higher than analysts predicted. The company put this down to a mixture of cost-cutting and stronger consumer demand.

Shares of Microsoft rose by 7.9 per cent to $28.68 in pre-market trading.

Despite Microsoft’s success, the Dow Jones took a major tumble before the weekend, down 109.12 points to fall below the 10,000 barrier again, closing on 9972.18. The NASDAQ Composite index dropped a little, down 10.82 points to close on 2,154.47

Sales of previously-owned US homes unexpectedly rose in September, reaching their highest level since 2007.The National Association of Realtors announced that sales had risen by 9.4% last month, making for an annual rate of 5.57 million, up from 5.09 million in August. Analysts were taken by surprise, as they had sales to reach 5.35 million units in September. Meanwhile, the average sale price dropped to £106,937 ($174,900), 8.5% down from a year ago, making for the smallest annual drop in 13 months

Crude oil prices fell by more than $1 a barrel on Thursday after reaching a fresh 2009 high of $82 during the previous session. Gold prices also softened after recent strong gains, trading at an average of $1,058 an ounce

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Tags: Banking, British Economy, British Pound, Credit Crunch, Crude oil, Currency, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, FDIC, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Financial News, FTSE, Gold, gross domestic product, Microsoft, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, National Association of Realtors, Office for National Statistics, Recession, Retail, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK Recession, US Banks

It appears likely that the UK government will not agree to underwrite the Lloyds Banking Group’s proposed rights issue. This development, if it transpires, could potentially stall the partially state-owned bank’s efforts to raise sufficient capital to allow them not to participate in the government backed toxic asset insurance programme. In the long term, the government is expected to participate in the planned rights issue, although chancellor Alistair Darling, chancellor is keeping tight lipped on the subject, for the meantime. Analysts have predicted that Darling would not be interested the government would not be willing to underwrite the rights issue, so as not to be seen to be making a commitment to buy any shares that remained unsold. However the feeling in the markets is that Darling and co has to be seen to be backing the issue, in order not to send out a negative impression

Britain’s largest pub owner Punch Taverns, have announced a £406 million annual loss, largely attributed to the writing down the value of its recession-hit property portfolio by 11 per cent. A spokesman for the company also stated that trading was not showing significant signs of improvement for the first seven weeks of its new financial year, a fact that should have a negative effect on the company’s future. On the announcement., shares in Punch plummeted by 16.6 per cent to close at 96.65p.Punch owns more than 7,500 pubs, that are principally leased to semi-independent publicans who are obliged to buy all their beers through Punch as well as paying them rent.

Shares in National Express plunged more than 30 per cent on Friday after the Spanish-led consortium bidding for the bus and rail operator withdrew its £765m takeover offer. The Cosmen family, who already own an 18.5 per cent stake in National Express, along with the private equity firm CVC, had been due to make a formal offer.

The rise in UK unemployment slowed in the three months to August, showing signs that the job losses may be slowing down as the economy continues to show signs of recovery. The number of people out of work rose 88,000 to 2.47 million, compared with the previous three months, while the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.9 per cent of the total UK workforce. This figure contrasts well with 9.8 per cent in the US and the 9.1 per cent average in the European Union member countries.

The Pound continued it steady improvement against the major currencies.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6332
• Pound/Euro 1.10956
• Pound/Japanese Yen 149.048
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.665

Two of the major Wall Street banks have announced profits for the third quarter that was above market analyst’s expectations.

Goldman Sachs’ announced profits for the period of £1.96billion, four times what they earned for the same period in 2008.

Profits for the Citigroup also grew. However their potential profits were of were dented by the poor results of their high street banking operation, reaching only £65 million for the quarter.

US stock markets hit fresh 2009 highs on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average reclaiming the 10,000 mark, after a smaller-than-expected decline in retail sales and strong earnings at a leading bank.

Financial, industrial and materials stocks boosted the market while the telecoms sector was a laggard.

The Dow Jones index continued to consolidate itself above the 10,000 points standard, up 47.08 points to 10062.94 while the Nasdaq Composite index rose 1.5 per cent to 2,172.2

Internet super –power Google has reported its highest quarterly profit, providing further indications that the online advertising market is in a healthy situation. Google reported a £1billion net profit for the third quarter, a rise of 27% for the same period in 2008.

Also on the up are US computer hardware giant IBM, who reported profits for the same period of around £2 billion, an improvement of 14% on last year.

US crude prices reached their highest levels for the year while gold extended its record-breaking run, passing the $75-a-barrel mark at one point during the day’s trading. This news came after analysts predicted that crude prices appeared ready to ready to increase after remaining consistent for the last six months. Forecasts are that demands for leading up to Christmas, will push oil prices up.

Meanwhile the price of gold reached a record $1,070.40 ounce later slipping back to $1,069.

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Tags: Alastair Darling, Banking, British Economy, British Pound, Citigroup, Cosmen family, Credit Crunch, Currency, CVC, Dow Jones, Economy, Employment, Financial News, Gold, Goldman Sachs, Google, IBM, Lloyds, Lloyds Banking Group, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, National Express, Punch Taverns, Recession, Retail, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, UK unemployment, US stock market, Wall Street

Rumour has it that meetings have been taking places in countries with emerging economies such as India, China, and Brazil along with some of the current key players in the global economy, particularly certain Gulf States as well as Japan and Russia. These clandestine meetings are being held in the offices of finance ministers and central bank governors and they are discussing what was once considered unthinkable. The replacement of the US dollar as the World’s staple currency, especially when it comes to fixing the price of major commodities, crude oil and gold in particular.

Speculation about the switch is believed to be the force behind the sudden rise in the price of gold.

Apparently, key forces within the American financial institutions are aware of the discussions that are taking place, although they are being kept in the dark regarding specific details. According to unconfirmed reports, the US is particularly upset with their allies in Japan and the Gulf states, and are not expected to accept the matter lying down. By and large, if the dollar loses its place as the number one global currency, a risk of deepening divisions between Russia, China and the US over influence and commodities could become more intense.

Financial analysts predict that the transitional currency, should the move away from dollars actually transpire may not be another currency, and more likely gold. One thing for sure is that if the dollar falls of its plateau, particularly hard hit will the countries such as Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar who are estimated to be holding more than $2. trillion in dollar reserves.

The decline of American economic power linked to the current global recession has been offset by China’s extraordinary rise as an emerging economic superstar. China today imports around sixty percent of its oil, much of it from the Middle East and Russia, and exports no fewer than 10 per cent of the imports of every country in the Middle East. These imports include a huge range of products from cars to weapon systems, food and clothing making it understandable why China would want to deal away from the now unstable and rapidly weakening dollar, especially when financial sources believe President Barack Obama will to too busy involved in saving the US economy to concentrate on the extraordinary implications of the transition from the dollar in 2018.

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Tags: Abu Dhabi, Banking, Barack Obama, Brazil, China, Credit Crunch, Crude oil, Currency, Economy, Financial News, Global Credit Crisis, global recession, Gold, Gulf States, India, Japan, Kuwait, Money, Money Markets, Qatar, Recession, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Stock Markets, UD Dollar

A leading and influential economic group has predicted that the UK economy did not grow in the third quarter of the year. Contrary to expectations as well as many other financial analysts’ forecasts, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) have suggested that gross domestic product (GDP) remained unchanged from July to September 2009. The majority of UK economists have predicted there would be growth in the three-month period, which would end the UK recession, while the NIESR stated that the reason why the UK economy’s failed to register any growth during the quarter was due to weak industrial production in August, especially in the oil industry. The official GDP figures for the third quarter are due to be released on 23 October.

According to market sources, the number of banks who are now prepared to lend for real estate investment has almost doubled over the past six months largely due to improvements and confidence as well as favourable funding conditions.

There are now more than twenty banking bodies reportedly prepared to lend more than £20 million at a time for real estate investments, while there are at least six banks willing to finance property deals of over £100 million. Apparently German banks continue to dominate the real estate investment funding sector, having ample access to funding whilst enjoying the benefits from devalued sterling. The growing numbers of lenders continue to indicate that the property market was opening up to increased activity after reaching a low point in the first half of 2009.

In a fairly drastic cost cutting move, British Airways (BA) have announced their plans to cut 1,700 jobs as well as plans to introduce a two-year pay freeze for cabin crew BA posted heavy losses for their 2008/2009 financial year and forecasts for 2009/2010 predict that their loss making will continue as global airlines continue to struggle. On the announcement, BA stock climbed 3.2 percent to 217 pence. Meanwhile stocks in Europe’s second largest discount airline EasyJet Plc, climbed by 2.4 percent, to 378.9 pence, as the company prepared to report their September passenger statistics.

The makers of Imperial Leather soap and Carex hand wash PZ Cussons announced that they were “cautiously optimistic” on its 2010 outlook as reported strong trading over the past three months. The company said turnover was in line with forecasts for the third quarter and that profits had increased in comparison with the corresponding period of last year.

London equity markets were stronger on Tuesday, despite some late caution as investors awaited details of US earnings season and the surprise announcement from Australia that they will be raising their interest rates

The FTSE 100 rose by 2.26 percent on yesterday’s trading, or 113.65 points to close on 5137.98. The FTSE 250 also continued to move steadily upwards, soaring 218.70 points to finish back over the 9,000 hurdle at 9201.23.

The pound seems to have a permanent stance below $1.60 mark, whilst remaining weak against the rest of the principal currencies.

• Pound/US dollar 1.5898
• Pound/Euro 1.10812
• Pound/Japanese Yen 141.2395
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6351

The Dow Jones index continued to recover from last week’s setbacks, rising yesterday by 131.5 points at 9,731.25. The NASDAQ index also followed suit jumping 35.42 points to finish on 2,103.57.

Australia became the first of the World’s leading industrialised nations n to raise interest rates, with its central bank increasing the official cash rate from 3 to 3.25 per cent. Glenn Stevens, governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, said economic conditions in Australia had been “stronger than expected”, while measures of confidence had recovered allowing the country to rates from their 49-year low “emergency” rate.

The price of gold has hit a new all-time high of $1,043.77 an ounce after a decline in the dollar boosted the attractiveness of metals to investors. According to analysts, continuing concerns of higher inflation in the US as its economy recovers was an increased factor in lowering the price of the dollar, further boosting the price of gold

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Tags: BA, Bank, Banking, British airways, British Economy, British Pound, Carex, Credit Crunch, Currency, Dow Jones, EasyJet Plc, Economy, Financial News, FTSE, GDP, Glenn Stevens, Gold, gross domestic product, Imperial Leather, Investments, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, NIESR, property market, PZ Cussons, Recession, Reserve Bank of Australia, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK Recession

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) get their way , in the very near future company directors who turn a blind eye to price fixing at their companies are liable to be banned for up to 15 years. According to a statement published by the OFT, Britain’s antitrust regulator are preparing considerably tougher penalties not only for directors who were directly involved in price fixing but also those who were guilty by default. The current rules ban only directors who themselves breach competition law through offences such as price-fixing.

In common with other U.K. regulatory bodies the OFT, intend to raise the penalties for those individuals who are found guilty of price fixing, including jail sentences. To show that these are not empty threats, the OFT has recently charged four former and current executives of British Airways Plc with fixing the price of fuel surcharges on transatlantic flights with one of their competitors. If found guilty, the four could go to prison for as long as five years.

Anyone saying that the UK economy is dying obviously hasn’t been talking to their funeral undertakers recently. As is often the case, the funeral industry is experiencing record upturn in trade that has been going on for the last year at least. Not that more people are dying, just that many are concerned that when the time comes when they will be called to leave this Earth, their loved ones wall be unable to meet the bill. For this reason, more and more UK subjects are joining a plan organized by Britain’s largest provider of funeral plans to pay for their funeral in advance through easy payments.

The company, Co-operative Funeral care, who operate 1,100 funeral homes across the O.K., announced this week that they experienced a 28% increase in the number of funeral plan sales during the last six months alone.

A spokesman for Co-operative Funeral care pointed out that subscribing to a funeral plan represented a sound investment for people as they are guaranteed against future increases in costs.

Funeral plans, however do not cover all the costs with the "future clients" having to pay for their burial plot.

Northern Rock, the UK building society come bank, who recently reported first-half losses of £725 million, has announced that they will be deferring payments on some of its subordinated debt to help conserve capital. The UK bank, largely public owned, where permissible. Granite, the bank’s securitisation vehicle, will be unaffected.

Thomas Cook, the UK travel group announced that a large part of insolvent German retailer, Arcandor’s 53 per cent stake in the company could be sold to institutional investors as early as next month as their creditor banks attempt to reduce their loan burden.

Arcandor’s banks, led by Royal Bank of Scotland, Commerzbank and Bayern LB were reported to be still in the market for find a strategic buyer for the company so that they could sell off their combined 44 per cent stake. –.

Demands for rented accommodation will grow to eventually reach than a third of UK households within a decade, doubling the number since 2005.

With public sector construction spending expected to weaken over the next 18 months, consumers who are unable or unwilling to purchase their own property will create a strong demand for rented homes. These predictions come from Gravis Snook, chief executive of Rok, the construction and maintenance group. "He continued "The model where the individual borrows large sums to buy a house that they never quite pay off is somewhat suspect."

The group had been in talks with a number of social housing groups regarding the establishment of joint ventures with institutional investors to profit from this demand.

The FTSE 100 was in consolidation mode yesterday rising just 3.89 points to close on 4689.67. The FTSE 250 also recovered slightly, rising 15.77 points to close on 8,370.25

The pound improved against the dollar, whilst taking a tumble against the rest of the major currencies.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6509
• Pound/Euro 1.1624
• Pound/Japanese Yen 155.3987
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.7614

Research in Motion (RIM) designers and producers of the BlackBerry smartphone have won the coveted honor as the company to watch, by the highly ranked Fortune Magazine.

RIM, based in Canada were ranked first in a list of the fastest growing firms around the world, due to their tremendous success with the BlackBerry Curve in the US, where they hold a 74 per cent share of the business smartphone market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average continued to recover from its collapse earlier in the week, rising a further 61.22 points to close on 9279.16. The NASDAQ also showed improvement up 13.32 points to close on 1969.24

Another interesting phenomenon was unveiled this week mirroring the unhealthy condition of the World’s leading economies. It has been reported that as the US economy has contracted and employment opportunities have considerably contracted, the number of Mexicans crossing into the US by legal and illegal means appears to have fallen considerably. Statistics show that the number of people legally entering the US from Mexico, mostly looking for work, has fallen by nearly 40 per cent since 2006 to an annual average of about 350,000. Even more compelling news is that according to official statistics, the number of people apprehended trying to enter the US illegally fell to 724,000 in 2008, the lowest since 1973.

While the Department of Homeland Security claim that the decline is related to tougher border protection efforts, however many claim that the slump in US economy is the real reason.

Oil prices dipped ahead of the latest US inventories data while base metals retreated after a sharp fall in the Chinese stock market

Demand for gold sank in the second quarter after jewellery consumption dropped by more than a fifth and investment interest slowed as the threat of meltdown in the global financial system receded

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UK unemployment has risen to its highest level in 14 years despite all the indications that the recession has begun to recede

Recent reports indicate that in the second quarter through June, the number of people seeking work rose from 2.22 million to 2.44 million, an increase of 220,000 making for the highest level of unemployment since 1996. According to the Office for National Statistics, claims for jobless benefit climbed by 24,900 in July to 1.58 million.

A separate statement issued by the Bank of England predicted that unemployment will keep climbing even after the recession is recognized is over, which will hamper the pace of recovery. To soften the unemployment burden, BOE Governor Mervyn King announced that the bank will to expand its bond-buying program.

According to the International Labour Organization, overall UK unemployment rose to 7.8 percent between April and June, compared with 9.4 percent in the U.S. in July, 9.4 percent in the euro region in June and 5.4 percent in Japan.

According to the UK’s Financial Service Authority (FSA) an end to the practice of awarding non performance related bonuses appears to be in the offing at long last. From 2010, UK financial institutions will be disallowed for paying their staff guaranteed bonuses out with the current financial year. Exempt however are senior bank employees who can still have their bonuses spread over two or three years.

Lloyds TSB have announced that its Insight asset management business is to be sold off to the Bank of New York Mellon (BNY) for £235 million.

Analysts say the deal may mark the start of a phase of consolidation and disposals among mid-sized asset management groups facing increasing margin pressure.

BNY Mellon beat off several competitors in the auction for Insight, whose revenues in both 2006 and 2007 were around the £125 million. 2007.

The Lloyds group, 43.5 per cent taxpayer owned is known to be consolidating their activities, in anticipation of talks to be held with the European Commission about state aid approval. Lloyds surged 6.4 percent to 96.83 pence.

Also on the offload trail are RBS who are well into the process of selling or shutting down its businesses in two-thirds of the 54 countries where it has been operating, in the aftermath of suffering the largest trading loss incurred in British corporate history last year.

As part of their campaign, RBS have announced a £53 million deal to sell off 99.4 percent of the Banks branches in Pakistan to the privately owned Muslim Commercial Bank, the country’s biggest lender by market value. The deal is not yet official, requiring regulatory approval which, according to analysts will be a formality. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, the biggest bank owned by the U.K. government, added 5.4 percent to 45.15 pence.

Independent Television Corporation (ITV) the hard pressed and profit starved UK commercial network broadcaster has received a long overdue boost in the shape of a positive recommendation of better times ahead to investors from their bankers. The news pushed their shares up towards its target price of 50 pence, for the first time in a long time.

The U.K.’s largest publicly traded residential landlord Grainger Plc were among the stars on the FTSE on Thursday as their shares shot up by 16 percent, (33.5 pence, to 243.5 ) on news that that they had succeeded in reducing their debt burden by £100 million pounds since March, through disposal of real estate.

The FTSE 100 to a new 10-month high on Thursday, making for an increase of more than a third since early March, as reports of a global economic recovery gains impetus.

The FTSE 100 continued to make up for losses earlier in the week, up 38.70 points to close on 4,755.46. Meanwhile the FTSE 250 took another giant step forward, rising 131.73 points to close on 8,483.66

Sterling has a mixed day on yesterday’s markets, ring slightly against all of the currencies, with the notable exception of the EURO.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6575
• Pound/Euro 1.1605
• Pound/Japanese Yen 158.3223
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.7751

In the US retail sales fell in July, following two months of rises, as fears of job security appear to have put a block on consumer spending.

The figures proved to be an unpleasant surprise for analysts, who had been expecting a rise of 0.7% in overall sales last month.

On Wall Street, US stocks reached new highs for the year, with the Dow Jones index rising 36.58 points to close on 9398.19, while the NASDAQ again passed the 2,000 point mark, up 10.63 points to finish the day on 2009.35

The big news coming out of Europe was that both the French and German economies have announced an end to the year-long recessions in both of Europe’s strongest economies.

Stronger exports and consumer spending, as well as government stimulus packages, contributed to of 0.3% between April and June

However economic activity in the eurozone fell by 0.1%, a sign that the region is still in the throes of the recession.

The Volkswagen / Porsche takeover deal has finally been finalised. Volkswagen is to pay €3.3 billion for a 42% stake in Porsche’s main production division. Between the lines, the takeover was closer to a rescue for debt-laden Porsche, which will amount to a complete merger of VW and Porsche SE during 2011

Crude oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel as commodity markets rallied after better-than expected economic data fuelled hopes that the eurozone’s recession was close to ending.

Gold rose 1 per cent to $956 a troy ounce, bolstered by dollar weakness

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To meet an unprecedented demand from savers looking for a haven for their cash, it has been announced that the Royal Mint has been forced to double their production of gold coins. It appears that the output for gold coins in the second quarter of 2009 in terms of weight was 16,910 ounces, up from 8,030 in the same period last year.

Overall output for the first half of 2009 overall was more than 45,000 ounces, up an amazing 86% on the same period for 2008.

As has been the case throughout history, collectors are snapping up the newly minted gold coinage, because it is one of the easiest and most straightforward ways to place their money directly in gold.

Gold has been traditionally regarded as a safe haven in times of financial turbulence. Since the outset of this recent crisis, and even for several years preceding it, gold has consistently risen in value. Currently it is valued at around $950 an ounce and has even made the $1,000 an ounce mark a few times over the last few years. However analysts predict that as long as the dollar continues to devalue and there is general uncertainty in the global financial markets, the price of gold will continue to rise and could eventually reach as high as $2.000 an ounce.

During the past decade, gold trading patterns have shown that prices will rise for a term of around six to nine months, and then stabilise or even fall back a little before rising again.

Many financial analysts state that gold is the ultimate currency, performing best when economies are at extremes, whether inflationary or deflationary.
One fact that is generally accepted is that if the quantitative easing program in both sides of the Atlantic does go wrong then the value of money relative to real assets will dwindle, and double figure inflation is a very real possibility.

Even if the recovery does sustain itself people holding should be still be in a stronger position than those who invested in currency.

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Indications increasingly point to the fact that anyone who has money to invest and would like to earn any form of interest on it are once again looking towards the best if not only means of allowing their capital to appreciate in value-by turning it into gold.

With every day bringing fresh evidence that the global financial crisis is more severe and will last longer than originally forecast, especially in the UK, increasingly more money people are buying gold. At whatever price it takes.

While Britain’s leading banks are part of the biggest rescue package since Dunkirk, the poor investor has found no hiding place for their savings and is seeing them dwindle in real time.

Without looking into the worst of global scenarios, some showing a deterioration that could actually lead to the crumbling of the entire Western banking system as we know it, there is no doubt that the World is sailing into previously uncharted waters where the only true security may lie in gold.

It was only ten years or so that gold seemed to have outlived its place as the safe haven of governments and wealthy individuals, with property and equity taking its place. It has faded into the annals of UK financial history that Brown, in his early days as Chancellor of the Exchequer sold half of Great Britain’s, around 400 tonnes, for around 6 billion pounds when today it will be worth around four times that amount.

Dealing with global financial trends as far is gold concerned is not for the faint hearted, and there are those that say Gordon Brown’s thinking then as Chancellor was probably echoed by many others in the European and the US financial hierarchy. Gold seemed dull and inflexible when compared to the bright lights of unbridled lending and borrowing all financed by constant and unrealistic property and share capital increases

Financial experts say that a huge revaluation in the price of gold is happening and if allowed to continue will prop up not only the UK treasury but also those of the countries most exposed to the financial crisis, especially those who had the good sense to leave their gold stocks intact.

Buying gold will provide an answer to those who wish to protect their assets till the storm subsides, but who knows how long that can take. In the times that we are living through gold can be a bad short term bet but an excellent medium to long term safety net. Even those who bought into gold a year or so have fared better than those who kept their assets in shares or property.

Gold’s continued healthy performance also depends on demand and supply, and all eyes are on the Asian market which is more dynamic and short term that that of the West. If there is a decrease in demand for gold in these developing economies, especially India and China, there will be a decrease in global gold price growth.

Overall investing in Gold, either in a physical format or in certain of the gold stocks still seems to be the best hedge against deflation of asset value. , Gold prices may remain volatile, especially in the short term. However the tends to be that prices are moving upwards, rising steadily towards the psychological $1,000 an ounce level. In the past it has stuck there. The extra eighteen billion pounds that would be sitting today in Government coffers seems insignificant went compared to the financial commitments that have been taken on through supporting the banks and insurance companies today. But it would be comforting to know that it was still there.

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