Financial analysts fear that Britain could be among the countries that could follow Greece into a financial crisis. The uncertainty comes after Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned of economic "contagion" spreading across Europe.

The IMF urged politicians to finalise a bail-out for the debt-laden Mediterranean country, saying that every day lost in resolving the problems risked spreading the impact "far away".

Strauss-Kahn’s comments came amid growing evidence of Europe’s mounting fiscal problems after Spain’s debt was downgraded following in the footsteps of Portugal as well as Greece.

Late Thursday Germany was holding out for more economic reforms from Greece before agreeing to an unprecedented multi-billion euro bail-out plan.

UK house prices increased by 1% month-on-month in April, according to the latest house price index.

Property experts pointed out that April’s figures did receive an additional boost from the fact that April was one of the weaker months of 2009. However with property values beginning to increase from May last year, it will be difficult to maintain this rate of growth in the coming months.

On the commercial property front, it appears that the appeal of London’s robust shopping demand continues attract the leading for international retail chains to the city. A recent survey has revealed how 58 percent of international retail brands have opened outlets not just in London but throughout the UK, spurred by strong consumer demand.

Preliminary assessments have revealed that the European air transport sector swallowed as much as €2.5 billion in losses from disruption caused by Iceland’s volcanic eruption. The loss assessment conducted by the European Commission could well be the model that an industry bailout will be based on. Some of the airlines affected have argued that flawed computer models used by member states were partially responsible for grounding planes, even when the airlines insisted that was safe for them to resume their services. A spokesman for the UK Department for Transport stated that while the "UK cannot unilaterally provide new aid to affected companies it continues "to explore options" with the Commission. Meanwhile, budget airline EasyJet have cautioned that governments should be prevented from providing aid to "ailing national carriers" who might use the financial damage caused by the volcanic disruption as a pretext for a bailout.

Royal Dutch Shell today announced a 49% surge in first quarter profits as the energy giant joined rival BP in benefiting from higher oil prices.

The Anglo-Dutch group reported earnings of £3.2 billion ($4.9 billion) for the first three months of the year – a day after BP posted a profit of £3.6 billion for the same period. The company’s chief executive explained that rising energy prices and an improved operational performance meant Shell’s profits were sharply higher than the $1.18 billion in the final quarter of 2009.

Shell’s performance has lagged behind BP as it has been forced invest heavily in finding new sources of oil and gas at a time when refining margins are under pressure due to global overcapacity and economic weakness.

Today’s results are back to the levels of the first quarter of 2009, when crude prices averaged just over $41 dollars a barrel, while the figure today stands at an average of $76 dollars a barrel.

Imperial Tobacco has reported a 15 percent rise in profits for the first half of their financial year. The increase comes through an increase in demand in some of their key European markets for cheaper roll-your-own tobacco. From factory-made cigarettes Bristol-based Imperial Tobacco, whose brands include Lambert & Butler and Davidoff reported a pre-tax profit of £974 million for the six months to March 31, on turnover up eight percent at £13.4 billion.

Sterling continues to grow in strength against the dollar closing on $1.5351, whilst falling back slightly against the troubled Euro on €1.155

There was a positive mood on the stock exchange on Thursday, with U.K. stocks mostly on the up. Among the most active were Unilever, the world’s second-largest food and detergent company, whose shares advanced by 3.2 percent. After BSkyB the U.K.’s biggest pay-television provider reported an increase in third-quarter profit their shares rose by the most in more than a year. Also shares in AstraZeneca, the U.K.’s second-largest drug-maker, advanced by 2.3 percent.

The FTSE 100 rose 30.89 points to 5,617.8. The market appears to be rebounding from two days of losses prompted by the downgrading the credit ratings of Greece, Portugal and Spain.

Stateside, the Federal Reserve have conformed their pledge to keep interest rates low for an “extended period”, while offering a slightly more upbeat assessment of the US economy. The Fed’s open market committee reiterated that its main interest rate would remain at its target range of 0-0.25 per cent. The figure has stood at this level since December 2008.

Analysts point out that the financial recovery appears to be gathering steam in the US in recent months, with most economic indicators in line or ahead of previous expectations. However, pressure on policymakers to start raising interest rates has not risen accordingly, with inflation remaining in control.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones made a recovery from early week falls, closing up 122.05 points to 11167.32, while the NASDAQ rose 40.19 points to 2511.92

It appears that American consumers have re-discovered the joys of shopping, with retail sales stronger than forecast. The US housing market, meanwhile, has shown fresh signs of a rebound, with home prices increasing on an annual basis for the first time in three years in February,

In the computer hardware world, the news is that Palm, one of the leading pioneer in the smart phone business, are to acquired by US computer giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) for £657 million ($1 billion)

A spokesman for HP said that Palm’s webOS operating system would help its expansion in the fast-growing market for smart phones and connected mobile devices. Although HP is paying a premium to Palm’s closing share price on Wednesday of $4.63, it is well below the company’s 52-week high of $18.09.

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Tags: AstraZeneca, Bank, BP, British Economy, BskyB, Davidoff, Dominique Strauss-Kah, Dow Jones, EasyJet, Economy, Employment, Financial News, FTSE, House Prices, HP, Imperial Tobacco, International Monetary Fund, Lambert & Butler, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Palm, Recession, Retail, Royal Dutch Shell, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, UK Banks, UK Department for Transport, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Unilever, volcanic eruption, Wall Street

Under threat of the first nationwide strike by signalmen in 16 years, Network Rail announced on Friday night that it would meet next week at conciliation service Acas to discuss two separate disputes with the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) and the TSSA, which represents managerial grades. The RMT is already threatening to strike over a proposed restructure of Network Rail’s maintenance operations which could lead to the loss of up to 1,500 jobs. However there are also worries over potential strike action by signalers in several areas of the country. The Acas talks will take place on either Monday or Tuesday.

In the air, British Airways have announced that their contingency plans for the first day of a three-day cabin crew strike have gone "extremely well".

A spokesman for BA said that according to their program, more than 65% of passengers would reach their destinations, with 1,157 staff working and some canceled flights reinstated. However the Unite union, representing the striking crew members has speculated that only a third of BA’s normal flights took off, with 125 out of its 250 planes grounded.

Another four-day strike is planned for 27 March in the pay and conditions row.

Within the next few days Chancellor Alistair Darling is expected to endorse plans for a global tax on certain financial institutions. These are institutions that are likely to pose a "systemic risk" by being dependent on government insurance schemes to stay afloat. Darling us expected to use the budget announcement to detail his backing of the proposals, with his key recommendations being that government revenue raised should go to national governments rather than an insurance scheme, which he believes would encourage banks to take more risk on lending and expansion. Darling’s views are similar to those expressed recently by Dominique Strauss-Khan head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who encouraged Europe to establish a system of orderly bankruptcy for cross border banks which would be less dependent on insurance schemes to fund bailouts.

In a recent survey conducted by Small Business Britain Entrepreneurs it was revealed that 40 per cent of small and medium, sized business enterprises (SMEs) would like to see a fall in employers’ national insurance contributions. In addition over 45 per cent would like to see banks to offer better rates to smaller firms. All in all they have called for Chancellor Alistair Darling’s budget to support small and medium-sized businesses, while at the same time, according to an unrelated survey small and medium-sized businesses are reported to be gaining increased confidence that the UK’s economic recovery looks likely to continue. The HSBC’s Global Small Business Confidence Monitor has reported that over three-quarters of SMEs now expected steady or increasing growth over the next six months

On the downside, the recent severe spell of weather has reportedly caused losses of around £7 billion pounds to SMEs. A survey showed that nearly two-fifths of those taking part stating that the harshest winter in decades had forced them temporarily cease operations, whilst more than forty percent said that weather conditions had cause some form of disruption to their business. Just less than a quarter of the firms surveyed announced that had not been affected by the severe weather in January.

Recent figures published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) revealed that UK car production in February increased by almost two thirds against the same month in 2009, representing the fourth consecutive month that output has seen a year-on-year increase.

The SMMT announced that close to 100,000 cars came off the production line in February, with the majority going for export. In addition, around 10,226 commercial vehicles were also produced in February. A spokesman for the SMMT said the scrappage scheme continues to boost demand and production. The ‘cash for bangers scheme is due to expire at the end of this month with the SMMT predicting that the industry will be affected by the scheme drawing to a close.

Clothing retailer Next are expected to announce in their full year results due out on Wednesday that it has beaten many of its high street rivals. Pre-tax profits are predicted to have risen by £66 million pounds to £635 million pounds. Other companies due to release their results this week include supermarket giant Sainsbury, with their fourth-quarter trading figures due out on Thursday.

The pound continues to fall sharply against the dollar and the Euro, with the fall not being helped by a Bank of England (BOE) policymaker predicting that the UK could yet fall back into recession. On that piece of optimistic news the pound fell against the dollar, to $1.503. The pound fell against the Euro to 1.100. The prediction of the chance of double-dip recession taking place came from a BOE Monetary Policy Committee member Andrew Sentance.

On the FTSE, Banks were the biggest risers, with Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group all on the up.

Partially state owned, Lloyds announced a return to profitability in 2010 after two years of heavy losses. Their recovery was helped by lower than expected bad debts and tight cost controls. On the news shares in Lloyds Banking Group s rose sharply after the bank announced that they had succeeded in reserving losses of £6.3 billion ($9.5 billion) in 2009

Energy shares were also on a high with BP and Royal Dutch Shell both among the early risers.

Meanwhile the FTSE was continuing to rose, aided by news that Lloyds Banking Group said it would return to profitability in 2010

The FTSE 100 index finished for the weekend at 5,650.13, after hitting a 21-month closing peak on Wednesday.

On Wall Street before the weekend close, the Dow Jones was still on the rise, this time by 83 points to close on 10741.98. The NASDAQ took a little dip, after enjoying a good week. It fell four points to 2374.41.

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Tags: Acas, Alistair Darling, Bank, Bank of England, Banking, Barclays, British airways, British Economy, Dow Jones, Economy, Employment, Financial News, FTSE, Global Small Business Confidence Monitor, HSBC, International Monetary Fund, Lloyds Banking Group, Maritime and Transport Union, Monetary Policy Committee, NASDAQ, national insurance, Network Rail, Recession, Retail, Royal Bank of Scotland, Royal Dutch Shell, Sainsbury, Small Business Britain Entrepreneurs, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, UK Economy, UK government, Wall Street

Regulators have agreed tough new regulations designed to put into action the proposals agreed by the G20 group of nations over the weekend. If they come into force, the regulations could force many of Europe’s top banks to raise tens of billions of Euros in capital in coming months.

The new rules are designed to force banks to improve the quality and extent of their capital buffers significantly in order to absorb shocks.

The new regulations will require banks to ensure that at least half of the capital held by banks must comprise of common equity and retained earnings. In addition the regulators have also decided to set specific limits on how much banks can borrow, expected to be around 25 times their assets.

Since the beginning of the financial downturn, investors in companies quoted on the FTSE, have become much more active and are turning up with increasing regularity at annual general meetings to make their feelings heard and their votes count. Evidence of their effectiveness has already been noted at meetings of firms such as Royal Dutch Shell and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which resulted in proposed pay packages being rejected.

Cadbury are reported to be a little cheesed of with Kraft Foods, after having rejected a £10.2 billion takeover approach from them. The FTSE lived the idea and shares in the company rose by almost 40% after the announcement.

Spokespeople from Cadbury explained that the reason why they rejected the approach was that it basically undervalued the company, while analysts suspect that Kraft’s offer was just an opening salvo, and they will come in with an increased offer. Rumours have it that other "kings of confectionery" are waiting in the wings, among them Hershey and the Nestle Company.

All the news on the FTSE was not about Cadburys, with the Lloyds Banking Group adding 4.4 per cent to close on 106.31 pence. The rise in share value came on reports that the bank is interested in converting £7 billion of its existing e shares to equity at a premium. .

Sports Direct, after seeing their shares rise by 14 per cent on Friday, succeeded in adding a further 11.8 per cent to 114 pence in anticipation of a very positive update on the company’s position due to be released today.

The FTSE 100 index jumped again, driven by the news from Cadbury. It sweetened by 81.48 points to close of 4933.18.

Meanwhile the FTSE 250 continued to climb on Monday, up 2.18% or 190.61 141.05 points to close on 8,963.46.

The pound dipped against the major currencies on a weak days trading.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6351
• Pound/Euro 1.14
• Pound/Japanese Yen 152.096
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.733

There was no trading on Wall Street on Monday for Labour Day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average stayed on 9441.27 while the NASDAQ Composite looked comfortable on 2018.78.

Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize-winning economist is bucking the trend by stating his doubts on the robustness and staying power of any US economic recovery, warning that the current economic downturn may be what is known as a "double dipper".

According to Stiglitz, who acted as chief economist for the World Bank, "the prospects of a robust recovery are very, very weak" and there was a strong chance that the economy collapse after a period of growth.

Germany’s industrial rebound is still gathering momentum, with reports that when manufacturing orders chalked up another strong rise in July. Europe’s largest economy however is still far from returning to its pre-crisis levels of activity.

Industrial orders rose 3.5 per cent in July, extending a 3.8 per cent increase in June, adding further evidence that economic growth in the third quarter would prove much stronger than could be hoped until even a few months ago. Production was still down 20 per cent than in the same month in 2008.

Trading volumes across commodity markets were lighter than usual on Monday because of the Labor Day holiday in the US. Gold rose 0.2 per cent to $995 a troy ounce, consolidating just below the $1,000 mark.

Crude oil prices steadied, at around $67.00 a barrel.

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Tags: Bank, Banking, British Economy, British Pound, Cadbury, Credit Crunch, Currency, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, financial downturn, Financial News, FTSE, Hershey, Joseph Stiglitz, Kraft Foods, Lloyds, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Nestle, RBS, re-capitalisation, Recession, Royal Bank of Scotland, Royal Dutch Shell, Sports Direct, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK Recession, US economy, Wall Street, World Bank

Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling is doing all that he can to create an atmosphere of ” business as usual “/ One of his measures announced yesterday is to allow interest rates to remain at the current and unprecedented low levels. Darling announced to leaders of UK commerce and industry at a conference on Wednesday that interest rates were “low and likely to remain low” for the meantime. The Bank of England, as cut borrowing costs 4.5 percentage points since October.

On the oil market, Royal Dutch Shell reported a sharp fall in first quarter profits followed rival energy group BP who announced a similar fate on Tuesday of this week. The only good news was that the loss was less than analysts had forecast, a net profit after tax of £3.3 billion, down by 50% from the same quarter in 2008.

After a long battle bravely fought and eventually lost, LDV the midlands based light van maker announced that they will have no option but to enter administration on May 6th. LDV regretted that administration would result in several thousand job losses, but they had given all hope of receiving a further bailout from the government, and understand that chances of selling the business as a going concern was now impossible.

The UK private equity company’s 3i’s have annoyed some of their major investors by announcing their intention of launching a rights issue, for up to £700million. The announcement comes after members of 3i’s board were briefed last week by their new chief executive Michael Queen who plans to use the funds to partially reduce the company’s £2billion debt burden. However investors have suggested that 3i could probably cut back on the debt through using existing cash flow as well as disposing of some of their investment portfolio.

U.K. stocks advanced yesterday on positive trading, encouraged by recoveries from both the banks and metal producers. The U.K.’s third-largest bank, Barclays, and Lloyds both rose by more than 8 percent, making up for what they had lost in the previous two days trading. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc also jumped by thirteen percent in the wake of positive profit forecasts. Kazakhstan’s largest copper producer, Kazakhmys increased their shale value by 5.9 percent (21 pence to 511). Vedanta, who holds the largest share of copper production in India, gained 5.7 percent (53 pence to 985.5) Global education service provider BPP Holdings Plc were the star of the day on the exchange as their shores rose 58 percent (213 pence to 578) on the announcement that the company had received a firm offer from Apollo Global for 620 pence a share.

Building giant Taylor Wimpey Plc rose by 8.5 percent, (3.5 pence, to 44.5.) on estimates that the company is not liable to announce any capital raising measure when it announces preliminary results tomorrow. Up and coming Scottish based manufacturer of semiconductors Wolfsan Microelectronics Plc (also jumped yesterday, up 12 percent (13.5 pence, to 125) the company announced that their cash position as well as their order book was strong.

On the day the FTSE 250 index rose by 1.49% or 93.35 points to 6351.92 while the FTSE 100 finished the session up 93.19 points, higher at 4,189.59 Sterling fell slightly against the dollar and the Euro and recovered against the Japanese Yen and the Swiss Franc:

Pound/US dollar 1.4807

Pound/Euro 1.1145

Pound/Japanese Yen 127.58

Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6425

Wall Street rose despite news that the US economy continues to contract led by the biggest export fall for 40 years in the first quarter of 2009, The US GDP contracted at a rate of 6.1% annually during the quarter, improving slightly on the 6.3% fall in the last quarter of 2008. The Dow Jones Average jumped up 168.8 to close at 8185.73. NASDAQ rose 38.13 points to close at over the 1700 mark, at 1711.95

Japan, reputedly the World’s second powerful economy who has been particularly hit hard by the global downturn, reported that their industrial output has risen in March for the first time in six months. Production rose by 1.6% in March following months of dramatic decline.
Shares in Asia were broadly higher on Wednesday thanks to some encouraging signs about company profits and the dissipation of worries about the effect of swine flu on the world economy.

Crude oil prices on Wednesday rose above the $50-a-barrel mark as traders shrugged off a bearish increase in US crude stockpiles and instead focused on a large drop in petrol inventories ahead of the driving season.

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Tags: Alastair Darling, Bank, British Economy, Financial News, Kazakhmys, LDV, Royal Bank of Scotland, Royal Dutch Shell

Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling is doing all that he can to create an atmosphere of ” business as usual “. One of his measures announced yesterday is to allow interest rates to remain at the current and unprecedented low levels.
Darling announced to leaders of UK commerce and industry at a conference on Wednesday that interest rates were “low and likely to remain low” for the meantime. The Bank of England, as cut borrowing costs 4.5 percentage points since October.
On the oil market, Royal Dutch Shell reported a sharp fall in first quarter profits followed rival energy group BP who announced a similar fate on Tuesday of this week. The only good news was that the loss was less than analysts had forecast, a net profit after tax of £3.3 billion, down by 50% from the same quarter in 2008.

After a long battle bravely fought and eventually lost, LDV the midlands based light van maker announced that they will have no option but to enter administration on May 6th. LDV regretted that administration would result in several thousand job losses, but they had given all hope of receiving a further bailout from the government, and understand that chances of selling the business as a going concern was now impossible.

The UK private equity company’s 3i’s have annoyed some of their major investors by announcing their intention of launching a rights issue, for up to £700million. The announcement comes after members of 3i’s board were briefed last week by their new chief executive Michael Queen who plans to use the funds to partially reduce the company’s £2billion debt burden. However investors have suggested that 3i could probably cut back on the debt through using existing cash flow as well as disposing of some of their investment portfolio. .
U.K. stocks advanced yesterday on positive trading, encouraged by recoveries from both the banks and metal producers.
The U.K.’s third-largest bank, Barclays, and Lloyds both rose by more than 8 percent, making up for what they had lost in the previous two days trading. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc also jumped by thirteen percent in the wake of positive profit forecasts.
Kazakhstan’s largest copper producer, Kazakhmys increased their shale value by 5.9 percent (21 pence to 511). Vedanta, who holds the largest share of copper production in India, gained 5.7 percent (53 pence to 985.5)
Global education service provider BPP Holdings Plc were the star of the day on the exchange as their shores rose 58 percent (213 pence to 578) on the announcement that the company had received a firm offer from Apollo Global for 620 pence a share.
.
Building giant Taylor Wimpey Plc rose by 8.5 percent, (3.5 pence, to 44.5.) on estimates that the company is not liable to announce any capital raising measure when it announces preliminary results tomorrow.
Up and coming Scottish based manufacturer of semiconductors Wolfsan Microelectronics Plc (also jumped yesterday, up 12 percent (13.5 pence, to 125) the company announced that their cash position as well as their order book was strong.

On the day the FTSE 250 index rose by 1.49% or 93.35 points to 6351.92 while the FTSE 100 finished the session up 93.19 points, higher at 4,189.59
Sterling fell slightly against the dollar and the Euro and recovered against the Japanese Yen and the Swiss Franc:

Pound/US dollar 1.4807

Pound/Euro 1.1145

Pound/Japanese Yen 127.58

Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6425

Wall Street rose despite news that the US economy continues to contract led by the biggest export fall for 40 years in the first quarter of 2009,
The US GDP contracted at a rate of 6.1% annually during the quarter, improving slightly on the 6.3% fall in the last quarter of 2008.
The Dow Jones Average jumped up 168.8 to close at 8185.73. NASDAQ rose 38.13 points to close at over the 1700 mark, at 1711.95

Japan, reputedly the World’s second powerful economy who has been particularly hit hard by the global downturn, reported that their industrial output has risen in March for the first time in six months. Production rose by 1.6% in March following months of dramatic decline.
Shares in Asia were broadly higher on Wednesday thanks to some encouraging signs about company profits and the dissipation of worries about the effect of swine flu on the world economy.
Crude oil prices on Wednesday rose above the $50-a-barrel mark as traders shrugged off a bearish increase in US crude stockpiles and instead focused on a large drop in petrol inventories ahead of the driving season.

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Tags: 3i, Alastair Darling, Bank of England, Barclays, BP, LDV, Lloyds, Royal Dutch Shell