Look ahead to Federal Reserve minutes for clues of QE taper timing August 21, 2013 Ishaq Siddiqi, market strategist, ETX Capital: Taper blues continue to curb enthusiasm to build risk across equity, commodity and forex markets Wednesday. US Treasury 10-year note still elevated at 2.82% but off two-year highs seen this week. FOMC meeting minutes to steal the show later with many in the market viewing the report as a [...]
Heineken expects no organic growth this year following weak Europe performance August 21, 2013 Heineken, the world’s biggest brewer, has reported better than expected first half earnings, but warned a weak spring in Europe will hold back revenues. Shares dropped nearly three per cent in early trading. The group said operating profit before on-off items grew five per cent to €1.45bn (£1.25bn) – beating analyst expectations of €1.42bn. This [...]
African Barrick appoints industry veteran as chief executive August 21, 2013 Mining firm African Barrick Gold has announced the appointment of Bradley Gordon as chief executive. Gordon will replace Greg Hawkins, who has resigned to pursue other opportunities. Gordon has 30 years’ experience in the mining industry, joingin from his position as chief executive of precious metals exploration and development company Intrepid Mines. Chairman of the [...]
Lloyds sells off Heidelberger Leben for less than expected £250m August 21, 2013 State-backed bank Lloyds has sold off German life insurer Heidelberger Leben to Cinven Partners and Hannover Ruck for €300m (£250m) (release). That's below what the market had expected for the sale. The gross assets subject to the transaction are £7.2 billion, which are predominantly policyholder assets. In the year to 31 December 2012 the business [...]
Before the open – 21/08 August 21, 2013 Traders are expecting European markets to open lower after a mixed US session as it goes ex dividend today. The big action in today's markets will come at 19.00 as the Federal Open Market Committee publishes its minutes. #FTSE called around 5 points lower. #EURUSD bedding in above 1.3400 – release of #FOMC minutes [...]
Exclusive: TV licence offences responsible for a tenth of all UK court cases | Morning Wire August 21, 2013 TV LICENSING offences now account for more than a tenth of all criminal prosecutions in the UK, Morning Wire can reveal. More than 180,000 people – almost 3,500 a week – appeared in front of magistrates during 2012 after being accused of watching TV without paying the £145.50 fee. Magistrates handled a total of 1.48m cases last year, meaning [...]
Fresh greek rescue fear August 21, 2013 GREECE may need a third bailout, Germany warned yesterday, hinting that the Eurozone crisis could flare up again and smashing hopes that the continent is on the mend. The troubled state is still deep in recession and is likely to need more aid when the current bailout deal runs out at the end of 2014, [...]
Euro investors must remain cautious August 20, 2013 But the region could offer good returns THE CASE for investing in the Eurozone appears to be getting stronger. Many analysts still warn that the region is not out of the woods just yet, but some aspects of the macro-economic picture – the second quarter GDP release for the region showed growth (of 0.3 per [...]
The funds that may ride the Eurozone’s recovery August 20, 2013 EVER since Mario Draghi promised to do “whatever it takes” to save the Eurozone, investor sentiment towards the region has improved slightly. With growth returning in some countries, albeit at a modest 0.3 per cent overall in the second quarter, and the MSCI Europe (excluding the UK) index rising from around 1,600 to over 1,770 since [...]
London estate agent Foxtons investigates potential compromise of 10,000 user accounts August 20, 2013 London estate agent Foxtons is looking into whether hackers were able to access the account details of more than 9,800 property searchers registered with the site. A list of email addresses, usernames and passwords of alleged MyFoxtons users was posted on Pastebin and linked to several security sites but has since been removed, although some [...]