Wednesday newspaper round-up: US economy, Barclays, Online fraud

11th Aug 2010 06:38

The Federal Reserve warned last night that America's recovery was losing steam as it announced a shift in its economic stimulus programme. The American central bank said that it would re-invest money from its portfolio of maturing mortgage bonds into longer-term government debt in an effort to support the country's sputtering rebound, the Times reports.China's economy continued to slow last month as efforts to cool the property market and reduce energy consumption began to bite, even as consumer price inflation rose further. The rates of increase for industrial production, fixed asset investment and retail sales each fell last month, while new banks loans and money supply growth also slowed. However, inflation jumped to 3.3%, above the 3% target the government has set for the year, the FT reports.Online banking customers are being targeted by international cyber criminals who are using sophisticated computer viruses to empty their accounts. A new version of a well-known trojan virus has stolen £675,000 from about 3,000 online customers of an unnamed British bank, according to an internet security company. Zeus v3 is one of a new wave of viruses that often invade consumers' machines when they visit legitimate websites, in what is termed a "drive-by" infection, the Times reports.Thousands of British businesses will be liable for significant fines and charges under a new government "green tax" scheme. Companies that fail to register their energy use by next month will be hit with fines that could reach £45,000 under the little-known rules. Those that do participate in the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC)initiative by declaring their energy use will face charges for every ton of greenhouse gas they produce, the Telegraph reports.Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of the high street bank, is set to cut hundreds of jobs after a fall in market activity. There is a widespread belief that several hundred redundancies are planned as early as this week in reponse to the bank's half-year results that were published last week. Bob Diamond, who runs BarCap, has surprised onlookers by the pace at which he has built up his empire. In the first six months of this year he added 2,500 staff, bringing the total employed by the division to 25,500, the Times reports.Larry Ellison, chief executive of US technology giant Oracle, has attacked Hewlett-Packard's (HP) board for forcing Mark Hurd from his five-year tenure at the helm of the personal computing company. Mr Ellison, an old friend of Mr Hurd, likened the actions of HP's board - of which Mr Hurd was chairman and chief executive - to that of Apple's board in 1985 when it ditched co-founder Steve Jobs, who remained away for the company for 12 years before returning in 1997, the Telegraph reports.The incendiary debate over executive pay awards and bonuses was reignited yesterday when research revealed that the average pay package among the UK's top executives increased by £500,000 in the past financial year, while ordinary employees' salaries at a third of Britain's biggest companies remained frozen. The research by the employment consultancy Hewitt New Bridge Street shows that despite the feeble economic recovery executive pay at Britain's FTSE 100 companies continues to soar, the Independent reports.Consumers in the UK are among the most pessimistic in the world over the state of their economy, according to an opinion poll of big countries that lays bare the two-paced nature of the global recovery. The British economy was thought to be in a "very bad" state by 34% of domestic consumers, a verdict whose gloom is only exceeded by citizens in Spain, where 63% of people came to the same conclusion about their own economy, and Japan, where the figure is 41%, the FT reports.