London open: Footsie edges higher, but Kingfisher falls
19th Jul 2012 08:23
- Kingfisher leads fallers on the Footsie - Upbeat European earnings lift sentiment - Fed says US expanding at 'modest to moderate' rate UK stocks edged higher in early trading on Thursday on the back of some upbeat earnings reports from heavyweight European stocks AkzoNobel, Sandvik and Novartis.
Read moreLondon pre-open: FTSE to track US and Asian stocks higher
19th Jul 2012 07:41
City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open up 12 points from yesterday's close of 5,686, tracking gains in the US and Asia. Signs of life in the US housing market and further pledges from the Federal Reserve Chairman to provide more stimulus measures should the US economy need it encouraged investo
Read moreLloyds and Co-op agree on a price for Verde branches
19th Jul 2012 07:04
Project Verde, the code name for Lloyds Banking's enforced sale of hundreds of its branches, is close to completion after the part-nationalised lender signed non-binding heads of terms with the Co-operative Group, which wants to buy the branches. The Co-operative Group (Co-op) will pay Lloyds an in
Read moreSector movers: Miners suffer after Wen's comments
16th Jul 2012 15:20
Risk aversion saw the mining, personal goods and banking sectors fall on Monday as concerns over the global economic outlook saw investors flee for safety. Mining peers Kazakhmys, Randgold, Vedanta Resources and Polymetal were among the worst performers on London's benchmark index after Chinese Pre
Read moreAnother 11 banks hit by LIBOR scandal
13th Jul 2012 09:21
The LIBOR rate fixing scandal is spreading like wildfire just a few hours after it was revealed that US Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner wrote to the Bank of England back in 2008 regarding concerns about the possible distortion of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) - the rate at which b
Read moreCo-op to get Lloyds branches for a song
13th Jul 2012 08:14
Lloyds Banking Group is close to offloading 632 of its branches at a bargain price to the Co-operative Group, according to newspaper reports. The Financial Times (FT) reports that hopes the part-nationalised lender would pocket around £1.5bn for the branches have gone up in smoke. According to the
Read moreThursday newspaper round-up: Corn, Barclays, Lloyds
12th Jul 2012 07:07
The heatwave that has had much of the United States sweltering this summer is expected to cause severe damage to crop production in the US Midwest and push up food prices across the globe. The US Department of Agriculture cut its estimate for the corn crop yesterday by 12 per cent in response to a d
Read moreLondon close: Footsie flat ahead of FOMC minutes, Glencore up
11th Jul 2012 17:06
- Investors await FOMC minutes - BarCap cuts US growth estimates - Burberry disappoints; 'Glenstrata' in demand - Some say Glencore could benefit from rising grain prices The Footsie had pared early losses to trade broadly flat by the close as markets remained cautious ahead of the release of minu
Read moreLondon midday: Footsie pares losses but still in the red
11th Jul 2012 11:33
- Burberry leads stocks lower after Q1 update - Johnson Matthey, Lloyds, Centrica, SSE fall after broker downgrades - FOMC minutes due out later The FTSE 100 had pared some of its earlier losses but was still trading firmly in the red by Wednesday lunchtime with a disappointing trading update from
Read moreLondon open: Burberry leads stocks lower
11th Jul 2012 08:46
- Burberry sinks after Q1 results - Sentiment dampened by US earnings - FOMC minutes eyes London's benchmark index sank in early trading on Wednesday, tracking losses in US and Asian markets overnight, with Burberry providing a drag after missing sales forecasts in its first quarter. "A series of
Read moreWednesday broker round-up
11th Jul 2012 08:10
ASOS: HSBC downgrades to neutral, target lifted from 1,780p to 1,950p. Avanti Communications: Jefferies reiterates buy rating and 600p target. Aviva: Morgan Stanley upgrades to overweight. Balfour Beatty: UBS downgrades to neutral, target cut from 340p to 310p. BTG: Jefferies downgrades from buy
Read moreAsda expands personal finance business
10th Jul 2012 10:59
Asda, the supermarket chain owned by Walmart, has unveiled plans to re-brand and expand its personal finance arm, conveniently taking advantage of widespread disatisfaction with banks following the recent LIBOR scandal and system failure at Natwest. Asda Money will now sell a number of finan
Read moreFarepak customers not satisfied with pay-out
9th Jul 2012 10:39
A pressure group representing customers who lost out when Christmas hamper business Farepak went belly-up are pushing for more compensation money from HBOS, Farepak's bankers. The Unfairpak group still has the hump over the hamper company collapse and is calling for HBOS, now part of Lloyds Banking
Read moreSunday newspaper round-up: Greece, Barclays, Italy
8th Jul 2012 17:40
The new Greek Prime Minister vowed last night to get the country out of the "dead end" created by austerity policies dictated by Europe. Antonis Samaras, outlining his coalition's programme to Parliament, confirmed that the country was not on track to meet the targets set by its international credit
Read moreSFO officially launches investigation into LIBOR
6th Jul 2012 15:27
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) confirmed on Friday that it has officially launched a criminal investigation into the now infamous LIBOR scandal involving Barclays. Prior to this point the SFO had only said that it was considering whether there was a case to bring a prosecution. On June 27th the
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