London afternoon: ECB emergency loans give banks jitters
21st Feb 2011 14:26
Concerns about rising oil prices should Libya descend into civil war are nagging away at investors, while continued high usage of the European Central Bank's marginal lending facility is making traders nervous about banks. Banks are granted the right to seek overnight loans from the European Centr
Read moreLloyds takes £500m hit for mortgage confusion
21st Feb 2011 12:32
Lloyds Banking is to take a £500m charge in its results this week to cover potential compensation costs from badly worded mortgage agreements. The confusion arose after some customers wrongly assumed after reading their mortgage offer that Halifax would notify them if it raised the cap, or link to
Read moreLondon midday: Banks hold back FTSE 100
21st Feb 2011 12:12
Shares are in the red as banking stocks fall back and the turmoil in the Arab world casts a shadow. Banks are the main drag, with RBS, Lloyds and Barclays nursing losses following gains last week. RBS and Lloyds are due to release results later this week. The oil price has topped $104 a barrel as
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Banks head lower
21st Feb 2011 11:58
RBS and Lloyds are lower ahead of their results later this week. On top of that, Lloyds has announced a voluntary agreement with the FSA about certain Halifax mortgage contracts. This relates to the wording of the mortgage contracts. Barclays is also lower. Invensys is higher because of press spec
Read moreLloyds may speed up branch sell-off
18th Feb 2011 14:45
Lloyds Banking has reportedly stepped up plans to dispose of 600 branches and is interviewing advisers to handle the disposal. Outgoing chief executive Eric Daniels had suggested the sale could take two years, but new chief Antonio Horta-Osorio is said to want to complete any deal within months. T
Read moreWeek Ahead: BoE meeting minutes, RBS, Lloyds
18th Feb 2011 10:53
With each month that passes the release of the minutes of the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) become more eagerly anticipated, as the consensus view of the rate-setting committee starts to fragment. The Bank of England's quarterly inflation report on Wednesday conceded that the cent
Read moreLondon close: Blue chips close flat
17th Feb 2011 16:51
Footsie closed the day a shade higher having traded in a very narrow range all day as both buyers and sellers seem preoccupied with other things. Life insurance consolidator Resolution closed as top performer saying it is unlikely to make any further acquisitions this year. Instead, it will focus
Read moreLondon afternoon: Footsie stumbles after US CPI data
17th Feb 2011 14:43
Footsie fell back over the lunchtime session with sentiment taking a knock from a bigger than expected increase in US consumer prices. The US Consumer Price Index rose 0.4% in January, as it did in December, on the back of higher fuel and food prices. Economists had pencilled in a 0.3% rise. On th
Read moreBroker tips: Reed Elsevier, BHP Billiton, Lloyds Banking
17th Feb 2011 13:02
BarCap has retained its 'underweight' stance on business and academic publisher Reed Elsevier, despite a healthy set of full-year results and a reasonable outlook for 2011. The group reported revenues of £6.06bn, versus consensus of £5.82bn, as underlying growth improved to 2% in 2010, from a fall
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Banks move higher
17th Feb 2011 12:22
Banks head the risers. Positive comment from Nomura has boosted Lloyds. Even so, RBS, HSBC and Barclays are also higher. African Barrick Gold continues to rise after yesterday's figures. BAE Systems has fallen after warning that sales in 2011 will decline as cutbacks in government spending star
Read moreLondon midday: Shares little changed
17th Feb 2011 12:07
Banks are setting the pace today, while other stocks are moving in both directions after updates. The FTSE 100 is flat overall. Nomura says Lloyds Banking Group is the preferred name of the UK lenders, and has the best exposure to recovery of traditional banking, without the overhang of a capital m
Read moreBroker snap: Lloyds geared to a UK recovery
17th Feb 2011 10:12
Lloyds Banking Group has the best exposure to recovery of traditional banking, without the overhang of a capital markets franchise, Nomura suggests. The Japanese broker estimates a group loss before non-operating items for 2010 of £959m, much improved on a loss of £12.4bn in 2009. Nomura also forec
Read moreLondon close: Late rally not enough
15th Feb 2011 16:44
Weakness in the US sent shares into the red and a slight rally in late trading failed to lift the FTSE 100 into positive territory. US retail sales were up 0.3% in January, according to the Commerce Department, though they'd risen 0.5% the month before and were expected to do the same this time. Ex
Read moreLondon afternoon: US retail sales setback
15th Feb 2011 14:30
Footsie moved into the red over the lunch time session after the release of disappointing US retail sales figures. US retail sales were up 0.3% in January, according to the Commerce Department, though they'd risen 0.5% the month before and were expected to do the same this time. Excluding autos,
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Barclays leads risers
15th Feb 2011 13:57
There was a positive reaction to Barclays' results and Lloyds and RBS have risen in sympathy. The bank has cut its staff bonuses by 7% even though profits jumped by a better than expected 32% as bad debt charges tumbled everywhere except Spain. Real estate investment trust British Land grew underl
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