London midday: Stocks retreat, Unilever drops after downgrade
11th Jan 2012 11:49
After trading within a narrow 20-point range for most of the morning, it seems if the Footsie has found its direction, dropping around 40 points by midday, with Eurozone concerns once again in the spotlight. Euro-area gross domestic product growth slowed to 0.1% quarter-on-quarter in the third quar
Read moreRBS may be preparing another round of cuts at Ulster Bank
11th Jan 2012 09:45
Royal Bank of Scotland Group's (RBS) Irish unit is preparing its second round of job cuts in four years as part of an effort to save about €50m ($63.9m), according to two people with knowledge of the plan, Bloomberg News reports. Dublin-based Ulster Bank, which eliminated 1,000 jobs in 2009, or abo
Read moreLondon close: Footsie closes up 1.5% on mining surge
10th Jan 2012 16:53
The Footsie closed near its highest levels of the day at 5,697, breaking through the 5,700 mark briefly in late afternoon trade. Upbeat economic data from China along with news that Fitch doesn't intend to downgrade France this year lifted the mood across Europe today with benchmark indices across t
Read moreRBS director stocks up
10th Jan 2012 15:50
Chris Sullivan, Chief Executive of RBS UK corporate, has purchased 603 shares in the firm in the same week it emerges the firm may be about to cut 4,000 jobs. Sullivan, 53, bought the shares at £0.2075 each, in a purchase which takes his total number of shares to 244,010. RBS, the 83% state-owne
Read moreFTSE 100 Movers: Miners lead index higher
10th Jan 2012 14:46
Miners were leading the rise on Tuesday, with Vedanta Resources, Kazakhmys and Antofagasta gaining ground after some positive economic data from China boosted sentiment. China's trade balance widened from $145.3bn to $165.2bn in December and while import growth on the whole had slowed, imports for c
Read moreLondon midday: Resource stocks lift Footsie, Gulf Keystone jumps
10th Jan 2012 12:00
Resource stocks performed well in morning trade, lifting the FTSE 100 over 1.1% higher. Miners were gaining ground after some positive economic data from China boosted sentiment, while Cairn Energy was on the up after detailing its $3.5bn cash return to shareholders. A big mover was Gulf Keystone,
Read moreTuesday broker round-up - UPDATE
10th Jan 2012 09:15
Cairn Energy: Oriel upgrades to add from hold. Tesco: Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgrades to neutral from buy. Marks & Spencer: Panmure Gordon reiterates hold and 307p target; Peel Hunt maintains hold and 350p target. Barclays: UBS cuts target from 215p to 199p, neutral rating unchanged. R
Read moreLondon open: Footsie helped higher by miners
10th Jan 2012 08:28
The FTSE 100 had a strong start on Tuesday morning with just two stocks in the red early on. In economic news, UK retail sales values were 2.2% higher on a like-for-like basis in December, helped by an easy comparison when last year was affected by the snow. Total sales rose 4.1%. "On both measures
Read moreRBS shrinks investment banking, 4000 jobs could go
10th Jan 2012 07:49
Royal Bank of Scotland, the 83% state-owned lender, may be on the verge of shedding between 3,000 and 4,000 jobs, reports Reuters. The firm has come under increasing pressure from the coalition government to reduce its riskier investment banking activities in its Global Banking and Markets (GBM) di
Read moreLondon close: Footsie drops after Merkozy meeting
9th Jan 2012 16:59
The FTSE 100 finished close to its lowest levels of the day with resource, pharmaceuticals and banking stocks providing a drag in the afternoon session. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave a press conference earlier today in which they outlined details of their
Read moreBroker tips: RBS, ARM, Rentokil
9th Jan 2012 12:14
JP Morgan has upgraded its recommendation for Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) from underweight to neutral. Any imminent announcements about restructuring its global banking business "are likely to be the start of a significant multi-year period of restructuring of [investment-banking] operations for
Read moreBroker snap: JP Morgan upgrades RBS to neutral
9th Jan 2012 12:00
JP Morgan has upgraded its recommendation for Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) from 'underweight' to 'neutral'. Any imminent announcements about a restructuring of its global banking business "are likely to be the start of a significant multi-year period of restructuring of [investment-banking] opera
Read moreLondon open: Footsie up early on, pharmas fall
9th Jan 2012 08:18
London's FTSE 100 opened slightly higher on Monday morning helped by banking titans Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC. Oil stocks Essar Energy, Tullow Oil and Royal Dutch Shell were tracking oil prices higher. Today's big event will be the meeting of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French Preside
Read moreSunday newspaper round-up: FX, Gas, M&S, RBS, IAG, Tesco
8th Jan 2012 15:00
"The Euro is still above the fair value of $1.25 implied by purchasing power parity - and it has been so ever since its recovery from its disastrous early years. A move well below $1.25, if not quite to $1.10, looks more likely if the US recovery story suggested by yesterday´s unexpectedly strong jo
Read moreNew Strategy and Corporate Finance boss for RBS
6th Jan 2012 15:18
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has lured PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Richard Kibble over to the nationalised lender, to take on the role of Group Director of Strategy and Corporate Finance. Kibble, who has been a partner at accountancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) since 2008, will take up h
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