News

Your daily news update straight from the City PM newsroom in London

CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS

November 12, 2009

Daiwa SecuritiesThe investment banking group has appointed Masami Tada as its new chairman and chief executive for Europe and the Middle East. Tada joined the group in 1978 and has held a number of prominent roles in both Japan and Europe, most recently at the financial consulting and investment advisory arm, Daiwa Fund Consulting. The [...]
Aegon slides as earnings miss forecast

November 12, 2009

DISAPPOINTED market makers sold shares in Aegon yesterday after its third quarter pre-tax earnings missed consensus expectations. Despite bouncing back into the black with a net profit of €145m (£130.4m) compared to last year’s loss of €329m, the insurer saw its shares fall 6.4 per cent to close at €5.1. Pre-tax earnings fell year-on-year to [...]
IEA warns on rising oil prices

November 12, 2009

OIL demand has started to grow after a year-and-a-half of decline, the International Energy Agency said yesterday, in the latest sign that the pick-up in Asia is boosting energy consumption. But the body warned that the recent rise in oil prices could derail recovery if it continues, and demand for the commodity itself will rebound [...]
AB InBev faces sobering sales

November 12, 2009

THE world’s biggest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev, faces a sobering mix of falling sales and a falling thirst for beer in its major world markets. In a third quarter update yesterday, the recently-merged AB InBev, brewer of Stella Artois and Budweiser, said total beer volumes slumped 5.1 per cent to 106.6m hectolitres due to weakness in [...]
WH Smith braced for a competitive Christmas

November 12, 2009

RETAILER WH Smith yesterday said it remains cautious about trading in the run up to Christmas after reporting a decline in sales in the first 10 weeks of the financial year. Total group sales in the period to 7 November dipped one per cent compared to the same period last year, while like-for-like sales at [...]
Asda launches price cuts as discount war hots up

November 12, 2009

ASDA has raised the stakes in the Christmas price war by slashing £150m from the price of products in a discount drive designed to put pressure on its rivals. Asda, which has based its marketing on being the cheapest of the big four supermarkets, said consumers were still unwilling to part with cash. A day [...]
Eurozone industrial output posts healthy gains in third quarter

November 12, 2009

EUROZONE industrial production rose again in September by 0.3 per cent on the previous month, raising hopes that tomorrow’s third quarter GDP figures for the region will see strong gains. The rise meant output in the three months to September was 2.2 per cent higher on the previous quarter and that the sector contributed slightly [...]
Jump in US mortgages but demand for new loans falls

November 12, 2009

THE NUMBER of US mortgage applications went up last week as lower fixed rates increased the call for refinancing, but demand for new home loans fell to a nine-year low. Average 30-year mortgage rates fell 0.07 percentage point to 4.9 per cent in the week ended November 6, making a new run toward the record [...]
Amount of repossessions is set to go up

November 12, 2009

FEWER homes will be repossessed this year than previously forecast, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said yesterday, but the body expects 2010 to see more repossessions. The CML lowered its forecast for the second time this year and now anticipates that 48,000 homes will be repossessed in 2009, just 8,000 more than in 2008. [...]
LICENCED TO SELL

November 12, 2009

THE former Midland Bank headquarters – which was the setting for the Fort Knox vault in 1964 Bond film Goldfinger – has been sold for £40m to an anonymous buyer. The building, located opposite the Bank of England, was owned by a Russian investor who wanted to convert the 291,573 sq ft bank into a [...]