News

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

Upbeat US manufacturing data bolsters recovery hopes

November 2, 2009

STRONG growth in the US manufacturing sector will add to the upbeat mood prevailing in the US following positive third quarter GDP data. The ISM manufacturing survey hit its highest level in three-and-a-half years in October, rising to 55.7 – the highest level since April 2006 – from 52.6 in September. This marked the third [...]
Eurozone factory output commences growth again

November 2, 2009

EUROZONE factory output expanded for the first time since May 2008 in October, the CIPS/Markit purchasing managers’ index confirmed yesterday, raising hopes that the longest and deepest downturn in decades is now at an end. Although slightly below the preliminary reading, the PMI for firms in the Euro bloc indicated the strongest monthly expansion since [...]
RBS TO SLASH 4,000 JOBS AS IT DOWNSIZES

November 2, 2009

ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) yesterday dropped a bombshell on workers by announcing it will axe 3,700 jobs across its retail branch network, as the Treasury and the European Commission today prepare to list a raft of assets the bank will be forced to sell off as part of a restructuring agreement. The beleaguered bank [...]
GLOBAL ECONOMY ON ROAD TO RECOVERY

November 2, 2009

A FLOOD of evidence yesterday from across the world provided further confirmation that the global economic recovery was firmly on track. Stock markets in the US and Western Europe rallied in response as investors saw the chances of a double-dip recession as increasingly remote. In the UK, a leading survey of manufacturing purchasing managers showed [...]
Branson set to swoop on British bank assets

November 2, 2009

VIRGIN is preparing to swoop on a string of UK banking assets to be put up for sale as part of a European Commission inquiry into competition in the sector, Sir Richard Branson confirmed yesterday. “We do plan to create a Virgin bank and we will be interested in looking at the three banks that [...]
ITV’s sale of Friends stalls

November 2, 2009

ITV’s attempt to offload its social network Friends?Reunited for £25m hit a stumbling block last night, after the competition watchdog warned the deal could breach competition law. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has asked the Competition Commission to investigate the proposed sale’s impact on the family tree research sector. Brightsolid, a subsidiary of DC [...]
Bank shake-up puts EU firmly in charge

November 2, 2009

AS power shifts go, this one takes some beating. After months of listening to what the government, the Bank of England and the FSA have had to say about the future of British banking, it turns out that the body with real power was based a little further away from home. For this morning, barring [...]
Fed wants early pay curbs

November 2, 2009

THE FEDERAL RESERVE got tough with US banks over pay yesterday, telling them to curb bonuses this year, even though stricter rules do not come into force until 2010. In half-hour meetings at regional offices held across the country, the Fed told bank bosses it expected them to follow the broad principles of the new [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING

November 2, 2009

FINANCIAL TIMES VODAFONE’S GHANA DEAL ATTRACTS SFO INTERESTThe UK Serious Fraud Office has contacted Vodafone about its controversial deal to buy a controlling stake in Ghana’s third-largest mobile phone operator. The SFO has not launched an investigation into the deal, but is monitoring allegations of irregularity that have been made in Ghana. INDIAN SURGE BENEFITS [...]
FSA in compensation probe

November 2, 2009

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) yesterday announced it would begin a review into the Financial Services Compensation Scheme that pays out to customers of failed financial institutions. The scheme was set up in 2001 to deal with failures at a banks or insurers, but new rules could be introduced in 2011 after critics said it [...]