News

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

Asia buys slumping US dollars

October 8, 2009

ASIAN central banks bought US dollars yesterday to weaken their own currencies, as the slumping greenback threatened their export-driven economies. The nations, mainly located in South East Asia, are already struggling with the tepid US recovery and weak demand for their exports from the world’s largest economy. But they have been doubly hurt because their [...]
Rates held by central banks

October 8, 2009

BOTH Threadneedle Street and the European Central Bank (ECB) kept monetary policy on hold yesterday as both central banks were in wait and see mode. In the UK, rates were kept at 0.5 per cent and QE at £175bn while the cost of borrowing in the Eurozone remained at one per cent. City analysts had [...]
Cameron’s real agenda is truly radical

October 8, 2009

LET us hope that David Cameron truly believes in rolling back the failed culture of big government he so aptly described in his keynote address in Manchester yesterday; if he does, a Tory government could yet turn out to be far more revolutionary than most of us have been predicting. It was a good, though [...]
JJB in 100m cash call

October 8, 2009

SPORTS retailer JJB, the group which dodged administration in April, is today set to announce a share placing worth £100m – more than its market value. The cash call, which is discounted to 25p per share – a massive drop from last night’s closing price of 34.5p – is supported by Harris Associates and Crystal [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING

October 8, 2009

FINANCIAL TIMESCME HEAD BACKS DERIVATIVES REFORMA powerful exchange chief has brushed aside concerns in the US and Europe over the regulation of over-the-counter derivatives, in comments likely to bolster support for the proposed reforms. Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are insisting that most OTC derivatives be shifted onto formal exchanges and processed through [...]
BT extends fast broadband plan

October 8, 2009

British Telecom is more than doubling its ultra-fast broadband network, taking it to at least 2.5m homes by 2012, instead of the 1m homes originally planned. The network will offer download speeds of up to 100 megabits per second, compared to the current UK average of 4.1mbps.
LXB raising 100m for retail buy

October 8, 2009

LXB Properties is preparing to raise around £100m on the public market to buy and develop retail assets in the UK. LXB, the retail property company run by well-known fund manager Tim Walton, is expected to float on Aim. The move is expected to take advantage of low prices for out-of-town retail parks.
Obama confident in Geithner

October 8, 2009

US President Barack Obama has “tremendous confidence” in Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner and the job he is doing, spokesman Robert Gibbs said yesterday. Gibbs had been questioned over the repeated appearance of bankers on Obama’s meeting schedule, and whether the President was losing faith in Geithner’s ability.
Lloyds, RBS to be scrutinised over lending

October 8, 2009

LLOYDS BANKING GROUP and Royal Bank of Scotland are being scrutinised by the government, which suspects the taxpayer-owned banks of pricing their loans to small and medium businesses at artificially high levels, resulting in them missing lending targets. Both banks, which turned to the government for help in the downturn, have between them agreed to [...]
IBM in US probe over claims it unfairly abused dominance

October 8, 2009

IBM, the computer hardware giant, is facing a US Department of Justice (DoJ) investigation over allegations it abused its dominance of the mainframe market to squeeze out its rivals. The anti-competition probe was announced yesterday by Ed Black, chairman of the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), which had urged the DoJ to step in. [...]