Reuters - Stock futures rose on Monday, pointing
to a rise on Wall Street later as financials benefitted from
hopes for a rescue package for bond insurer Ambac Financial
and from acquisition talk in Europe.
Reuters - Visa Inc, the world's largest credit-card
network, on Monday registered its initial public offering of
406 million Class A shares at an estimated price of $37 to $42
per share. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 25 Feb 2008 | 12:34 pm
U.K. energy regulator Ofgem fines gas and electricity distributor National Grid 41.6 million pounds ($81.8 million) for restricting competition in the domestic gas metering market.
Companies whose shares are expected to move significantly in Monday trading include Ambac, Clear Channel, Genentech, GM, Microsoft, Tesco, Time Warner, UBS, Visa, and Yahoo.
European shares move sharply higher, with financials making strong gains amid deal speculation and renewed hopes for a bailout plan for the monoline insurers.
The Fed has lowered short-term interest rates this year but longer-term bond yields have risen. Call it the new conundrum. And it's adding to the confusion on Wall Street about the economy.
AP - Home improvement retailer Lowe's Cos. says a softer U.S. housing market helped send its fourth-quarter earnings down 33.4 percent. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 25 Feb 2008 | 12:19 pm
U.S. stock futures on Monday extended the last session’s rally on hopes of an imminent bailout of troubled bond insurer Ambac Financial, with Genentech set to gain after the biotech won surprise backing for use of a cancer drug.
German high-fliers aren't the only ones quaking in their designer boots over the notion authorities may have detailed knowledge of their financial holdings in the once airtight tax haven of Liechtenstein. U.K. tax collectors, after initially turning up their nose at an informant's offer to sell them confidential data from a Liechtenstein bank, have now paid up and have information on about 100 wealthy British subjects with money hidden away in the tiny Alpine principality.
LONDON (Reuters) - Stock futures rose on Monday, pointing to a rise on Wall Street later as financials benefited from hopes for a rescue package for bond insurer Ambac Financial and from acquisition talk in Europe.
There was fresh evidence of a slowdown in the housing market today as figures
revealed that mortgage approvals for new home purchases fell by a third in
January compared to January 2007. remortgages which accounted for a record
49 per cent of all mortgage approvals. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 25 Feb 2008 | 11:47 am
Reuters - A rescue for bond insurer Ambac
Financial Group Inc may be announced on Monday or
Tuesday, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 25 Feb 2008 | 11:45 am
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A rescue for bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc may be announced on Monday or Tuesday, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The U.S. dollar was higher against other major currencies in European trading Monday morning. Gold rose. The euro traded at $1.4814, down from $1.4825 late Friday in New York. Other... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 25 Feb 2008 | 11:42 am
LONDON (Reuters) - A UK judge may rule next week on whether to lift an order that U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil secured, freezing $12 billion of assets owned by Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, a lawyer for PDVSA said on Monday.
LONDON (Reuters) - A UK judge may rule next week on whether to lift an order that U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil secured, freezing $12 billion of assets owned by Venezuelan state oil company... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 25 Feb 2008 | 11:39 am
Microsoft is to stop making HD DVD players for its Xbox 360 after Toshiba abandoned the format. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 25 Feb 2008 | 11:39 am
Monday, February 25, 2008: Oil Rises to Near $100 on Turkey News SINGAPORE (AP) _ Oil prices rose to near $100 a barrel Monday as the Turkish incursion into northern Iraq and... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 25 Feb 2008 | 11:31 am
Mortgage lending in January by the UK's biggest banks continued to be subdued, with remortgages dominating. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 25 Feb 2008 | 11:27 am
Fuelled by double-digit growth in rail revenues, Stagecoach is on track to
deliver a second-half performance at the top end of expections. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 25 Feb 2008 | 11:27 am
National Grid is fined £41.6m by energy regulator Ofgem for restricting competition in the domestic gas meter market. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 25 Feb 2008 | 11:10 am
Congress and the president’s hopes and plans notwithstanding, a majority of small-business owners say the recently passed stimulus package will have little if any effect on their business, according to a new survey.
When it comes to saving, the spirit is willing - a recent TD Ameritrade survey shows that 40% of people who make New Year's resolutions cite saving more money as a goal - but the flesh is weak. The same poll also found that nearly half of those who resolve to stash away more bucks abandon that plan within a month.
Take-Two has rebuffed an increased $2bn cash offer from Electronic Arts, the world's largest games publisher, describing it as "highly opportunistic" in the run-up to the release of its video game Grand Theft Auto IV. Source: Telegraph Business | 25 Feb 2008 | 10:53 am
Munich Re, the world's second biggest reinsurance group, has indicated it
expects to make net profits of about €3.4 billion (£2.6 billion) this year
despite tough conditions in world financial markets. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 25 Feb 2008 | 10:39 am
The U.S. dollar is on the upswing in early European trading amid ongoing talk of a potential bank-led aid plan for troubled bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc.
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Gold Fields , the world's fourth-largest gold miner, said on Monday it would scale back at some mines and trim production, putting 6,900 jobs at risk, in response to a power crisis which has reduced electricity for industry by 10 percent.
South Africa's Gold Fields says that power cuts will cut production by 20% to 25% and threaten 6,900 jobs. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 25 Feb 2008 | 10:20 am
LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland shares jumped over 5 percent on Monday on hope that Qatar's sovereign wealth fund could take a stake and the expectation it will lift its dividend Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 25 Feb 2008 | 10:16 am
The threat of industrial action at Aer Lingus Group Plc, Ireland's second-largest airline, is lifted after management and the main union strike a deal on cost cuts and work practices.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares of electronics maker Sharp Corp
jumped 5.2 percent on Monday after a source said that
Sony Corp was planning to start buying TV-use liquid
crystal display (LCD) panels from Sharp.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares of electronics maker Sharp Corp jumped 5.2 percent on Monday after a source said that Sony Corp was planning to start buying TV-use liquid crystal display... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 25 Feb 2008 | 9:52 am
Reuters - More than half the collateral backing
cash advances by the Federal Reserve is in the form of loans
rather than bonds and other securities, the Financial Times
reported on Monday, citing the New York Fed. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 25 Feb 2008 | 9:24 am
LONDON (Reuters) - More than half the collateral backing cash advances by the Federal Reserve is in the form of loans rather than bonds and other securities, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing the New York Fed.
LONDON (Reuters) - More than half the collateral backing cash advances by the Federal Reserve is in the form of loans rather than bonds and other securities, the Financial Times reported on Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 25 Feb 2008 | 9:24 am
For years, cattle farmers in northwest Iowa have struggled with a scourge that eats away at their grazeable land. The problem is an invasive weed called leafy spurge. The nonnative ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 25 Feb 2008 | 9:21 am
Hammerson, the property developer, has underscored the difficulties in the
property market by announcing a 5.5 per cent fall in its net asset value
during the second half of 2007, against a rise of 9 per cent in the first
half. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 25 Feb 2008 | 9:08 am
Reuters - U.S. economic growth has stalled and
recovery may take longer than usual, former U.S. Federal
Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said on Monday.
Reuters - U.S. economic growth has stalled and
recovery may take longer than usual, former U.S. Federal
Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said on Monday.
JEDDAH (Reuters) - U.S. economic growth has stalled and recovery may take longer than usual, former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said on Monday.
Official numbers last week showed that, for all the woe, doom and disaster discussed in the last few months, there is still an economy out there doing well enough to hold its head above water. Source: Telegraph Business | 25 Feb 2008 | 8:55 am
National Grid, which operates gas and electricity distribution networks, has been fined £41.6m by energy regulator Ofgem for restricting competition in the domestic gas meter market and "harming" customers. Source: Telegraph Business | 25 Feb 2008 | 8:54 am
Biffa, the UK waste collection firm, said that a rival bidding consortium had
dropped its interest leaving the way clear for a £1.2 billion joint takeover
by Montagu Private Equity, Global Infrastructure Partners, whose
shareholders include GE Infrastructure and Credit Suisse, and UCIL. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 25 Feb 2008 | 8:52 am
Biffa has revealed that rival bidders, understood to be Guy Hands' private equity firm Terra Firma and French industrial group Suez, have pulled out of a potential takeover battle for the waste management company, which has already recommended a £1.2bn offer from Montagu and Global Infrastructure Partners. Source: Telegraph Business | 25 Feb 2008 | 8:30 am
Shares in Premier Foods, the Hovis bread-to-Branston Pickle foods group,
plunged to an all-time low today after a savage note from an investment bank
and a share sale by a leading investor. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 25 Feb 2008 | 8:28 am
A South Korean consortium on Monday forged a deal with Uzbekistan's state gas company to jointly develop a major gasfield in the central Asian country, officials said. The... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 25 Feb 2008 | 8:16 am
National Grid, the UK gas and power infrastructure operator, has been fined a
record £41.6 million by UK energy market watchdog Ofgem for restricting
competition in the market for domestic gas meters. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 25 Feb 2008 | 8:10 am
Electronic Arts goes public with its unsolicited offer for Grand Theft Auto firm Take-Two Interactive Software. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 25 Feb 2008 | 8:02 am
Wall Street will face a slew of data this week: on Americans' spending, inflation at the producer level, home sales and manufacturing. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 25 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
Boeing wants to continue providing refueling craft. EADS, Northrop seek to enter U.S. military market.
The Air Force is probably within hours of handing out one of the biggest Pentagon contracts in years -- a deal valued at up to $40 billion to replace 179 planes in its fleet of aerial refueling tankers.
It steps up its offer for Take-Two to $2 billion after being rebuffed and says it will seek shareholder support. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 25 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
Boeing Co. has temporarily suspended work on the short-haul version of its new 787 Dreamliner, a move aimed at keeping the program on schedule for delivery of the first of two long-range models to customers... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 25 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
In Siwa, where Cleopatra came to bathe, visitors' cash has brought a splurge of construction, jobs and change.
As the putt-putt of motorbikes eclipses the clip-clop of donkey hooves, tourist guide Sayid Abu-Seif has decided that development in Siwa, his oasis home in western Egypt, is moving too far, too fast.
Sony's political thriller fares better than expected. Three new comedies sputter.
The twist-filled plot of "Vantage Point" aims to keep the audience guessing about a presidential assassination attempt, but there was no mystery to the weekend box-office results.
The rock star riles preservationists with attempt to renovate a historic Dublin hotel.
U2's Bono helped persuade President Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to increase African aid and cancel a portion of Third World debt. But Ireland's most famous rock star is finding it harder to charm Dublin preservationists as he seeks to expand the 177-year-old Clarence Hotel.
LONDON (Reuters) - House prices in England and Wales fell for a fifth month running in February, pushing the annual rate of inflation to its lowest since April 2006, a survey showed on Monday.
LONDON (Reuters) - House prices in England and Wales fell for a fifth month running in February, pushing the annual rate of inflation to its lowest since April 2006, a survey showed on... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 25 Feb 2008 | 7:57 am
Munich Re, the world's second biggest reinsurance company, said Monday that it was targetting a net profit of more than three billion euros in 2008, in what it forecast would be a... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 25 Feb 2008 | 7:46 am
TOKYO (Reuters) - Pioneer Corp will stop making 42-inch plasma panels and instead buy panels in that size and smaller from Panasonic maker Matsushita Electric Industrial or Hitachi Ltd to turn around its loss-making flat TV business, the Asahi newspaper said.
Swiss bank UBS is to be sued by HSH Nordbank for mis-selling investments linked to US sub-prime mortgages. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 25 Feb 2008 | 6:53 am
PARIS (Reuters) - Daniel Bouton, the head of French bank Societe Generale hit by a trading scandal, said in a newspaper interview published on Monday that his resignation was "no longer on the table".
The Cuban national assembly elected Raúl Castro president of the council of state and José Ramón Ventura first vice-president, in a historic vote for Cuba and the Americas Source: FT.com - US homepage | 25 Feb 2008 | 3:25 am
House prices in England and Wales fell for a fifth month running in February, pushing the annual rate of inflation to its lowest since April 2006, a survey showed today.
However, there were also signs of improving demand, with... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 25 Feb 2008 | 2:30 am
Electronic Arts has launched a takeover bid that would enable it to retain its position as the world's biggest independent video game publisher Source: FT.com - US homepage | 25 Feb 2008 | 1:32 am
Internet giant Google is rated the number one brand in the UK, the annual survey from Superbrands finds. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 25 Feb 2008 | 1:08 am
It steps up its offer for Take-Two to $2 billion after being rebuffed and says it will seek shareholder support.
Electronic Arts Inc. on Sunday launched a $2-billion takeover bid for troubled video game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., stepping up the industry's torrid pace of consolidation.
The Financial Services Authority is to issue new guidance on directors' dealings after being contacted by scores of UK company directors who are preparing to sell shares ahead of April 6 to avoid the widely-criticised 80pc rise in capital gains tax. Source: Telegraph Business | 25 Feb 2008 | 12:01 am
Investment banks are secretly profiting from emergency European Central Bank funding by acting as brokers to funnel billions of euros of much needed liquidity to Britain's banks and building societies. Source: Telegraph Business | 25 Feb 2008 | 12:01 am
Chrysalis, the independent music publisher which has put its music publishing arm up for sale, has agreed a deal to transfer all its pension liabilities. Source: Telegraph Business | 25 Feb 2008 | 12:01 am
Britain's largest companies saw their corporation tax bills rise by 18pc last year, far outstripping the increase in profits, a new study has found. Source: Telegraph Business | 25 Feb 2008 | 12:01 am
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond faces accusations of economic protectionism after issuing a statement effectively warning off foreign energy companies rumoured to be making a bid for Scottish Power Source: Telegraph Business | 25 Feb 2008 | 12:01 am
You would think from the public debate on Heathrow expansion that there were only two sides to this story. Source: Telegraph Business | 25 Feb 2008 | 12:01 am
Britain's biggest companies have told Alistair Darling that he should not add
to the scale and complexity of the corporate tax burden in next month's
Budget. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 25 Feb 2008 | 12:00 am
BAA, the airport owner, is struggling to sell a portfolio of warehouses and
offices around Heathrow and Gatwick and is under pressure to cut the £1
billion price tag by at least £100 million.<br/>
<br/>
Ferrovial, the Spanish owner of BAA, has been trying to sell the property for
more than a year, as it tries to reduce and refinance £8 billion of debt
that it took on to fund its share of the purchase of BAA.<br/>
<br/>
Airport Development and Investment, in which Ferrovial has a 61 per cent
stake, bought BAA for £16.3 billion. However, the credit crunch has made
debt refinancing more complicated and since the beginning of the year some
of Ferrovial’s borrowings – £4.7 billion worth of bonds – have been
attracting higher rates of interest.<br/>
<br/>
Ferrovial is thought to be working on transferring those bonds into a new
securitised vehicle, but it could face opposition from bondholders, thought
to include Standard Life, Legal & General, Norwich Union, Scotttish
Equitable, Axa and Clerical Medical.<br/>
<br/>
BAA had hoped to sell its half-share in its £1 billion Airport Property
Partnership by late autumn to help to ease its debt burden. Morley, BAA’s
partner in the venture, decided that it would sell its half-share at the
same time as BAA.<br/>
<br/>
Sales talks between BAA, advised by bankers at Morgan Stanley, and the
final-round bidders – Brixton, the industrial developer and Prologis, an
American developer - fell apart late last year, with BAA refusing to budge
on price. It is understood that the buyers wanted the price to be cut by 20
per cent.<br/>
<br/>
The portfolio was valued last June at £1 billion, including about £600 million
of debt. Two quarterly valuations since have failed to change the value put
on the assets, despite the affects of the credit crunch and as fears of
oversupply hit demand. The next quarterly valuation is due in March and
property insiders expect the assets, including the BA World Cargo Centre at
Heathrow, to be marked down by more than 10 per cent.<br/>
<br/>
Meanwhile, BAA is understood to have hired investment bankers at Macquarie,
the Australian bank, to explore raising a £1 billion loan secured against
its regional airports – Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 25 Feb 2008 | 12:00 am
Afghanistan has emerged as a new frontier in the rush to find mineral
resources, but British mining companies continue to avoid the country. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 25 Feb 2008 | 12:00 am
In a shock turnaround, Auckland International Airport directors are unanimously recommending shareholders sell shares into a takeover offer from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).
That is a reversal of the board's... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 25 Feb 2008 | 12:00 am
Hillary Clinton sharpened her attacks on Barack Obama, her rival for the Democratic party's presidential nomination, as Ralph Nader announced he was joining the race for the White House Source: FT.com - US homepage | 24 Feb 2008 | 11:11 pm
More than half the collateral backing cash advances made by the Federal Reserve to banks operating in the US is in the form of loans rather than securities, the New York Fed has told the Financial Times Source: FT.com - US homepage | 24 Feb 2008 | 10:57 pm
The New Zealand sharemarket started the week with a slight lift, as Auckland International Airport directors changed their minds and recommended shareholders sell into a partial takeover bid.
By 10.10am today the benchmark NZSX-50... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 24 Feb 2008 | 10:45 pm
The second-biggest US union federation is urging state pension funds to invest some of their $2,000bn assets in domestic infrastructure Source: FT.com - US homepage | 24 Feb 2008 | 10:35 pm
The Afghan ministry set up to tackle the drugs trade is facing a staffing crisis after Britain, on the instructions of the Kabul government, withdrew funding for salaries Source: FT.com - US homepage | 24 Feb 2008 | 10:02 pm
The United Nation's agency responsible for relieving hunger is drawing up plans to ration food aid in response to the spiralling cost of agricultural commodities Source: FT.com - US homepage | 24 Feb 2008 | 10:02 pm
Sky City Entertainment Group has reported a 97.1 per cent fall in first half net profit to $1.3 million.
The result includes a $60 million write-down in the carrying value of the company's cinema assets, which the market was advised... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 24 Feb 2008 | 10:00 pm
The world's first biofuel flight has been made between London and Amsterdam.
Virgin Atlantic founder Sir Richard Branson says it is a milestone in the development of cleaner fuels, but some environmentalists and scientists are... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 24 Feb 2008 | 9:30 pm
Further greenback weakness has seen the NZ dollar come within a whisker of US81c.
The kiwi got to US80.98c on Saturday morning, near its post-float high of US81.1c reached in July. It then eased slightly to be at US80.90c by 8am... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 24 Feb 2008 | 9:00 pm
New Zealand faces conditions that are eerily similar to those which preceded the 1998 recession, the Bank of New Zealand says.
The bank is forecasting a slowdown, but not a recession, this year but it says the risks to the economic... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 24 Feb 2008 | 9:00 pm
The UK confirms paying an informant for data on Liechtenstein-based accounts of British citizens. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 24 Feb 2008 | 6:13 pm
A promise to turn rust-red iron ore into gold for investors has transformed Andrew Forrest from a "penny stock" mining entrepreneur with a dream into Australia's richest man, worth more than A$7 billion ($8.13 billion).
After a... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 24 Feb 2008 | 6:00 pm
The Herald's Grant Bradley dons his helmet and heads underground into the Pike River coal mine to discover what's really happening at the NZX's recent listing in the energy sector.
Deep underground, Pike River Coal's mines manager... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 24 Feb 2008 | 5:00 pm
The number of people declaring themselves insolvent under new laws outstripped those applying for bankruptcy last month.
The no asset procedure (NAP) regime - whereby a person with no assets who owes a maximum of $40,000 can have... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 24 Feb 2008 | 5:00 pm
The world's first commercial aircraft powered partly by biofuel takes to the skies. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 24 Feb 2008 | 3:32 pm
Reuters - The papers that U.S. borrowers sign
when buying a house are piled so high that few people read them
all, and even fewer absorb the information. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 24 Feb 2008 | 3:09 pm
Reuters - Stock futures rose on Monday, pointing
to a rise on Wall Street later as financials benefitted from
hopes for a rescue package for bond insurer Ambac Financial
and from acquisition talk in Europe.
Reuters - U.S. economic growth has stalled and
recovery may take longer than usual, former U.S. Federal
Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said on Monday.