Oil companies are considering their options, after a dramatic increase in the price of oil, but the Automobile Association is urging them to show restraint.
BP will consider its position on pump prices tomorrow, after crude oil... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 8 Jun 2008 | 1:42 am
The typically drab London's Kingsway employment tribunal is set to be electrified by a 1m case kicking off against Peter Kenyon, chief executive of Chelsea Football Club. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 8 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
Tom Alexander turned his back on early retirement to make the mobile brand's UK business the nation's favourite, he tells Andrew Cave. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 8 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
Michael Howard, the former Conservative Party leader, is to become chairman of Northern Racing, the racecourse company that is controlled by the Reuben Brothers. Source: Telegraph Business | 8 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
Britain's top banking executives will this week hold showdown talks with Alistair Darling about his failure to consult them over the non-doms and corporation tax fiascos, The Sunday Telegraph has learned. Source: Telegraph Business | 8 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
The owner of Norwich Union is close to concluding discussions with its policyholder-advocate, which could lead to cash payments being offered to policyholders in two of its with-profit funds. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 8 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
Retailers and politicians are seeking ways to keep the global food crisis from hitting the UK, writes James Hall. Source: Telegraph Business | 8 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
Britain's top banking executives will this week hold showdown talks with Alistair Darling about his failure to consult them over the non-doms and corporation tax fiascos, The Sunday Telegraph has learned... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 8 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
The BBC, ITV and Channel 4 are facing opposition to their plan to launch a joint online television service, codenamed Kangaroo, from media groups concerned about its potential to stifle competition. Source: Telegraph Business | 8 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
The soaring oil price is fuelling a glut of mergers and acquisitions activity among energy services companies desperate to cash in on $138-a-barrel crude, write Ben Harrington and Louise Armitstead. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 8 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
Last week, Jean-Claude Trichet, the President of the European Central Bank, gathered with fellow euro-worthies in Frankfurt to be photographed next to a giant cake. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 8 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
Michael Howard, the former Conservative Party leader, is to become chairman of Northern Racing, the racecourse company that is controlled by the Reuben Brothers. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 8 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
Alliance Boots, the health and beauty company, has switched its headquarters from Britain to Switzerland in a further blow to Britain's status as an international centre for business. Source: Telegraph Business | 8 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
Britain's biggest commercial broadcaster, ITV, is courting a former Emap board member to become its new finance director. Source: Telegraph Business | 8 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
A year after Europe's biggest leveraged buyout at Alliance Boots, strong results are set to prove doubters wrong, says James Hall. Source: Telegraph Business | 8 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
When members of the European Central Bank’s governing council met in Frankfurt
last Thursday, it was to celebrate a birthday. Ten years ago the ECB came
into being, a few months before the launch of Europe’s single currency, the
euro. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 7 Jun 2008 | 11:00 pm
TOP executives at two of Britain’s largest publishing companies have held
talks about a merger that would create a £3 billion FTSE 100 media group. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 7 Jun 2008 | 11:00 pm
I APPLAUD Peter Montagnon, director of investment affairs at the Association
of British Insurers (ABI), for trying to uphold principles and make sure bad
precedents are not being set. I am referring, of course, to last weekend’s
rescue of Bradford & Bingley, the mortgage bank, where its two financial
advisers, UBS and Citigroup, were released from a legal agreement to
underwrite a £300m rights issue at 82p per share. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 7 Jun 2008 | 11:00 pm
THE surge in oil prices to a record level of more than $139 a barrel on Friday
has left the economy facing a severe $“stagflationary” shock, economists say,
with a rising risk of recession alongside high inflation. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 7 Jun 2008 | 11:00 pm
CHARLIE BEAN, the Bank of England’s chief economist, is to get the job of Bank deputy governor to replace Rachel Lomax. It follows a battle with the Treasury over whether the job should have been given to a financial-stability expert following the Northern Rock debacle. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 7 Jun 2008 | 11:00 pm
MINI-INVESTMENT bank First London Securities is set to buy Belgravia’s
asset-management arm, the firm once linked with a bid for Newcastle United
football club, for £32m. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 7 Jun 2008 | 11:00 pm
NEXT has become the latest FTSE 100 company to scale back targets for its executive-incentive plan. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 7 Jun 2008 | 11:00 pm
THE founder and former boss of Stanley Leisure, one of Britain’s biggest
betting firms, is to invest in and chair an American business that has
developed an electronic, scratchcard-style game. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 7 Jun 2008 | 11:00 pm
ALLIANCE BOOTS will this week buck the gloom on the high street when the
pharmacy chain reports a 20% increase in trading profits during its first
year as a private company. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 7 Jun 2008 | 11:00 pm
EDUCATION group Nord Anglia has rejected a £180m takeover approach from an overseas private-equity firm that was pitched at a 45% premium to its current share price. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 7 Jun 2008 | 11:00 pm
Leaders of Hollywood's second-largest actors union approved a new contract with studios that grants actors more money for Internet work _ an issue that sparked a crippling writers' strike Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 7 Jun 2008 | 10:52 pm
Da' Tara beats Triple Crown hopeful Big Brown in the $1 million Belmont Stakes race, dashing fans' hopes of ending a 30-year drought of Triple Crown winners.
As nearly 10 million kids pack their trunks and prepare for color wars, summer camps brace for a season of truncated field trips, shorter sessions and more financial aid.
Apple (AAPL) may be short on materials for its new 3G iPhone which is set to be released next week. If the news is true, watch Apple's shares drop from their current level of $185 to below $160. According to Barron's, "sources say that Apple has slashed its internal expectations for iPhone unit sales by up to 16%. They report that Apple had planned to ship 12 million 3G units by the end of the third quarter, but now expects to ship about 10 million to 10.5 million by the fourth quarter, owing to production delays." For Apple stockholders, the...
Leaders of the second-largest actors union in Hollywood have approved a new contract with studios. The three-year deal was approved late Friday by the board of the American Federation... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 7 Jun 2008 | 10:16 pm
Russia and Turkmenistan could complete talks on a new price for next year's imports of Turkmen gas by July, the deputy chairman of the board of Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom said Saturday. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 7 Jun 2008 | 9:49 pm
Stocks will enter the second week of June with renewed uncertainty about the outlook for the ailing U.S. economy, after shocking news that the U.S. jobless rate jumped to 5.5% while crude prices soared to a record near $140 a barrel.
Canada announced Saturday the successful conclusion of negotiations with Colombia aimed at establishing a free trade pact and cooperation on labor and environmental issues. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 7 Jun 2008 | 8:51 pm
Hillary Clinton threw her 'full support' behind Barack Obama and urged her supporters to do the same as she ended her bid to become America's first woman president Source: FT.com - US homepage | 7 Jun 2008 | 7:52 pm
To friends, the idea that Craig Gile would end up in prison just didn't make sense. He was the guy on the tennis court who went out of his way to correct line calls.
Barack Obama's emergence as the presumptive Democratic nominee on Tuesday sets the stage for a sharp partisan debate over the issue weighing most heavily on voters: the economy.
Magnetic induction may just be the best technology to hit the kitchen since the microwave oven. In the past few years this style of cooktop, which turns magnetic energy into heat, has proved itself a worthy competitor to the traditional choices - gas and electric.
Unionized auto workers angry about job losses stepped up their ongoing protest against General Motors on Saturday by shutting down a pickup assembly plant in the Canadian town of Oshawa,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 7 Jun 2008 | 6:47 pm
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev blamed the US and its banks in large part for provoking today's financial crisis - and pushed for a role for Russia in finding a way out of the turmoil Source: FT.com - US homepage | 7 Jun 2008 | 6:44 pm
China Airlines (CAL), one of Taiwan's leading international carriers, said Saturday it has cut its monthly flights by 10 percent to combat rising oil prices. CAL has cut some Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 7 Jun 2008 | 6:09 pm
China on Saturday announced that it would raise the amount of money banks must keep in reserve by a full percentage point in a bid to curb credit growth and help curb inflation. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 7 Jun 2008 | 6:00 pm
Italian automaker Fiat signed a deal worth 305 million dollars (194 million euros) with Russia's Severstal-Auto on Saturday to produce cars and engines in Russia, an official statement... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 7 Jun 2008 | 5:56 pm
The racing industry is hoping that Big Brown will not only bring in big bucks but help cure some of its blues brought on by a consumer shift to other forms of gambling, seemingly endless casino expansion and bad press from some high-profile horse deaths.
Leading energy-consuming nations urged oil producers Saturday to boost their output to counter soaring prices threatening the world economy, while they pledged to develop clean energy... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 7 Jun 2008 | 5:47 pm
Sir Bob Jones is trying to bankrupt one of the co-founders of Blue Chip, the company which has left 3000 Kiwi investors $80 million out of pocket.
Sir Bob is going after a $395,000 debt he claims Blue Chip owes for space leased... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 7 Jun 2008 | 5:00 pm
At least six Australian Cabinet ministers led by acting prime minister Julia Gillard will turn up for a major gathering of about 80 Australasian leaders in Wellington next weekend to debate the future of the transtasman relationship.
They... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 7 Jun 2008 | 5:00 pm
The latest professional salary surveys shows employers giving staff raises between 3 and 6 per cent - but experts say increases will not be this high again for up to four years.
The annual Hays transtasman salary survey recorded... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 7 Jun 2008 | 5:00 pm
Love may be blind but experts recommend people check potential partners are debt-free before making a commitment.
Household debt has been steadily rising since the 1980s and the pressure of debt has been driving couples to counsellors... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 7 Jun 2008 | 5:00 pm
We may think when Australian executives leave our shores after a stint at the "New Zealand branch", they don't give us a second thought.
But for former Westpac chief executive officer Ann Sherry, almost a year after she started... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 7 Jun 2008 | 5:00 pm
Healthy Kiwi pies could soon be on the menu at 800 New York schools.
Hawke's Bay-based Goodtime Food Company is negotiating large orders from two US distributors and eyeing up markets in other countries.
A supplier for the New... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 7 Jun 2008 | 5:00 pm
The number of Australian women being appointed to directorships on the ASX 200 has plateaued and is possibly going backwards, according to the Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick.
The percentage of female board... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 7 Jun 2008 | 5:00 pm
Stocks will enter the second week of June with renewed uncertainty about the outlook for the ailing U.S. economy, after shocking news that the U.S. jobless rate jumped to 5.5% while crude prices soared to a record near $140 a barrel.
The Government's second grand vision of New Zealand's digital future is being knocked into shape for release some time around the middle of the year.
Crafting of the aptly named Digital Strategy 2.0 was kicked off at a two-day... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 7 Jun 2008 | 4:00 pm
WHEELING, W.Va., June 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Esmark Incorporated (Nasdaq: ESMK) (the "Company") today announced that it intends to release first quarter... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 7 Jun 2008 | 4:00 pm
ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin said on Saturday that BP Plc's interests were not always aligned with those of its Russian joint venture TNK-BP, repeating a criticism made by the venture's Russian shareholders.
Reuters - Singapore disc drive component maker
Unisteel on Saturday said it has agreed to be bought by
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for $575 million. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 7 Jun 2008 | 1:30 pm
HONG KONG, July 7 - Singapore disc drive component maker Unisteel on Saturday said it has agreed to be bought by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for $575 million.
U.S. stocks drop sharply after the government says the nation’s jobless rate in May soared to 5.5%, the highest since October 2004, and as the price of crude-oil futures jumps atop $139 a barrel.
The 2008 Audi TT is a much better car than the old TT and one that is simply a driver's delight, whether tooling around favorite country lanes or making time on the interstate.
Gasoline prices as measured in the daily AAA survey resumed their drive toward $4 a gallon Saturday, rising to just below the record level after a one-day retreat.
Apple (AAPL) is almost certain to make two changes to its iPhone pricing model when it releases version 2.0 next week. The first is that it will drop the price that consumers will pay for the handset from about $400 to $200. Cellular servicer providers will make up most of the rest of that, but, it is likely that Apple will bear some of the burden. Much more important, Apple has decided to take less of the revenue from calling plans sold with the phone. AT&T (T) and others will keep more of the money from voice and data fees....
The US and Asia's four largest economies say record oil prices are a big burden to economies, as G8 energy ministers meet. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 7 Jun 2008 | 11:32 am
Kirk Kerkorian will end up owning more than 5% of Ford after he completes his current tender. He does not like to lose money, so if things don't get better at the car company, he might lose his temper. The Wall Street Journal is of the opinion that Kerkorian may push for changes and that the Ford family, which has 40% of the voting shares in the firm, might stand in his way. The paper writes "The family could even come under pressure to give up some of their votes, if Ford's already precarious position worsens." There is no reason...
AFP - The United States and Asia's four largest powers voiced "serious concerns" Saturday after the single biggest one-day hike in oil prices, warning that the global economy was at risk.
It turns out that Frank Mozilo, head of Countrywide (CFC), was passing out special mortgages to people including two former chiefs of Fannie Mae (FNM). Countrywide did business with the quasi-government operation, so being friendly was a good, perhaps excellent idea. According to The Wall Street Journal, "These borrowers, known internally as "friends of Angelo" or FoA, include two former CEOs of FNM, the biggest buyer of Countrywide's mortgages, It is too early to say whether these discoveries will lead to any sort of government investigation. They certainly look bad. More important, they raise the issue, once again, of why...
Out of the daily movers this last week, many of the top winners and losers were from news in many of the smaller biotech stocks. We prepared a list of the winners and sinners from our daily review at BioHealthInvestor.com and gave a summary regarding the moves on each. It is becoming more obvious that many small and mid-sized biotechs are going to be gobbled up by European or Asian biotech and pharma companies seeking the dollar-discount right now. For starters, we ran a summary of the key moving pieces out of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). No...
Deal-hungry mortgage lenders are targeting aging baby boomers to fuel a spike in reverse mortgages that topped all of 2007's deals in just the first four months of this year.
Between January and April, 198 people with incomes over $200,000 took out reverse mortgages—a loan against a home that does not have to be repaid while the borrower lives there—compared to just 164 for all of 2007, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Borrowers must be 62 or older, and have equity in their homes.
Some are like John Thompson, C.E.O. of Horizon Resources Group in Atlanta, a consultancy, and his university administrator wife, Dr. Patricia Sager. Using proceeds from a reverse mortgage on their primary residence as a line of credit, Thompson says he wants "to provide for unforeseen emergencies and opportunities," while expanding his company into England.
But with the credit crunch continuing, leveraged-to-the-hilt homeowners are seeking ways to raise cash without selling their houses during a slump.
Meantime, beleaguered banks are looking eagerly to the market for reverse mortgages to offset the refinancing business, which went from a cash cow to a dead horse in the past year. They are gearing the same marketing tactics that goosed refinances two years ago to reverse mortgages today.
At Wells Fargo locations, banners are enticing homeowners to try the reverses, and last year the financial giant's home mortgage division did 23,137 reverses out of the total U.S. industry volume of 107,558 deals.
The bank and its rivals see big growth potential. "Fewer than 1 percent of the total senior population in the U.S. that's eligible for a reverse mortgage has used one," says Jeff Taylor, vice president and head of the reverse mortgage division. "So there's lots of room for growth."
Now embattled lenders such as Bank of America, Countrywide and Financial Freedom are offering jumbo reverse mortgages with ceilings higher than the $200,000 to $362,000 on federally insured reverse mortgages, called Home Equity Conversion Mortgages, or H.E.C.M.'s.
There's even a move afoot to offer one national loan limit of $550,000 on reverses.
The appeal is multifaceted. With houses lingering on the market for more than a year, many homeowners aren't willing to wait to sell until prices bounce back and are looking at reverse mortgages as an interim solution, allowing them time to hold onto their homes until home values adjust.
"I have clients who say, we'll continue to live here as long as we want on their dime—it's better than selling our house for a fire-sale price," says Gala Gorman, a financial planner and licensed Realtor with Five Points Financial in Nashville.
The small print: If you use all the money in your house now, what happens if you need that money for long-term care somewhere down the road, asks Jon Beyrer, a financial planner in Solana Beach, California, who says he'd rather suggest other, less expensive ways to finance.
Even AARP's website has a section dedicated to educating its members about reverse mortgages.
As Thompson said of his family's reverse mortgage, "I first made sure that in the worst-case situation, there's money to pay off the loan. The way I see it, our planning actually has given us a major piece of security by reusing our equity."
The price of crude oil climbs a record $10 in one day's trading, as the US is hit by tumbling shares and high jobless figures. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 7 Jun 2008 | 2:44 am
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. unemployment rate surged to 5.5 percent in May, its highest in more than 3-1/2 years, as the barely growing economy lost jobs for the fifth straight month.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil jumped nearly 9 percent to a record $139 a barrel on Friday, extending a two-day rally to more than $16 as the slumping U.S. dollar and mounting tensions between Israel and Iran attracted a stampede of buyers.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks plunged on Friday, marking the Dow's worst day in 15 months, after the government said the May unemployment rate jumped the most in 22 years and oil prices shot to another record, renewing fears that the U.S. economy faces 1970s-style stagflation.
Alan Bollard's sudden shift in outlook this week had all the hallmarks of Muhammad Ali's famous rope-a-dope strategy.
After years of talking about inflation, inflation inflation, Bollard bounded off the ropes on Thursday talking... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 7 Jun 2008 | 2:00 am
Reuters - Oil jumped nearly 9 percent to a
record $139 a barrel on Friday, extending a two-day rally to
more than $16 as the slumping U.S. dollar and mounting tensions
between Israel and Iran attracted a stampede of buyers.
Reuters - Stocks plunged on Friday, marking the
Dow's worst day in 15 months, after the government said the May
unemployment rate jumped the most in 22 years and oil prices
shot to another record, renewing fears that the U.S. economy
faces 1970s-style stagflation.
AFP - The United States and Asia's four largest powers voiced "serious concerns" Saturday after the single biggest one-day hike in oil prices, warning that the global economy was at risk.
Reuters - Oil jumped nearly 9 percent to a
record $139 a barrel on Friday, extending a two-day rally to
more than $16 as the slumping U.S. dollar and mounting tensions
between Israel and Iran attracted a stampede of buyers.
Reuters - Stocks plunged on Friday, marking the
Dow's worst day in 15 months, after the government said the May
unemployment rate jumped the most in 22 years and oil prices
shot to another record, renewing fears that the U.S. economy
faces 1970s-style stagflation.