The great interest rate rip off part 1

[interestrateripoff]

Weekly Claims Drop to 445,000, 4-Week Moving Average at 455,750; Where to From Here?

 

 

 

Weekly Claims fell this week to 445,000 but that number is still consistent with an economy losing jobs.

 

Please consider the Unemployment Weekly Claims Report for October 7, 2010.

 

In the week ending Oct. 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 445,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 456,000. The 4-week moving average was 455,750, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised average of 458,750.

Unemployment Claims

 

 

The weekly claims numbers are volatile so it's best to focus on the trend in the 4-week moving average.

 

More at the link.

[interestrateripoff]

7 October 2010 Last updated at 20:26

 

'Pay more' into public pensions

 

Members of public sector pension schemes should pay higher contributions, says an independent commission led by Lord Hutton.

 

The pension timebomb again. I've mentioned this numerous times throughout these posts.

 

 

 

 

• At a glance: Pensions review
  
• Q&A: Key report on pensions
  
• Full guide to public sector pensions
  
• Your views on the review
  

 

Currency war a 'threat' warns IMF

 

Global currency wars pose "a real threat" to economic recovery, the head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, warns.

 

• China warns EU off yuan pressure
  
• Currency battles threaten growth
  

 

 

 

• UK interest rates on hold at 0.5%
   
  The Bank of England holds UK interest rates at 0.5% and does not expand the quantitative easing programme.
  
• UK house prices 'see 3.6% fall'
   
  House prices fell by 3.6% in September compared with the previous month, according to the latest figures from the Halifax.
  
• Eurostar unveils £700m train deal
   
  Channel Tunnel rail firm Eurostar unveils an order worth more than £700m for new trains from German firm Siemens.
  
• Hicks set to fight Liverpool sale Sport
  
• Whitehall redundancy offer raised
  
• Ukraine sets grain export quotas
  
• M&S cautious on spending outlook
  
• Eurozone interest rate still 1%
  
• China introduces mine safety rule
  
• Deutsche Bank bids for Postbank
  
• Factory output continues to rise
  
• Allied Irish wants $2bn for M&T
  
• Sarkozy tweaks reform of pensions
  

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/business/08frozen.html?_r=1&hp

 

Amanda Ducksworth was supposed to move in to her new home this week, a three-bedroom steal here in central Florida with a horse farm across the road. Instead, she is camped out with her 7-year-old son at her boss’s house.

 

Like many buyers across the country, Ms. Ducksworth was about to complete the purchase of a foreclosed house when it suddenly went off the market. Fannie Mae, the giant mortgage holding company that buys loans from commercial lenders, is pulling back sales of homes that might have been foreclosed in bad faith.

 

“I gave up my rental thinking I would have a house,” said Ms. Ducksworth, a 28-year-old catering assistant. “Now I’m sharing a room with my son. What the hell is up with that?”

 

With home sales this past summer at the lowest level in more than a decade, real estate is ill-prepared to suffer another blow. But as a scandal unfolds over mortgage lenders’ shoddy preparation of foreclosure documents, the fallout is beginning to hammer the housing market, especially in states like Florida where distressed properties are abundant.

 

“This crisis takes a situation that’s already bad and kind of cements it into place,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief United States economist for MFR Inc., an economic consulting firm.

 

Three major mortgage lenders — Bank of America, GMAC Mortgage and JPMorgan Chase — have said they are suspending foreclosures in the 23 states where they first need a judge’s approval. They are also waving off Fannie Mae from selling any of the foreclosed homes whose loans they sold to Fannie.

 

The companies say they are reviewing their operations after disclosures that employees signed documents without determining the accuracy of the material, as is required by law.

 

Those reviews are throwing into limbo hundreds of thousands of foreclosures and pending home sales, analysts estimate, though the lenders and Fannie Mae have been mostly silent about precise numbers and other specifics.

 

More broadly, the revelations about the sloppy paperwork are emboldening homeowners and law enforcement officials in many states to question whether lenders rightfully hold the notes underlying foreclosed properties — further chilling the housing market.

 

Distressed properties, many of which are in foreclosure, make up about a third of all home sales. “Foreclosures are going to slow to a crawl,” said Guy D. Cecala, publisher of the trade magazine Inside Mortgage Finance.

 

Still I'm sure it won't case serious problems....

 

Although I suppose while it's all in limbo the banks can keep marking to fantasy.

[interestrateripoff]

Breaking news

 

• BofA halts foreclosures in all 50 U.S. states - Reuters
  
• LSE set for system test to decide trading plan - Reuters
  
• Park Avenue Bank head admits TARP fraud - Reuters
  
• UPDATE 2-US corn crop shrinks, smallest stocks in 14 yrs - Reuters
  
• France eyes balanced public finances by 2016 -PM - Reuters
  
• GLOBAL MARKETS-Dollar drops to 15-yr low vs yen, stocks rise - Reuters
  
• Chinese seek nod from Ottawa for PotashCorp bid - Reuters
  
• US corn crop shrinks, smallest stocks in 14 years - Reuters
  
• Turkey, China eye more trade in "strategic partnership" - Reuters
  

 

 

 

• US job figures worse than expected
   
  September unemployment figures deal a blow to Barack Obama's chances of a last minute recovery in the US midterm congressional elections
  24 comments
  
  • Market forces: Gold jumps, dollar falls
    

  [*] Retailers cautiously optimistic ahead of Christmas countdown

   

  Chief executives are concerned about consumer spending but optimistic that Britain will avoid a double dip, finds Zoe Wood

  7 comments

  • M&S enjoys 'return to quality'
    
  • Groin stretch: Pants makes men 'two sizes bigger'
    
  • Nils Pratley: Why an oldie is a goodie at M&S
    
  • Mulberry bags reports sales rise of 80%
    

  [*] Job cuts as Thomas Cook and Co-op's travel agents merge

   

  Merged 1,200-strong chain of travel agents and foreign exchange outlets to save £35m a year, with job losses 'inevitable'

  2 comments

  [*] Wheat price surge stokes inflation fears

   

  Official ONS data shows manufacturers' raw material costs rose 0.7% last month, against the 0.4% predicted

  [*] Housing market crash feared after average house prices take record plunge

   

  Halifax tries to allay fears that prices are poised to nosedive amid impending cuts to public sector jobs

   

  • Bank of England holds interest rates
    
  • Larry Elliott: Lenders alone can't hold back a dip
    

 

 

• European bonus rules 'will prompt exodus of banks'
   
  Proposals to cap bankers' bonuses and restrict cash payments will force banks to relocate outside the City and Europe, experts have warned
  169 comments
  
  • EU regulators thrash out proposals to cap bonuses
    
  • Nils Pratley: EU banking watchdogs get it half-right
    

  [*] Barclays considers buying internet bank Egg from Citigroup

   

  Barclays could merge Citigroup's Egg with Barclaycard in potential £500m deal

   

  [*] Pret A Manger chief is stacking up healthy profits in lean times

   

  Friday interview: Clive Schlee helped turn around the sandwich chain after it expanded too fast

  Post your comment

  [*] More business news

  [*] BlackBerry users get UAE reprieve

  [*] Cuts 'to cost 60,000 green jobs'

[interestrateripoff]

Job fears as Thomas Cook and Co-op merge travel businesses

 

Thomas Cook and the Co-op unveiled plans today to merge their high street travel businesses in a move expected to cost hundreds of UK jobs.

 

• House prices record worst monthly fall ever
  
• Asda closes final salary pension scheme
  
• Bolland makes his mark as ad campaign lifts M&S sales
  
• Split MPC keeps rates on hold for 20th month in row
  
• Now the EC backs a 'Fat' tax on banks
  
• Eurostar to buy German trains as it gears up for expansion
  
• Ofcom orders BT to offer superfast access to rivals
  

 

Hamish McRae: Will messy skirmishes in currency manipulation lead to all-out war?

 

Economic Life: Is the UK policy of quantitative easing aiming to make it easier for companies to borrow money, or is it trying to weaken sterling?

 

• David Prosser: The Swedish model that might save our pensions system
  
• David Prosser: Remember when we were friends?
  
• David Prosser: Football fans may hate them but leveragedbuyouts are here to stay
  
• Sean O'Grady: Where is Gordon Brown, just when we need him again?
  
• David Prosser: IMF reform must be high on the agenda
  

Peter Hambro: Banker, trader, magnate: a man with the Midas touch

 

Alistair Dawber: The old-school businessman shares the secrets of his success.

 

• The little tweets that could mean big money
  
• Britain finds an export star at last
  
• The Business on: Nick Anstee, Lord Mayor of London
  
• Ireland takes a gamble on cutting its deficit
  
• The flat-pack giant's secrets unpicked
  

[interestrateripoff]

U.S. payrolls fall as Fed monetary easing idea advances

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy shed jobs in September for a fourth straight month as government payrolls fell and private hiring slowed, hardening expectations for more stimulus from the Federal Reserve to spur the recovery.

Continue Reading

 

 

 

EU watchdogs show teeth over bank bonuses

 

LONDON (Reuters) - European Union bank watchdogs fleshed out on Friday what amount to the world's toughest and most far-reaching curbs on bonuses, prompting a warning that financial firms are now more likely to set up shop elsewhere.

World, 4:58pm BST

 

Banks pull FTSE lower

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's top share index inched down on Friday, weighed by weaker banks after a surprise drop in U.S. non-farm payrolls, although the data raised quantitative easing expectations which lifted commodity prices. | Video

5:04pm BST

 

Thomas Cook and Co-Op combine travel agents

 

LONDON (Reuters) - The Thomas Cook is merging its high street travel and foreign exchange business with the Co-operative Group's operation in a cost-cutting drive ahead of an expected period of weaker consumer spending.

UK 6:24pm BST

 

World finance leaders seek currency peace

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - World finance leaders sought on Friday to tamp down simmering currency tensions that threaten to drag on an economic recovery that is already too slow and uneven for their liking.

G20 6:23pm BST

 

Abu Dhabi bags big Barclays profit as Q3 fears grow

 

LONDON (Reuters) - The main Middle East investor who pumped billions of pounds into Barclays two years ago has locked in a profit of about 3 billion pounds on the investment after a complex deal that sent the bank's shares lower.

5:31pm BST

 

HSBC close to sale of train firm - sources

 

AMSTERDAM/LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC Holdings is set to sign a commercial agreement with an infrastructure fund consortium for the 2 billion-pound sale of its Eversholt train leasing unit as early as next week, sources said on Friday.

2:52pm BST

 

BP to restructure trading arm amid profit erosion

 

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil major BP is restructuring its trading arm to cut costs and focus on growth markets such as China and India to turn around falling profits, the head of the unit said in an internal document.

3:07pm BST

 

Chinese seek nod from Ottawa for PotashCorp bid

 

NEW YORK/TORONTO (Reuters) - China's Sinochem won't bid for Potash Corp unless the Canadian government gives a positive signal that it would approve a deal led by the state-owned chemicals group, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.

6:24pm BST

 

Turkey and China eye more trade in "strategic partnership"

 

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey and China aim to treble bilateral trade to $50 billion (31 billion pounds) a year by 2015 and to $100 billion by 2020 under a new "strategic partnership," the prime ministers of the two countries said on Friday.

[interestrateripoff]

8 October 2010 Last updated at 18:34

 

US sees 95,000 jobs go last month

 

The US economy shed another 95,000 jobs in September, the fourth month in a row that jobs have been lost, official figures show.

 

• The long struggle to find work Watch
  
• US economic growth is revised up
  

 

Man Utd reports £80m annual loss

 

Manchester United, hit by finance charges and reduced revenues from the sale of players, reports an annual pre-tax loss of £79.6m.

 

 

Alan Johnson is shadow chancellor

 

Alan Johnson is the surprise choice as shadow chancellor, attacking the coalition for planning to cut spending "too quickly and too deeply".

 

 

 

• Bank bonus cap moves step closer
   
  European regulators back tougher-than-expected rules on bankers' pay despite pressure from the UK to water down the rules.
  
• Seized US homes in resale freeze
   
  Bank of America will extend its ban on sales of repossessed homes from 23 US states to all 50 as it looks for possible legal flaws.
  
• Sanofi to cut 1,700 US employees New
   
  French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis announces it will shed 1,700 jobs from its US workforce before the end of the year.
  
• Travel groups to merge networks
  
• Asda to close its pension scheme
  
• Kraft coy on future Cadbury cuts
  
• Train commuters face rising fares
  
• Unions deny deal with government
  
• Migrants feel recession aftermath
  
• German exports decline in August
  
• 'Decade' to balance French budget
  
• UAE Blackberry ban threat lifted
  
• Shanghai restricts home purchases
  

[interestrateripoff]

[/url]

 

Cut or spend: what the IMF really thinks

 

Cut or spend is the big debate of the day at the fund’s Washington conference, but on which side of the fence does it sit?

IMF chief: Global economic co-operation is falling apart

 

 

 

EU unveils toughest yet clampdown on bank bonuses

 

Europe’s regulator releases new guidelines for financial sector compensation, setting out the toughest yet rules on how banks pay their staff.

 

US job losses spur expectations of Fed stimulus

 

An increase in private employment failed to compensate for a fall in government payrolls as the US shed jobs for the fourth consecutive month.

UK producer price inflation higher than expected

 

 

 

Banks and commodities drag FTSE 100 deeper into red

 

 

 

 

Barclays saviour Sheikh Mansour makes £2.25bn from stake

 

 

 

 

Thomas Cook and Co-op merger to create UK travel giant

 

 

 

 

The hi-tech miracle rescuing Ireland from a banking crisis

 

 

 

 

'J R Ewing' wins $11m arbitration against Citigroup

 

 

• I don't care if bankers are well paid, as long as they are paid well
  

 

• More ways to beat Child Benefit cut and avoid tax and NICs
  

 

 

• Johnson the wrong choice for shadow chancellor
  

 

 

UK producer price inflation higher than expected

 

 

 

Scottish social housing needs investment as safe as 'gilts'

 

 

 

 

UK companies in denial over spending cuts

 

 

 

 

UK manufacturers see growth despite concern over future

 

 

 

 

IMF chief: Global economic co-operation is falling apart

[interestrateripoff]

Dow Tops 11,000 for First Time Since May

 

By CHRISTINE HAUSER 12 minutes ago

 

 

Treasury prices rose, the dollar fell and stocks hit a five-month high on Friday after the monthly employment report raised expectations that the Federal Reserve would intervene.

 

• Wholesale Inventories and Sales Rose in August
  

 

 

 

 

 

#nytint-tabContent { width: 395px ! important; background-color: white ! important; }

• DOW
  
• S & P 500
  
• NASDAQ
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Employment Picture Dims as Government Cuts Back

 

By CATHERINE RAMPELL 12:45 PM ET

 

The United States economy shed 95,000 nonfarm jobs in September, as 159,000 government jobs were lost at all levels and business hiring slowed significantly.

 

• Economix: Big Local Cuts | Looking Back | Comparing Recessions
  

 

Bank of America Halts Foreclosure Sales

 

By DAVID STREITFELD 16 minutes ago

 

The bank had previously said it would stop such sales only in states where foreclosures must be approved by a judge.

 

Flawed Foreclosure Documents Thwart Home Sales

 

By ANDREW MARTIN and DAVID STREITFELD

 

The shoddy preparation of foreclosure documents is hammering the market, especially in the worst-hit states.

 

• Obama to Veto Bill That Could Speed Foreclosures
  
• Post a Comment | Read (150)
  

 

Regulators Seek Curbs for Bank Bonuses in Europe

 

By JULIA WERDIGIER 11:50 AM ET

 

Draft guidelines say bankers should not receive more than half of their bonuses in cash and as much as 60 percent of the payment may be deferred depending on the employee's position in the bank.

 

S.E.I.U. Wins Vote Against Rival Union at Kaiser Permanente

 

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE 58 minutes ago

 

The Service Employees International Union spent millions on the campaign, fearing that a victory for its rival would give that union the momentum to try and lure away other members.

 

U.A.E. Halts Plan to Ban BlackBerry

 

By BETTINA WASSENER 10:15 AM ET

 

The United Arab Emirates said it had reached an agreement with the device’s maker, Research In Motion.

 

China Denies Exploiting Rare Earths

 

By EDWARD WONG 6:23 AM ET

 

Speaking in Brussels, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said China has not imposed any bans on exports of rare earth minerals for political purposes.

 

First Buyers of Nissan Leaf Get a Trunkful of Perks

 

By BILL VLASIC

 

Buyers of the first all-electric car receive tax credits, rebates, a charging unit and, in some areas, free parking.

 

• Electric Cars, Packed With Middle-Class Benefits
  
• Room for Debate: Will Electric Cars Finally Succeed?
  
• Submit Your Questions for Friday's TimesCast
  

 

G.M.’s Wage-Cutting Deal Clears Way for a Small Car

 

By BILL VLASIC and NICK BUNKLEY

 

Under a cost-saving arrangement, G.M. will pay 60 percent of the plant’s 1,550 workers the going wage of $28 an hour, and the remainder of the workers about half as much — or $14 an hour.

 

Junk Bonds Are Back on Top

 

By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ

 

Companies with less-than-sterling credit are rushing to sell bonds and take advantage of low interest rates.

 

 

 

• I.M.F. Chief Steps Into Dispute Over China’s Currency Policy
  
• Abu Dhabi Fund Hedges Barclays Stake 7:35 AM ET
  
• Obama to Veto Bill That Could Speed Foreclosures
  
• S.&P. Says Cost to Care for Elderly Will Spiral
  

 

 

[interestrateripoff]

All Hourly Candles Must Be Green

 

This is truly amusing....

CNBS has Chris Whalen on in which he puts forward that the banks are suffering compressing interest income and that despite the claim of "excellent" margins the truth is that in absolute dollar value terms the income level is collapsing, SEVERAL LARGE BANKS WILL SHOW STRESS IN THREE TO SIX MONTHS AND WILL ULTIMATELY FAIL, HAVING TO BE RESTRUCTURED UNDER DODD-FRANK.

Watch this clip at 7:10 in..... and then watch how CNBS tries to spin it.

Incidentally, what Chris is saying in this clip is exactly what he pointed out in his presentation of a few days ago that I outlined.

CNBS, for its part, immediately tried to turn this around into a positive for bank stocks - that is, a reason to buy them, and Najarin claimed there was a "Bank Put" out there as a consequence of the law.

This is a complete and utter LIE.

Dodd-Frank provides for no such thing. The resolution authority provides for an orderly process to wind down a failed institution in which creditors are covered to the extent possible and the capital structure is honored.

THERE IS NO PROVISION IN DODD-FRANK TO PROP UP A FAILED BANK!

Please note, ladies and gentlemen, that common stockholders are at the bottom of the capital structure. That is, they will absolutely be wiped out in any such proceeding and get nothing.

Got that? Common stock value in any such "resolution" is zero.

Bupkis.

Zilch.

Nada.

Now you're probably ok with senior secured debt in these institutions. You will almost certainly get nailed to some degree with subordinated (that is, any non-senior) debt. But if you hold common stock and the bank in question is "resolved", you're going to get zero.

Chris Whalen is one of the best-respected and most-thoughtful analysts out there when it comes to these matters. Institutional Risk Analytics is a firm that, when you bet against them, you are taking a very severely odds-against bet. Bull****ting his position like this and then not giving him the opportunity to respond was unbelievably unprofessional.

These stocks have been on an absolute tear over the last 18 months under the premise that their revenue and earnings model would all be "good" and continue to advance, largely predicated on the idea that "mark to myth" would allow them to both earn out of it but in addition asset prices would recover and thus make the prices "money good."

Chris' report throws a whole bucket of icewater on that thesis, and if he's right holding any of these stocks is going to be a portfolio-destroying act. If Chris is right then the common stock value of these banks IS ZERO.

I have no problem with people who have a difference of opinion - that's what makes a market.

But to misrepresent what's in passed legislation and to argue that Dodd-Frank provides for a "PUT" under the common stock of a financial institution as was done in 2008 is absolute lunacy at best.

It does no such thing and in fact was enacted specifically to avoid such a thing happening in the future.

This is almost exactly the sort of thing that CNBS did with Angelo Mozilo and Countrywide just months before they collapsed - they had him on multiple times to pronounce how healthy the company was and how they were taking market share from everyone else.

I will remind everyone that Countrywide Financial blew up and was forcibly-acquired by Bank of America, and if you held the stock to that point you got - for all intents and purposes - BUPKIS.

Many people got gang-****d listening to Mozilo's appearances on CNBS and elsewhere in the months before Countrywide blew up. I maintained at the time all the way until they went boom that they were a zero, despite the claims of "all being good" - and was ultimately proved correct.

This call - that all the big banks will have to be restructured - comes not from me but from one of the best-respected bank and credit analysts in the world.

He may be right and he may be wrong - but the argument against Chris' beliefs is not found in Dodd-Frank.

Don't let it happen to you again.

[interestrateripoff]

http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/07/news/economy/cbo_preliminary_2010_deficit/index.htm?hpt=T1

 

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The federal government ran a deficit of nearly $1.3 trillion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to preliminary estimates released Thursday by the Congressional Budget Office.

The Treasury Department will deliver the official deficit numbers later this month.

 

Every nation should run a balanced budget.

[interestrateripoff]

Breaking news

 

• World economies vow to act to bolster IMF's role - Reuters
  
• World leaders see bigger IMF crisis-fighting role - Reuters
  
• ECB underscores power to limit banks' borrowing - Reuters
  
• Japan says G7 agreed excessive FX moves undesirable - Reuters
  
• Japan finmin: G7 agreed excess FX moves undesirable - Reuters
  
• Gulf Coast attorneys to lead U.S. oil spill lawsuits - Reuters
  
• China foreign debt jumps 24 percent in Q2 - Reuters
  
• Argentine court orders prosecution of Cargill execs - Reuters
  
• CBOE's C2 unit asks judge for ruling against ISE - Reuters
  

 

 

 

• US job figures worse than expected
   
  September unemployment figures deal a blow to Barack Obama's chances of a last minute recovery in the US midterm congressional elections
  63 comments
  
  • Market forces: Gold jumps, dollar falls
    

  [*] Retailers cautiously optimistic ahead of Christmas countdown

   

  Chief executives are concerned about consumer spending but optimistic that Britain will avoid a double dip, finds Zoe Wood

  14 comments

  • M&S enjoys 'return to quality'
    
  • Nils Pratley: Why an oldie is a goodie at M&S
    

  [*] Job cuts as Thomas Cook and Co-op's travel agents merge

   

  Merged 1,200-strong chain of travel agents and foreign exchange outlets to save £35m a year, with job losses 'inevitable'

  3 comments

  [*] St James's Place faces compensation claim from rock photographer

   

  Kevin Westenberg seeks £630,000 from St James's Place over senior partner's investment advice

  [*] Housing market crash feared after average house prices take record plunge

   

  Halifax tries to allay fears that prices are poised to nosedive amid impending cuts to public sector jobs

   

  • Bank of England holds interest rates
    
  • Larry Elliott: Lenders alone can't hold back a dip
    

 

 

• European bonus rules 'will prompt exodus of banks'
   
  Proposals to cap bankers' bonuses and restrict cash payments will force banks to relocate outside the City and Europe, experts have warned
  388 comments
  
  • EU regulators thrash out proposals to cap bonuses
    
  • Nils Pratley: EU banking watchdogs get it half-right
    

  [*] Barclays considers buying internet bank Egg from Citigroup

   

  Barclays could merge Citigroup's Egg with Barclaycard in potential £500m deal

   

  [*] Pret A Manger chief is stacking up healthy profits in lean times

   

  Friday interview: Clive Schlee helped turn around the sandwich chain after it expanded too fast

  7 comments

  [*] More business news

  [*] Wheat price surge stokes inflation fears

  [*] BlackBerry users get UAE reprieve

  [*] Cuts 'to cost 60,000 green jobs'

[interestrateripoff]

Osborne threatens new tax crackdown on banks

 

The chancellor, George Osborne, is "now examining" further taxes on the UK's banks, apparently in an effort to make them retain more of their earnings, lend more to business and restrain what promises to be another bumper bonus season in the City.

 

 

• Insider dealer Calvert freed after just seven months
  
• Asda becomes the latest firm to axe its final salary pension
  
• Job fears as Thomas Cook and Co-op merge travel agencies
  
• Business Diary: Fat boys top the pay scales
  
• MGM Studios asks creditors to agree bankruptcy plan
  
• Evolution given bid deadline
  
• Blockbuster UK increases profit
  

 

Stephen Foley: Chaos in foreclosure process will buy time for economic recovery

 

US Outlook: The most surprising thing about the chaos enveloping the foreclosure process on millions of homes in the US is that it has taken so long to reach this point.

 

 

• Stephen Foley: Tarp turned out to be Robin Hood after all
  
• Stephen Foley: When the going gets tough, things get rough
  
• Hamish McRae: Will messy skirmishes in currency manipulation lead to all-out war?
  
• David Prosser: The Swedish model that might save our pensions system
  
• David Prosser: Remember when we were friends?
  

 

Bankers to flee after Europe pay squeeze?

 

European banking watchdogs have proposed a much tougher crackdown than expected. James Moore reports

 

 

• The business on...Larry Hagman, Actor, aka JR Ewing
  
• Peter Hambro: Banker, trader, magnate: a man with the Midas touch
  
• The little tweets that could mean big money
  
• Britain finds an export star at last
  
• The Business on: Nick Anstee, Lord Mayor of London
  

[interestrateripoff]

World economies vow to act to bolster IMF's role

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund's 187 member countries on Saturday called for urgent action to bolster the Fund's role in overseeing the world economy in the hope of keeping a sluggish recovery on track.

Continue Reading

 

 

 

China currency must rise to fix imbalances - Soros

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Billionaire investor George Soros considers the global currency system "lop-sided" and "controlled" by China, and urged the Asian giant to allow its currency to appreciate.

11:52am BST

 

Osborne says would allow Bank to do more easing

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The government will sanction more money being pumped into the economy if the Bank of England judges that more monetary stimulus is needed, Chancellor George Osborne said on Friday.

UK 12:04am BST

 

G7 agreed excessive FX moves undesirable - Japan

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Friday that finance leaders from the Group of Seven nations agreed at a meeting that excessive and disorderly foreign exchange movements are undesirable.

11:06am BST

 

EU watchdogs show teeth over bank bonuses

 

LONDON (Reuters) - European Union bank watchdogs fleshed out on Friday what amount to the world's toughest and most far-reaching curbs on bonuses, prompting a warning that financial firms are now more likely to set up shop elsewhere.

World, 08 Oct 2010

 

Thomas Cook and Co-Op combine travel agents

 

LONDON (Reuters) - The Thomas Cook is merging its high street travel and foreign exchange business with the Co-operative Group's operation in a cost-cutting drive ahead of an expected period of weaker consumer spending.

UK 08 Oct 2010

 

Abu Dhabi bags big Barclays profit as Q3 fears grow

 

LONDON (Reuters) - The main Middle East investor who pumped billions of pounds into Barclays two years ago has locked in a profit of about 3 billion pounds on the investment after a complex deal that sent the bank's shares lower.

08 Oct 2010

 

Sanofi denies it dangled higher bid before Genzyme

 

PARIS/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sanofi-Aventis denied that it had dangled a higher price for Genzyme Corp before going hostile with its $18.5 billion (11.6 billion pound) bid, deepening the animosity in their trans-atlantic takeover fight.

08 Oct 2010

 

HSBC close to sale of train firm - sources

 

AMSTERDAM/LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC Holdings is set to sign a commercial agreement with an infrastructure fund consortium for the 2 billion-pound sale of its Eversholt train leasing unit as early as next week, sources said on Friday.

08 Oct 2010

 

BP to restructure trading arm amid profit erosion

 

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil major BP is restructuring its trading arm to cut costs and focus on growth markets such as China and India to turn around falling profits, the head of the unit said in an internal document.

[interestrateripoff]

9 October 2010 Last updated at 16:58

 

Consumer body risk in quango cull

 

Consumer Focus, the body set up by the last Government to represent consumers and challenge companies, will be scrapped, the BBC has learned.

 

Irish unemployment 'has peaked'

 

Irish employers group IBEC says that joblessness in the Republic has peaked at its current 13.7% level.

 

• Irish bank debts 'to be honoured'
  
• Markets fret at euro divergence
  

 

 

US sees 95,000 jobs go last month

 

The US economy shed another 95,000 jobs in September, the fourth month in a row that jobs have been lost, official figures show.

 

 

 

• China stands firm over yuan move
   
  China will let its currency appreciate, but there will no "shock therapy", says central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan.
  
• Banks want review of PPI rules
   
  The High Court is going to be asked to clarify rules about handling Payment Protection Insurance complaints.
  
• Currency victims 'may lose out'
   
  Customers of a collapsed currency company have been warned they are likely to receive "very little" of their money back by the firm's administrator.
  
• Man Utd reports £80m annual loss
  
• Alan Johnson is shadow chancellor
  
• Bank bonus cap moves step closer
  
• Seized US homes in resale freeze
  
• French vote on retirement at 62
  
• Sanofi to cut 1,700 US employees
  
• Travel groups to merge networks
  
• Asda to close its pension scheme
  
• Kraft coy on future Cadbury cuts
  
• Train commuters face rising fares
  
• UAE Blackberry ban threat lifted
  

 

The HQ effect

 

British jobs, for German workers?

[interestrateripoff]

[/url]

 

George Soros warns China of global 'currency war'

 

George Soros has warned that a global “currency war” pitting China versus the rest of the world could lead to the collapse of the world economy.

Cut or spend: what the IMF really thinks

 

 

 

George Osborne threatens banks with new taxes

 

The Chancellor, speaking at IMF, has threatened the banks with a new tax on bonuses in his clearest warning to the industry to date.

Johnson the wrong choice for shadow chancellor

 

 

 

City in uproar over new bonus rules for European banks

 

The City of London faces one of the biggest threats to its competitiveness after the publication of new pay rules for European banks.

European bonus rules threaten City

 

 

 

EDF suffers nuclear setback in America

 

 

 

 

Mr Men-owner eyes Thomas the Tank Engine

 

 

 

 

Dow above 11,000 as US job losses fuel stimulus hopes

 

 

 

 

Kraft chief fails to rule out further Cadbury cuts

 

 

 

 

Appeal Court ruling a blow to asbestos victims

 

 

 

 

Thomas Cook and Co-op merger to create UK travel giant

 

 

• Squeeze more from new 'Rachmanesque landlords'
  

 

• More ways to beat Child Benefit cut and avoid tax and NICs
  

 

 

• Thomas Cooks's bikini thin spin can't conceal a cost-cutting deal
  

 

 

Cut or spend: what the IMF really thinks

 

 

 

US job losses spur expectations of Fed stimulus

 

 

 

 

UK producer price inflation higher than expected

 

 

 

 

Scottish social housing needs investment as safe as 'gilts'

 

 

 

 

UK companies in denial over spending cuts

[interestrateripoff]

After Foreclosure, a Focus on Title Insurance

 

By RON LIEBER

 

Title insurance might feel like a tax during the home-buying process, but the questions now surrounding foreclosures have made its importance crystal-clear.

 

• Share Your Story
  

Gregg Matthews for The New York Times

 

John Kovalick’s title insurance covers only his home’s sale price.

 

 

 

Whistle. Then Worry and Wait.

 

By EDWARD WYATT 26 minutes ago

 

Ty Schlobohm was certain he had stumbled onto a Ponzi scheme. But to help the F.B.I. gather evidence, he had to watch as more investors were swindled out of their savings.

 

Smarter Than You Think

 

Google Cars Drive Themselves, in Traffic

 

By JOHN MARKOFF 22 minutes ago

 

Google has been working on vehicles that can drive themselves, using artificial-intelligence software that can sense anything near the car and mimic the decisions made by a human driver.

 

• Smooth Ride at 60 Miles Per Hour | Previous Articles in the Series »
  
• Post a Comment
  

 

A Shoemaker That Walks but Never Runs

 

By LIZ ALDERMAN

 

Tod’s, the luxury Italian shoemaker, has become a multibillion-dollar multinational, but its operations still ooze with Old World tradition.

 

• Slide Show
  

 

Fee Dispute Hinders Plan for Reactor

 

By MATTHEW L. WALD 2 minutes ago

 

The Calvert Cliffs project, outside Washington, was once hailed as a cornerstone of the “nuclear renaissance.”

 

Largest U.S. Bank Halts Foreclosures in All States

 

By DAVID STREITFELD and NELSON D. SCHWARTZ

 

The action by Bank of America is likely to increase pressure on lenders to declare their own moratoriums.

 

Flying Fewer Planes, Airlines Find Stability

 

By JAD MOUAWAD

 

The scaling back in flights reflects a more timid — and perhaps chastened — industry than in previous decades.

 

 

 

• Raisins Give Hope to Afghan Farmers
  
• Public Jobs Drop Amid Slowdown in Private Hiring
  
• Apple Plans to Offer iPhone on Verizon
  
• Regulators Seek Curbs for Bank Bonuses in Europe
  
• DealBook: Ackman Buys Big Stakes in Penney and Fortune
  
• Abbott Labs Withdraws Meridia From the Market
  
• Big Union Wins Vote Against a Rival in California
  
• Fired CNN Anchor Rick Sanchez Calls His Remarks ‘Careless’
  
• China Central Bank’s Chief Backs Gradual Rise in Currency
  
• Ex-Head of Park Avenue Bank Pleads Guilty to Fraud
  
• Chinese Leader Denies Using Mineral Exports for Political Ends
  

[interestrateripoff]

Cramer Is An Idiot

 

I just heard him say on CNBS that "if we stop foreclosures we'll run out of houses and house prices will go up."

What he left out is that servicers are required to forward monthly payments to MBS holders even though they're not getting payments on the mortgages. Those servicers are all the major banks.

If you halt foreclosures you also halt their ability to get some of the value back out of the transactions, which means they're paying money out and getting no money in.

This is "good for stocks" (or anything else)?

Like hell it is, and deferring the inevitable (resale of the house) doesn't do anything other than create a bigger distortion and thus a bigger problem!

Does anyone remember that this is the same Cramer that said we would have a housing SHORTAGE first for the middle of 2008, then in 2009, and now in 2011?

Has there been any drawdown at all in inventories or have they continued to ramp?

More to the point, has he ever taken responsibility for that ridiculously outrageous bad call or explained why it was bad and what's changed? No - he just keeps repeating it with a different date!

There's a solution to this crap but all the things being done now are BAD for the markets, not good.

The solution is found here.

Tout TV does not inform and report, it spews crap in the hope of sucking you in.

How many times do you have to lose your ass listening to this clown before CNBS throws him over the side to the "Mad" people that damn well ought to be lining up outside his studio every night?

[WebFerret]

http://thegwpf.org/ipcc-news/1670-hal-lewis-my-resignation-from-the-american-physical-society.html

 

IPCC (News Friday, 08 October 2010):

Hal Lewis: My Resignation From The American Physical Society

 

Harold Lewis is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Here is his letter of resignation to Curtis G. Callan Jr, Princeton University, President of the American Physical Society.

 

Anthony Watts describes it thus:

This is an important moment in science history.

I would describe it as a letter on the scale of Martin Luther,

nailing his 95 theses to the Wittenburg church door

. It is worthy of repeating this letter in entirety on every blog that discusses science.

It’s so utterly damning that I’m going to run it in full without further comment.

 

From: Hal Lewis, University of California, Santa Barbara

To: Curtis G. Callan, Jr., Princeton University, President of the American Physical Society

6 October 2010

 

Dear Curt:

 

When I first joined the American Physical Society sixty-seven years ago it was much smaller, much gentler, and as yet uncorrupted by the money flood (a threat against which Dwight Eisenhower warned a half-century ago). Indeed, the choice of physics as a profession was then a guarantor of a life of poverty and abstinence---it was World War II that changed all that. The prospect of worldly gain drove few physicists. As recently as thirty-five years ago, when I chaired the first APS study of a contentious social/scientific issue, The Reactor Safety Study, though there were zealots aplenty on the outside there was no hint of inordinate pressure on us as physicists. We were therefore able to produce what I believe was and is an honest appraisal of the situation at that time. We were further enabled by the presence of an oversight committee consisting of Pief Panofsky, Vicki Weisskopf, and Hans Bethe, all towering physicists beyond reproach. I was proud of what we did in a charged atmosphere. In the end the oversight committee, in its report to the APS President, noted the complete independence in which we did the job, and predicted that the report would be attacked from both sides. What greater tribute could there be?

 

How different it is now. The giants no longer walk the earth, and the money flood has become the raison d'être of much physics research, the vital sustenance of much more, and it provides the support for untold numbers of professional jobs. For reasons that will soon become clear my former pride at being an APS Fellow all these years has been turned into shame, and I am forced, with no pleasure at all, to offer you my resignation from the Society.

 

It is of course, the global warming [problem], with the (literally) trillions of dollars driving it, that has corrupted so many scientists, and has carried APS before it like a rogue wave. It is the greatest and most successful pseudoscientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a physicist. Anyone who has the faintest doubt that this is so should force himself to read the ClimateGate documents, which lay it bare. (Montford's book organizes the facts very well.) I don't believe that any real physicist, nay scientist, can read that stuff without revulsion. I would almost make that revulsion a definition of the word scientist.

 

So what has the APS, as an organization, done in the face of this challenge? It has accepted the corruption as the norm, and gone along with it. For example:

 

1. About a year ago a few of us sent an e-mail on the subject to a fraction of the membership. APS ignored the issues, but the then President immediately launched a hostile investigation of where we got the e-mail addresses. In its better days, APS used to encourage discussion of important issues, and indeed the Constitution cites that as its principal purpose. No more. Everything that has been done in the last year has been designed to silence debate

 

2. The appallingly tendentious APS statement on Climate Change was apparently written in a hurry by a few people over lunch, and is certainly not representative of the talents of APS members as I have long known them. So a few of us petitioned the Council to reconsider it. One of the outstanding marks of (in)distinction in the Statement was the poison word incontrovertible, which describes few items in physics, certainly not this one. In response APS appointed a secret committee that never met, never troubled to speak to any skeptics, yet endorsed the Statement in its entirety. (They did admit that the tone was a bit strong, but amazingly kept the poison word incontrovertible to describe the evidence, a position supported by no one.) In the end, the Council kept the original statement, word for word, but approved a far longer "explanatory" screed, admitting that there were uncertainties, but brushing them aside to give blanket approval to the original. The original Statement, which still stands as the APS position, also contains what I consider pompous and asinine advice to all world governments, as if the APS were master of the universe. It is not, and I am embarrassed that our leaders seem to think it is. This is not fun and games, these are serious matters involving vast fractions of our national substance, and the reputation of the Society as a scientific society is at stake.

 

3. In the interim the ClimateGate scandal broke into the news, and the machinations of the principal alarmists were revealed to the world. It was a fraud on a scale I have never seen, and I lack the words to describe its enormity. Effect on the APS position: none. None at all. This is not science; other forces are at work.

 

4. So a few of us tried to bring science into the act (that is, after all, the alleged and historic purpose of APS), and collected the necessary 200+ signatures to bring to the Council a proposal for a Topical Group on Climate Science, thinking that open discussion of the scientific issues, in the best tradition of physics, would be beneficial to all, and also a contribution to the nation. I might note that it was not easy to collect the signatures, since you denied us the use of the APS membership list. We conformed in every way with the requirements of the APS Constitution, and described in great detail what we had in mind---simply to bring the subject into the open.

 

5. To our amazement, Constitution be damned, you declined to accept our petition, but instead used your own control of the mailing list to run a poll on the members' interest in a TG on Climate and the Environment. You did ask the members if they would sign a petition to form a TG on your yet-to-be-defined subject, but provided no petition, and got lots of affirmative responses. (If you had asked about sex you would have gotten more expressions of interest.) There was of course no such petition or proposal, and you have now dropped the Environment part, so the whole matter is moot. (Any lawyer will tell you that you cannot collect signatures on a vague petition, and then fill in whatever you like.) The entire purpose of this exercise was to avoid your constitutional responsibility to take our petition to the Council.

 

6. As of now you have formed still another secret and stacked committee to organize your own TG, simply ignoring our lawful petition.

 

APS management has gamed the problem from the beginning, to suppress serious conversation about the merits of the climate change claims. Do you wonder that I have lost confidence in the organization?

 

I do feel the need to add one note, and this is conjecture, since it is always risky to discuss other people's motives. This scheming at APS HQ is so bizarre that there cannot be a simple explanation for it. Some have held that the physicists of today are not as smart as they used to be, but I don't think that is an issue. I think it is the money, exactly what Eisenhower warned about a half-century ago. There are indeed trillions of dollars involved, to say nothing of the fame and glory (and frequent trips to exotic islands) that go with being a member of the club. Your own Physics Department (of which you are chairman) would lose millions a year if the global warming bubble burst. When Penn State absolved Mike Mann of wrongdoing, and the University of East Anglia did the same for Phil Jones, they cannot have been unaware of the financial penalty for doing otherwise. As the old saying goes, you don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing. Since I am no philosopher, I'm not going to explore at just which point enlightened self-interest crosses the line into corruption, but a careful reading of the ClimateGate releases makes it clear that this is not an academic question.

 

I want no part of it, so please accept my resignation. APS no longer represents me, but I hope we are still friends.

 

Hal

 

Harold Lewis is Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, former Chairman; Former member Defense Science Board, chmn of Technology panel; Chairman DSB study on Nuclear Winter; Former member Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Former member, President's Nuclear Safety Oversight Committee; Chairman APS study on Nuclear Reactor Safety Chairman Risk Assessment Review Group; Co-founder and former Chairman of JASON; Former member USAF Scientific Advisory Board; Served in US Navy in WW II; books: Technological Risk (about, surprise, technological risk) and Why Flip a Coin (about decision making)

This interesting I quit the APS resignation letter shows just how far the 'AGW crowd' will go to deny real scientific debate in propagating their multi trillion dollar [problem] of carbon trading!

[interestrateripoff]

Breaking news

 

• Kerviel lawyer says his losses help cut SocGen taxes - Reuters
  
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• Total's La Mede refinery partly shut due to strike - Reuters
  
• Wall St Week Ahead: Fed to run the show despite big earnings - Reuters
  
• OPEC meeting unlikely to change oil output-delegates - Reuters
  
• Ireland sees savings "well above" 2011 target - Reuters
  
• Iraq's proposed budget puts deficit at $18.6 bln - Reuters
  
• BOJ may forecast CPI drop for 2011/12 - Kyodo - Reuters
  

 

 

 

• World job crisis is threat to democracy, says IMF head
   
  International Monetary Fund meeting dominated by fears that US job crisis will add to currency tensions with China
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  [*] Banks' proposal for £500m small firm fund slammed as a 'drop in the ocean'

   

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  Watchdog's responsibilities to be shared between Citizens Advice and local trading standards offices

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  Union and BA boss Willie Walsh discuss proposals to end long-running dispute with airline's cabin crew

   

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  [*] Serious Fraud Office to crack down on firms offering bribes abroad

   

  Watchdog warns of zero-tolerance approach to even minor kickbacks under Bribery Act

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• BP plans to close its US safety watchdog
   
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[interestrateripoff]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/oct/10/imf-us-jobs-currency

 

The International Monetary Fund was seeking to defuse growing tensions over global currencies yesterday amid fears that the US will respond to its stubbornly high unemployment figures by slapping tariffs on Chinese goods.

 

With China refusing to bow to pressure from the US and Europe to revalue its currency, the annual meeting of the IMF was dominated by concerns that Washington is on the point of losing patience with Beijing. Finance ministers and central bank governors gathered in a gloomy mood, expecting no quick fix to the problem – despite a warning from the IMF that failure to tackle the global jobs crisis could threaten democracy.

 

Latest figures for the American labour market, released on Friday, showed 95,000 jobs were shed in September, adding to the problems of the Obama administration ahead of next month's mid-term elections.

 

The poor outlook for jobs in the US has alarmed the Federal Reserve, which is expected to announce a fresh wave of quantitative easing next month, and added extra spice to the row between Washington and Beijing.

 

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF's managing director, warned that "we face the risk of a lost generation", adding: "When you lose your job, your health is likely to be worse. When you lose your job, the education of your children is likely to be worse. When you lose your job, social stability is likely to be worse – which threatens democracy and even peace. So we shouldn't fool ourselves. We are not out of the woods yet. And for the man in the street, a recovery without jobs doesn't mean much."

 

Tim Geithner, Obama's treasury secretary, said: "The United States believes that global rebalancing is not progressing as well as needed to avoid threats to the global economic recovery.

 

"Our initial achievements are at risk of being undermined by the limited extent of progress toward more domestic demand-led growth in countries running external surpluses and by the extent of foreign exchange intervention as countries with undervalued currencies lean against appreciation."

 

One eye on the French Presidency?

 

Are the elites starting to panic that if they don't deliver results the people may be a little bit miffed that the bankers got all the money and all they got was the bill?

 

Just think how bad it would be if it wasn't contained..

 

From some of the messages coming out from the IMF it would appear they are fearing the sticking plaster of 2008 is about to come off.

[interestrateripoff]

IMF warns countries to work together or face wars

 

Sean O'Grady: Strauss-Kahn tells ministers and bankers that their failure to co-operate threatens global stability.

 

 

• Leaked memo reveals how Asda sought to beat down suppliers
  
• Help jobless homes, help the economy
  
• Banks to fight EU bonus rules
  
• Betfair considers offshore move
  
• Leahy on investors
  
• Art in Residence: Redeveloped park terrace hosts exhibit
  
• Business News in Brief: 10/10/2010
  

 

Hamish McRae: Will there be a currency war? Maybe not, but countries are being selfish

 

Economic View

 

 

• Margareta Pagano: There's an art to funding science after the cuts
  
• Stephen Foley: Chaos in foreclosure process will buy time for economic recovery
  
• Stephen Foley: Tarp turned out to be Robin Hood after all
  
• Stephen Foley: When the going gets tough, things get rough
  
• Hamish McRae: Will messy skirmishes in currency manipulation lead to all-out war?
  

 

Boardroom blitz: What happens when private equity gets it wrong?

 

As Guy Hands prepares to do battle with Citigroup over his ill-fated purchase of EMI, Stephen Foley argues that for the deals inked before the credit bubble burst, things are about to get very ugly

 

• How Outsourcery whisked a mill-town boy to cloud nine
  
• Bankers to flee after Europe pay squeeze?
  
• The business on...Larry Hagman, Actor, aka JR Ewing
  
• Peter Hambro: Banker, trader, magnate: a man with the Midas touch
  
• The little tweets that could mean big money
  

[interestrateripoff]

IMF told to toughen scrutiny of rich powers

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Emerging powers won a battle on Saturday for heightened IMF scrutiny of rich countries' economic policies as world financial leaders sought to defuse mounting tensions over currencies.

Continue Reading

 

 

 

Bankers hit the Go-Slow alarm on regulatory crackdown

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A global crackdown on bank oversight could undermine a fragile economic recovery if governments move too fast and fail to cooperate, international bankers warned at a conference on Sunday.

7:18pm BST

 

Yuan appreciation must be gradual - China's Zhou

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China's central bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, said on Sunday that China realizes it must raise the value of its currency but the strength of the yuan depends on economic fundamentals.

7:32pm BST

 

Ireland sees savings "well above" 2011 target

 

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland will seek savings well above an initial target of 3 billion euros (2.6 billion pounds) in the 2011 budget, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said on Sunday.

2:49pm BST

 

China currency must rise to fix imbalances - Soros

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Billionaire investor George Soros considers the global currency system "lop-sided" and "controlled" by China, and urged the Asian giant to allow its currency to appreciate.

09 Oct 2010

 

G7 agreed excessive FX moves undesirable - Japan

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Friday that finance leaders from the Group of Seven nations agreed at a meeting that excessive and disorderly foreign exchange movements are undesirable.

09 Oct 2010

 

Osborne says would allow Bank to do more easing

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The government will sanction more money being pumped into the economy if the Bank of England judges that more monetary stimulus is needed, Chancellor George Osborne said on Friday.

UK 09 Oct 2010

 

EU watchdogs show teeth over bank bonuses

 

LONDON (Reuters) - European Union bank watchdogs fleshed out on Friday what amount to the world's toughest and most far-reaching curbs on bonuses, prompting a warning that financial firms are now more likely to set up shop elsewhere.

World, 08 Oct 2010

 

Thomas Cook and Co-Op combine travel agents

 

LONDON (Reuters) - The Thomas Cook is merging its high street travel and foreign exchange business with the Co-operative Group's operation in a cost-cutting drive ahead of an expected period of weaker consumer spending.

UK 08 Oct 2010

 

Abu Dhabi bags big Barclays profit as Q3 fears grow

 

LONDON (Reuters) - The main Middle East investor who pumped billions of pounds into Barclays two years ago has locked in a profit of about 3 billion pounds on the investment after a complex deal that sent the bank's shares lower.

[interestrateripoff]

10 October 2010 Last updated at 17:07

 

Consumer body risk in quango cull

 

Consumer Focus, the body set up by the last government to represent consumers and challenge companies, will be scrapped, the BBC has learned.

 

Banks take on watchdog over PPI

 

Banks fear new City watchdog rules on payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints could become widespread, their representative body has said.

 

• Millions set for PPI compensation
  

 

 

Irish unemployment 'has peaked'

 

Irish employers group IBEC says that joblessness in the Republic has peaked at its current 13.7% level.

 

 

 

• US ups China pressure over yuan
   
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  Liverpool chief executive Christian Purslow is confident the proposed takeover of the club by New England Sports Ventures will go ahead. Sport
  
• Miliband pledge on personal taxes
   
  Ed Miliband pledges that Labour will not raise personal taxation as he reaffirms its pre-election policy of cutting the deficit in half in four years.
  
• Cable ditches graduate tax option
  
• US sees 95,000 jobs go last month
  
• Currency victims 'may lose out'
  
• Banks want review of PPI rules
  
• Man Utd reports £80m annual loss
  
• Alan Johnson is shadow chancellor
  
• Bank bonus cap moves step closer
  
• Seized US homes in resale freeze
  
• French vote on retirement at 62
  
• Sanofi to cut 1,700 US employees
  
• Travel groups to merge networks
  

 

Benefit saga

 

What are the lessons from the row over child benefit?

Billionaire cuts

 

Why did the government ask Sir Philip Green about cost cutting?

[interestrateripoff]

[/url]

 

IMF fails to strike deal over currency frictions

 

The International Monetary Fund on Saturday night failed to reach agreement on tackling mounting global "frictions" over exchange rate policies.

Every nation for itself doesn't bode well

 

 

George Soros warns China of global 'currency war'

 

 

 

British bankers lobby global regulators in Washington

 

Secret meetings held on banking pay to avoid Britain being put at a disadvantage on the world stage.

 

Eisner finds partnership magic from Buffett to Gates

 

He transformed the Magic Kingdom as Walt Disney chief executive for 21 years, now he has turned his attention to why great partnerships succeed.

 

UK plc waits for the axe to fall

 

 

 

 

Potash plans break-up to foil Billiton bid

 

 

 

 

'Wrong maths’ not hubris behind Irish, UK banking crisis

 

 

 

 

US banks: the bonus pots have shrunk

 

 

 

 

Malcolm Walker bids £1bn to regain Iceland

 

 

 

 

House of Fraser asks Lloyds to raise stake

 

 

• Currency wars are necessary if all else fails
  

 

• Is the Government starting to wobble on the speed of fiscal tightening?
  

 

 

• The gloves are off, QE's seen as an aggressive depreciation tool
  

Science cuts to cost UK billions

 

 

 

 

The gloves are off, QE is now seen as an aggressive depreciation tool

 

 

 

 

Dow above 11,000 as US job losses fuel stimulus hopes

 

 

 

 

Cut or spend: what the IMF really thinks

 

 

 

 

US job losses spur expectations of Fed stimulus