The great interest rate rip off part 1

[interestrateripoff]

FSA blames big housing "punt" for credit crunch - Yahoo! Finance

 

Structured products (MWL - news) took one big bet on the property market to generate the bulk of investment bank trading losses in the credit crunch, Britain's financial watchdog said on Monday. The sector must introduce better risk management, product controls, set aside more capital and increase transparency to revive the market, the Financial Services Authority added.

The FSA was outlining findings from its sample study which showed that over 70 percent of investment bank trading book and bank book losses in Britain between 2007 and March 2009 came from soured structured credit products such as asset backed securities.

"The whole market took a punt on housing," Colin Lawrence, director of the FSA's prudential risk management unit told an industry conference.

The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression can arguably be pinned on the sector and taxpayers must be protected in future, Lawrence said.

 

Tomorrow the FSA will announce that the Pope is indeed Catholic and bears do it in the woods.

 

More shock revelations to follow.

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Pru shares hit by $35bn Asia deal

Prudential shares tumble after the insurer unveils $35.5bn (£23bn) deal to buy one of Asia's biggest insurance firms.

Peston: Prudent Prudential?

AIG makes $9bn quarterly loss

Pru hails AIA 'opportunity'

UK pound drops on election fears

 

The pound tumbles to a 10-month low as fears grow the UK will have a hung parliament in the upcoming election.

 

UK banks see surge in bad debts

 

The level of bad debts written off because defaulting borrowers will never repay them shot up in 2009 to a new record, figures show

 

 

OTHER TOP BUSINESS STORIES

Orange and T-Mobile deal approved

 

EU to limit mobile internet bills

 

Debt revaluation hits HSBC profit

 

Mortgage approvals drop sharply

 

Fraudsters 'are targeting women'

 

Greece 'must do more on deficit'

 

MORE FROM BUSINESS

Private sector pensions decline

 

Pensions tax changes criticised

 

UK economic situation 'improving'

 

Canada's growth picks up

 

Chile quake sends copper higher

 

Online 'beats newspapers' in US

 

Zimbabwe moves on foreign firms

 

Microsoft offers browser choices

 

Falklands oil firm ready for cost

 

Buyer interest in Reader's Digest

 

Gatorade drops Tiger Woods

 

Credit claims firm investigated

 

Pension fund worry for UK firms

 

Is the Pru being Prudent?

 

One-way bet?

 

A (weak and fragile) recovery II

 

A (weak and fragile) recovery

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Greece Told That More Cuts Must Be Made

 

By NIKI KITSANTONIS 12:47 PM ET

 

Prime Minister George Papandreou called on Greeks to “rally together” to stop the country from “going under.”

 

 

Wall Street Pushes Higher on A.I.G. and Greece

 

By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ 42 minutes ago

 

Stocks climbed amid reports that personal spending rose more than expected in January and that Germany and France are preparing to support a bailout package for Greece.

 

British Company to Buy A.I.G.’s Asian Unit

 

By CHRIS V. NICHOLSON and ANDREW ROSS SORKIN 8:30 AM ET

 

The $35 billion sale would allow A.I.G. to make the biggest repayment yet toward the $180 billion bailout.

 

Personal Spending Tops Forecast; Income Lags

 

By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ 11:48 AM ET

 

The 0.1 percent gain in personal income was the weakest in four months and raised concerns about whether consumer spending would be strong enough to support a recovery.

 

 

HSBC Disappoints on Profit and Warns on Bad Loans

 

By JULIA WERDIGIER and BETTINA WASSENER 25 minutes ago

 

The bank’s profit for 2009 rose 1.9 percent to $5.8 billion, but the number was lower than analysts’ expectations. The bank also said it set more money aside for bad loans.

 

• Dealbook: HSBC Bankers Believe They Are Underpaid
  

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Balance Sheet Fraud: Its Not Just For Enron - The Market Ticker

 

Oh no. ENRON was small potatoes. Now we have evidence that this sort of game was played by nations, including Italy. When one cannot trust a balance sheet, one does not lend. We'll explore this and the implications for the Euro, the Pound, and the markets.

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Balance Sheet Fraud Is Not Just For Enron (Or Banks) - The Market Ticker

 

Oh, look at what the Zerohedge cat dragged in this time!

Yet a 2001 report prepared by Gustavo Piga, in collaboration with the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Securities Market Association, not only fits that particular smoking gun description, but the report itself was damning enough of another country, a country which used precisely the same off-market swap arrangement to end up with an interest expense of LIBOR

minus

16.77% (in essence the counteparty

was paying Italy 16.77%

of notional each year as a function of the swap mechanics), in that long ago year of 1995. The country - Italy (for confidentiality reasons referred to in the report as

Country M

), was at the time panned as the

Enron of the European Union

due to precisely this kind of off-balance sheet arrangement by the Counsel of Foreign Relations. The counterparty bank: unknown (at least in theory, since the swap was highly confidential, and was referred to as

Counterpart N

), but considering the critical similarities in the structuring of the swap contract to that used by Greece in 2001, and that ISMA cancelled Piga's press conference discussing his findings

out of fear for the academic's life

, we can easily venture some guesses as to which banks value their recurring counterparty arrangements more than human life.

Uh, Libor minus 16.77%?

A hedge huh?

This was identical to you walking into your bank and taking a cash advance on your VISA card - at a rather high interest rate - and concealing it for the explicit purpose of being able to show a wad of cash at the end of the year on your books.

That is no hedge, it is a loan. It was done to cook the book and, in my opinion, falsely present the "health" of the nation - in this case Italy - involved. It was done over the counter with no paper trail or exchange trading for the explicit purpose of secrecy, so that nobody would discern that the government in question had borrowed the money.

The problem should be obvious here. If I cannot trust the balance sheet of a sovereign government because I have discovered one "tricky deal" such as this, I have no means to know how many more "tricky deals" there are, what the liabilities might be, what the credit exposure is, and whether I will ever get paid back if I loan that government money.

The allegation is made that Goldman was on the other side of this deal. That, if true, raises a further question: how many more of these hinky lending deals is Goldman involved in? (Note that FT seems to think it was JP Morgan. Not that the identity matters, by the way - the point is that the institution involved knowingly made a loan in a form that was intentionally designed to mislead those not involved in the transaction.)

The entire report by Zerohedge is well worth reading, although it's fairly thick. The essence of it, however, is that these deals were loans and were written "off balance sheet" using hinky derivative transactions for the explicit purpose of misleading investors about the strength of the nation involved - and that, unfortunately, directly implicates the Euro as a currency.

Buckle up folks.

 

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Step Aside Greece: How Gustavo Piga Exposed Europe's Enron In 2001 - Focusing On Italy's Libor MINUS 16.77% Swap; Was "Counterpart N" A Threat To Piga's Life? | zero hedge

 

It is not often that one finds smoking gun reports which refute all claims, such as those by EuroStat and Angela Merkel, in which the offended parties plead ignorance of the fiscal inferno raging around them, kindled by lies, deceit, and blatant mutually-endorsed fraud, and instead, now facing themselves in the spotlight of public fury, put the blame solely on related party participants, such as, in a recent case, Greece and Goldman Sachs. Yet a 2001 report prepared by Gustavo Piga, in collaboration with the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Securities Market Association, not only fits that particular smoking gun description, but the report itself was damning enough of another country, a country which used precisely the same off-market swap arrangement to end up with an interest expense of LIBOR minus 16.77% (in essence the counteparty was paying Italy 16.77% of notional each year as a function of the swap mechanics), in that long ago year of 1995. The country - Italy (for confidentiality reasons referred to in the report as Country M), was at the time panned as the Enron of the European Union due to precisely this kind of off-balance sheet arrangement by the Counsel of Foreign Relations. The counterparty bank: unknown (at least in theory, since the swap was highly confidential, and was referred to as Counterpart N), but considering the critical similarities in the structuring of the swap contract to that used by Greece in 2001, and that ISMA cancelled Piga's press conference discussing his findings out of fear for the academic's life, we can easily venture some guesses as to which banks value their recurring counterparty arrangements more than human life.

 

And only an idiot (here's looking at you, EuroStat) would miss this striking revelation in the ISMA report made almost 10 years ago, envisioning not only Italy but Greece, which joined the euro on January 1, 2001: "Piga has unearthed some rather striking documentary evidence: an actual swap contract, indicating that one EMU entrant (who, owing to an agreement with the source of the documentation, will remain anonymous) used swaps to mislead other EU governments and institutions as to the size of its budget deficit, so as to falsely suggest compliance with the Maastricht Treaty." Once all is said and done, and both the euro and the eurozone are forgotten history, it will be amusing to observe just how prevalent lies and deceit were in the Eurozone, where apparently it was a daily and thoroughly accepted occurrence to lie, both to others and to oneself, about the real state of financial affairs. Oh, and the "US-zone" which is doing precisely the same complete cover up of its true economic state, is certainly not too far behind.

 

Disclosures made in this report forced the Council on Foreign Relations to make an explicit comparison between Italy and the greatest corporate fraud of the early 2000's: Enron.

 

The parallel with the Enron transactions is uncanny. Like Enron, Italy took on debt but chose to represent it as a hedge for a yen bond it had issued in May 1995, which matured in September 1998. As with Enron, the hedge explanation was clearly misleading. If it had been a hedge, the exchange rate used would simply have been the market rate at the time the swap transaction was entered into. Off-market rate swaps were clearly selected for the purpose of producing interest revenue in 1997, with euro entry as the goal.

 

The Treasury does not deny this. It justifies it, however, using an explanation that is in part irrelevant and that in part implicates it clearly.

 

The irrelevant part of the explanation is that the Treasury was concerned that a yen appreciation could increase Italy's debt, thus jeopardising the country's hopes of entering the eurozone. So the swaps were structured to protect against its debt rising over the course of 1997. But Italy's debt was 110 per cent of gross domestic product in 1997, well beyond the 60 per cent Maastricht barrier. The European Union never intended to enforce the debt limitation, only the annual deficit limitation. Italy's deficit was forecast to be within striking distance of the 3 per cent barrier and the swaps legally affected only the deficit. The debt argument is a red herring.

 

The damning part of the explanation is the admission that Italy was taking a cash advance in 1997 against an expected foreign exchange profit in 1998. Under accounting rules, this is simply impermissible. Borrowers cannot use loans to anticipate capital gains on a bond.

In other words, cooking the public debt books in the EU started not with Greece and Goldman in 2001, but with Italy and Counteparty N in 1995; we are fully confident that many more examples will emerge shortly.

 

How widespread is this sort of financial chicanery among sovereign borrowers? It is very difficult to know, since these deals are done over the counter with no public paper trail. Gustavo Piga, author of the ISMA/ CFR report, uncovered the Italian transaction quite accidentally. But there are powerful reasons for concern.

 

First, governments have clear incentives to cook the books. The EU continues to impose fiscal expenditure restrictions on eurozone governments, violation of which can result in censure and fines. The International Monetary Fund imposes fiscal conditionality on its client governments, which naturally have a strong incentive to keep the Fund from closing the money spigot. Derivatives can be used to shuffle cash flows through time in ways that current accounting rules do not prevent.

 

Second, banks are only too willing to market derivatives tricks to their big client governments, particularly when it puts them at the front of the queue for future bond issues and privatisations.

 

Third, if the integrity of government financial data is fatally undermined, the damage to stock and bond markets will dwarf the "Enron effect" that has recently pummelled the Dow.

 

We urge everyone to reread the last sentence as many times as needed, until the truth sinks in.

 

There's more at the link.

 

This reads as very bad.

 

"a country which used precisely the same off-market swap arrangement to end up with an interest expense of LIBOR minus 16.77% (in essence the counteparty was paying Italy 16.77% of notional each year as a function of the swap mechanics"

 

This appears to make no sense unless it's fraud.

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Speculative Premium - And Why The Markets Will CRASH - The Market Ticker

 

 

Yes, I said CRASH, and I meant it.

 

Why?

 

"Events" like this:

 

SINGAPORE/CAIRO, March 1 (Reuters) - Copper is likely to

climb when trading starts on Monday, lifted by uncertainty over

supply after the world's top copper producer Chile was pounded

by a massive earthquake, analysts said over the weekend.

 

The front-month contract opened up more than 8%.

 

This, despite the fact that the earthquake was hundreds of miles away from the mines in Chile and there was zero damage to them. Some were offline for a few hours due to power failures, but none suffered any physical or structural damage, nor did their export points and the transportation network between the two.

 

So why did price spike more than 8% even though all this was known by the market before it re-opened for trading?

 

No part of the markets are trading on fundamental values, nor on forward business expectations. They are instead trading as "hot money" repositories where speculators rotate in and out of various instruments literally on a minute-by-minute basis.

 

This is how crashes happen.

 

When there is no fundamental value underlying a market there is no floor on price. Price then becomes one thing and one thing only - the number at which you can find another sucker to take your position from you.

 

This is how tulip bulbs went nuts in Holland, it is how houses went nuts in California in 2005, it is how tech stocks went nuts in 1999 and it is how oil went nuts in 2008.

 

But now literally everything has gone this way.

 

Take European national debt. We now know that Italy, for example, was cooking their books as early as 1995. This means that bond buyers overpaid for their bonds and took less coupon than they should have. This should have resulted in an immediate destruction in the value of those bonds when discovered, but it did not.

 

Why?

 

Because there was still a bigger fool.

 

Tech stocks were the same thing in 1999. These "companies" claimed the global GDP some 100 times over between the IPO-issuers in 1998 and 1999. This, of course, is impossible. Yet people kept buying even though mathematically 99% of them had to lose all their money. Ultimately, they did exactly that.

 

Oil went to $150 in 2008 even though demand was cratering. It then collapsed to under $40. It is now double that, even though we have a record supply on hand, to the point that tankers are sitting around full of crude with nowhere to unload it to, and nobody to buy at the price paid. Yet the price continues to go higher.

 

These conditions, historically, always produce crashes. Each and every time. Go ahead and look back through history with a dispassionate eye. Find me a market that displayed a complete disconnect with fundamentals such as this and did not crash.

 

You can't.

 

The issue for investors, of course, is that it is almost impossible to determine who will finally stand up and blow a whistle that others listen to. These manias go on longer than anyone would think possible. Always. I was stunned in 1999 as the Nasdaq doubled. Likewise in 2009 I was stunned as prices went straight up on companies that based on any dispassionate analysis are worth zero - for example, every large bank with undisclosed off-balance-sheet exposures (that would be most of them.)

 

The overnight move in Copper is yet another confirmation point. Big banks leasing oil tankers to fill up and moor somewhere "waiting for price to go up" was the first indication that this mentality had taken hold last year. Stocks were the next, of course, and now we have it in copper.

 

That the "animal idiocy" came just months after the 2008 crash tells me that we've learned exactly nothing. That the idiots in places like CNBS, including most especially people like Kudlow and LIESman, who have seen enough dances to both know and be able to identify this pattern, refuse to discuss what's going on borders on criminal journalistic misconduct.

 

If we had indications in the real economy - that is, other than government borrow-and-spend - that we were turning the corner, I'd be a bit more sanguine. Unfortunately no such indication has appeared, despite literally six months of claims from the media that it's "just around the corner."

 

No it's not folks. What's around the corner is another collapse, worse than the 2008 one, because the bad debt has been stinking up the joint even more as it decays into a putrid mess.

 

A dead fish doesn't get more palatable the longer you leave it out on the kitchen counter. We've learned nothing collectively or in the government regulatory apparatus from the last three years - indeed, government has become drunk on the premise that it can borrow and spend over $1.5 trillion annually to present a false veneer of prosperity and economic improvement.

 

But borrowing money doesn't make your economy more prosperous. It indeed makes it less so, because you not only have to pay that money back some day, but for the duration of the time you have it outstanding you must also pay interest.

 

When I see a nation rocked by a massive earthquake and one of its major exports spikes upward by 8% in price when it is known to the market that disruption to that nation's production of that commodity from the event was zero, that's the bell being rung to tell you to be damn careful if you think "happy days are here again" - right here, right now.

 

Who cares about fundamentals when you can make a quick profit?

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BBC News - Australia raises interest rates to 4%

 

Australia's central bank has raised interest rates, for the fourth time since October, as it seeks to cool its growing economy.

 

The increase, to 4% from 3.75%, was widely expected by economists.

 

Australia was the only major economy to avoid recession, and the first to raise rates from 50-year lows as the economic crisis eased.

 

It avoided the worst of the slump due to government spending and massive Chinese demand for its commodities.

 

The government had introduced a number of multi-billion dollar stimulus packages, including increased infrastructure spending and cash handouts to most Australians since the end of 2008 to lift consumer spending.

 

Following the latest rate rise, the Reserve Bank of Australia said: "With growth likely to be close to trend and inflation close to target over the coming year, it is appropriate for interest rates to be closer to average."

 

Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said further rate increases must be expected.

 

"Rates can't stay at emergency levels forever," Mr Swan said. "Rate rises are an inevitable consequence of a recovering economy that is outperforming the rest of the world."

 

Australia's economy only contracted in the final three months of 2008.

 

The dollar carry trade to gather further strength?

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Japan Jobless Rate Falls Below 5 Percent - NYTimes.com

 

Japan’s jobless rate fell below 5 percent in January for the first time in nearly a year and job availability rose, in a sign steady improvements in exports and output are spreading to other sectors of the economy.

 

But analysts expect the recovery in job conditions to remain slow in the coming months as companies are still far from operating at full capacity in the face of feeble domestic demand.

 

“Exports and industrial production have been improving so unemployment has fallen as a result of that, and I expect this to continue for the first half of this year,” said Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief Japan economist at Credit Suisse.

 

“But I don’t expect the trend to continue past mid-year. I can’t see domestic demand improving markedly, so I don’t see substantial falls in unemployment either.”

 

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent from a revised 5.2 percent in December, data showed on Tuesday, much lower than a median forecast of 5.2 percent.

 

It is the first time since March last year that the jobless rate has fallen below 5 percent.

 

The jobs-to-applicants ratio improved to 0.46 in January from 0.43 in December, but that still meant fewer than five jobs were available for every 10 job seekers.

 

Household spending rose 1.7 percent in January from a year earlier mainly because of government stimulus measures like subsidies for purchases of energy-efficient cars and home appliances. But spending declined from December in a sign that the effect of stimulus may be petering out.

 

Japan’s jobless rate has gradually declined since it hit a record high of 5.6 percent in July last year, in part helped by the government’s measures to discourage firms from cutting jobs.

 

Is the jobless recovery under threat?

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Bank of England Plans to Sell 3-Year Bonds in Dollars (Update1) - BusinessWeek

 

The Bank of England said it plans to sell three-year bonds in dollars to finance its foreign-exchange reserves. The U.K. central bank hired Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas SA, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to manage the issue, which will be benchmark in size, it said in a statement. The bank paid 106.2 basis points more than Treasuries when it issued $2 billion of three-year notes in March last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“The notes will likely receive good investor appetite seeing that it’s a AAA rated name,” said Trevor Welsh, a portfolio manager at London-based Aviva Investors, which manages about 10.5 billion pounds ($14 billion) of fixed-income assets. “This bond sale is purely a technical move for the bank’s foreign currency reserves.”

 

An interesting move.

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Breaking news:

 

• Raw sugar recovers late, but bears lurk - Reuters
  
• Embrace reality, not fight speculation: James Saft - Reuters
  
• Bain buying Dow's Styron unit for $1.63 bln - Reuters
  
• General Growth creditors, Simon attack Ackman - Reuters
  
• US STOCKS-Wall St up as Greek meltdown fears wane, M&A boosts - Reuters
  
• BofA to merge credit card, deposit units - Reuters
  
• Weather to distort U.S. Feb non-farm payrolls data - Reuters
  
• Euro rebounds on Greek hopes; Canadian dollar gains - Reuters
  
• Domino's beats Street, new US pizza revs sales - Reuters
  
• Fiat unveils world's greenest fuel engine - Reuters
  

 

 

 

• HSBC's highest paid executive defends huge payouts
   
   
  Stuart Gulliver's £10m bonus makes him HSBC's highest-paid executive in same year bank's pretax profits slump by 24% 95 comments
   
  
• Credit default swaps could need tighter regulation, FSA chairman says
   
   
  Lord Turner tells Treasury select committee that financial products that allow traders to punt on the prospect of countries going bust need further analysis
   
  
  • Blog: FSA chief urges bank reform
    
  • Lord Turner wants banking shakeup
    

   

  [*] Bad weather and uncertainty hit construction sector recovery

   

   

  Construction companies find conditions tough for a second month, index of activity in sector shows

   

  [*] Sports Direct mulls cash bid for Blacks

   

   

  Shareholders in the ailing outdoor retailer have to choose between Ashley's cash and investing in recovery plan set out by chief executive Neil Gillis

   

  [*] GM recalls 1.3m cars in latest scare

   

   

  General Motors recalls 1.3m Chevrolet and Pontiac cars to repair a malfunctioning power-steering mechanism

   

 

 

• 
  A tale of two Ivys - disgraced tycoon Tim Power opens copy in Florida
   
   
  The former Belgo boss has joined forces with William Gerhauser, the son of a former head of Playboy casinos, to open The Ivy at the Grove. By Andrew Clark
   
  
• House price rises put UK in Europe top 5
   
   
  UK housing market outperformed much of Europe in 2009, while Baltic states saw prices plummet by 50%, according to latest Rics housing report 13 comments
   
  
• Goldman Sachs concedes it could be damaged by public outrage over pay
   
   
  Wall Street bank includes 'negative publicity' in a list of risks to its prosperity and says responding to criticism can be 'time consuming and expensive' Post your comment
   
  
  • Lucas van Praag: Goldman Sachs's cult PR man
    
  • In pictures: Who gave up their bonus and who didn't
    

   

 

 

• More business news
   
   
  
  • Prudential share price plummets after AIG deal
     
     
     
    
  • Investors buy £2bn worth of government bonds
     
     
     
    
  • Skilling claims trial was prejudiced
     
     
     
    

[interestrateripoff]

Ukraine coalition collapses, no-confidence vote due | World | Reuters

 

Ukraine's ruling coalition collapsed Tuesday as newly elected President Viktor Yanukovich moved to oust Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and consolidate power. Parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said leaders of parliamentary factions had met and the coalition partners had failed to submit enough signatures to demonstrate they maintained a majority.

Tymoshenko, the fiery co-architect of the pro-Western Orange Revolution of 2004, remains in office, but faces a vote of no confidence in her government Wednesday as Yanukovich goes through the steps of consolidating his grip on power.

She indicated that if the vote succeeds, she might step down, so that "all responsibilities will immediately be laid on Yanukovich."

His victory over Tymoshenko in a February 7 run-off presidential election is expected to tilt the country of 46 million people back towards Russia after years of infighting between the Orange revolutionaries.

Ukraine desperately needs political stability to tackle a debilitating economic crisis that saw GDP contract by 15 percent in 2009, and to restart talks with the International Monetary Fund on a $16.4 billion (10.95 billion pound) bailout package.

"In line with the constitution of Ukraine ... I announce that the coalition in parliament has ceased its activity," speaker Lytvyn told parliament.

 

More fun looming? Could this trigger a domino effect if they default?

[interestrateripoff]

Prudential in £13bn rights issue to fund AIA purchase

 

Insurer agrees to pay £24bn to buy AIG's operation in Asia

 

 

• GM becomes the latest forced into a recall as it ups support for Europe new
  
• Jobs lost as drugs giant axes research centre
  
• Union hits out as Lloyds bank axes more jobs
  

 

Agile, smaller enterprises are leading a revival in the industry

 

Excessive focus on big manufacturers is a distraction from the sector’s real innovators

 

• Stephen Timms: We're here for the times when a small business needs a lifeline
  
• Adventures in micro-business: 'Where can I get support to expand my business?'
  
• Virtual solution to a data dilemma
  
• Soapbox: ‘Look to collaborate with those who can do what you can’t’
  
• Roger Trapp: 'Even poets have been cited nio inspiring business founders & managers"
  
• Top of the fair trade fashion tree
  

 

Econoblog: Vauxhall on the comeback trail new

 

Good news, again for Vauxhall and Opel, GM’s European makes

 

 

• Econoblog: Hedge funds and private equity - Europe's flying locusts
  
• James Moore: Thiam takes Pru into the corporate champions league
  
• David Prosser: The Tory-Labour divide is a political, not economic, one
  
• David Prosser: Man at the Pru takes a huge leap of faith
  
• Stephen King: Staring at a new age of austerity
  

[interestrateripoff]

[/url]

 

Anti-arms campaigners halt SFO deal with BAE

 

High Court grants an injunction to halt the Serious Fraud Office's (SFO) plan to settle a bribery investigation into BAE Systems for just £30m.

 

FSA chief wants to dig out 'casino' profits

 

London's financial regulator plans to scrutinise the profits investment banks make from client trading to ensure that “casino” activities are not being hidden.

 

Greek singer offers her pension to help end crisis

 

Nana Mouskouri, Greece's best-known singer, has offered to donate her annual pension "until the country emerges from the economic crisis".

 

GM puts more money into Europe as US suffers recalls

 

 

 

 

Tiger helps Paddy Power put a tough year in perspective

 

 

 

 

'Robin hood' tax wins backing of Japanese foreign minister

 

 

 

 

Pound under pressure as opinion polls narrow

 

 

 

 

Admiral warns on cost of car insurance

 

 

 

 

Pru slides 8pc as FTSE 100 heads towards 5500

 

 

 

• The sterling crisis has become a hanging matter
  

 

• Six short words that could solve inheritance tax worries
  

 

 

• Is the boss of the world's biggest bank really earning just $1?
  

 

Clarke: UK faces 'financial crisis' if Labour wins

 

 

 

EU to investigate sovereign credit default swap market

 

 

 

 

UK's risky economy is the last place investors want to be – just ask Prudential

 

 

 

 

Election worries put new pressure on pound

 

 

 

 

Labour's rift over £1.5 billion tax windfall

[interestrateripoff]

BP unveils plan to boost profitability by $3bn

 

Chief executive Tony Hayward says Europe's largest oil company aims to raise output by 1% to 2% for next five years 1 Comment

 

• BP poised to shake up global refining operations
  

 

• TNK-BP faces prospect of losing big gasfield
  

 

BBC chief opens door to retreat on service cuts

 

Chairman of BBC Trust says cuts to programming, radio and online will be rethought if there is 'massive public concern' 84 Comments

 

• IN FULL: the BBC review, point-by-point
  

 

• Closure of 6 Music radio station provokes alarm
  

 

United fans pledge support to takeover plan

 

Manchester United supporters group has been in talks with cabal of businessmen hoping to buy out the Glazer family 17 Comments

 

• PROFILES: the Red Knights
  

 

• FANZONE: Knights in shining armour?
  

 

No end in sight to sterling slump

 

Pound remains below key rate of $1.50 with analysts warning of further falls as investors sell into rallies

 

• Political worries keep pound under pressure
  

 

• A recipe for the pounding of sterling
  

 

 

AstraZeneca to shed 1,000 UK jobs

 

Facilities in Cambridge and Leicestershire set to close as research into ten disease areas is brought to a halt

 

High Court halts BAE plea deal with SFO

 

Campaigners will seek a judicial review of 'lenient' settlement between the defence group and the Serious Fraud Office

 

Hosking stokes up luxury hotel purchase

 

Hedge fund multimillionaire who collects steam trains snaps up Gravetye Manor from the administrators

 

• First in line
  

 

• HBOS shores up Rocco Forte by extending loan
  

Increase in sales for Persimmon

 

Housebuilder reports an increase in sales in first two months of the year, along with pre-tax profits of £78m for 2009

 

• Housebuilders aren’t home and dry
  

 

• Persimmon's orders for new homes swells by 50%
  

Sports Direct considers cash bid for Blacks

 

The retailer, controlled by football tycoon Mike Ashley, is 'evaluating' an offer after blocking its rival's £20m cash call

 

 

Toyota-linked US death toll rises to 52

 

New figures suggest Toyota faults point to 52 deaths in the US as third hearing into safety problems begins in Senate

 

Apple sues rival HTC over smartphone patents

 

Steve Jobs claims company 'stole our patented inventions', notably in handsets running on the Android operating system

 

• HTC launches world's fastest smartphone
  

 

• Nokia dispute with Apple heats up
  

GM triples revamp funds for Vauxhall and Opel

 

US carmaker will pay €1.9bn to restructure its European arm following government demands for a higher contribution

Allied Irish Banks reports first annual loss

 

Ireland’s biggest bank sees challenging outlook after provisions for construction and property loans wipe out profits

 

 

More unloved than Mugabe’s dollar

 

Sterling had a pitiful day as it suffered its biggest rout on the currency markets for more than a year

 

• Quibbling that defies logic
  

 

• Stirred but not shaken
  

 

How to give it all away

 

Giving millions to charity has clunky tax implications, particularly for those in the public eye

[interestrateripoff]

Ford Tops Sales in February as Recall Slows Toyota

 

By NICK BUNKLEY 48 minutes ago

 

In the fallout from a huge recall by Toyota, Ford’s sales rose 43 percent in February and G.M.’s rose 12 percent, while Toyota’s declined 9 percent.

 

At Auto Show, Carmakers Put Up a Good Front

 

By JACK EWING 42 minutes ago

 

Even as car companies struggle to pull out of a deep crisis, they are not scrimping on auto show bombast.

 

G.M. Triples Opel Investment

 

By JACK EWING 8:20 AM ET

 

General Motors said it would put $2.6 billion into its Opel and Vauxhall units and reduce the amount it is seeking from European governments.

 

 

U.K. Teeters on the Brink of Its Own Greek Tragedy

 

By LANDON THOMAS Jr. 37 minutes ago

 

A growing worry that the coming elections here could result in a hung Parliament has sparked fears that Britain will experience its own sovereign-debt meltdown.

Greece Set to Release Austerity Plan

 

By NIKI KITSANTONIS 1:42 PM ET

 

The government needs to raise an additional $4.8 billion in revenue to convince markets that it is serious about curbing its budget deficit and averting a debt crisis.

 

Wall Street Higher as Traders Watch Greece

 

By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ 34 minutes ago

 

The main focus in the markets continues to be the Greek debt crisis and whether Germany and France are prepared to offer a lifeline.

[interestrateripoff]

News Analysis - U.K. Teeters on the Brink of Its Own Greek Tragedy - NYTimes.com

 

Could Britain be on the verge of a debt panic?

 

The fiscal crisis in Greece and a growing worry that the coming elections here could result in a hung Parliament, with no political party strong enough to push through unpopular deficit-cutting measures, have sparked fears that Britain will experience its own sovereign-debt meltdown. In such an event, foreign investors would sharply cut back on their purchases of British government bonds, leading to an interest-rate spike and a potential double dip-recession, if not worse.

“If you really want a fiscal problem, look at the U.K.,” said Mark Schofield, a fixed-income strategist at Citigroup. “In Europe the average deficit is about 6 percent of G.D.P. and in the U.K. it’s 12 percent. It is only just beginning.”

 

Since the Labour government’s intense fiscal intervention in 2008 and 2009, yields on British government debt have soared to among the highest in Europe. And on a broader scale, which includes the borrowing of households and companies, the overall level of debt in Britain is the second-largest in the world, after Japan’s, at 380 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, according to a recent report by the consulting company McKinsey.

 

In recent weeks, the focus of attention has been on debt scofflaws in Europe like Greece, Portugal and Spain, countries where borrowing costs have shot up in line with their burgeoning deficits as investors demanded higher rates to compensate them for the added risk of lending the governments money.

 

But the recent plunge in the value of the pound below $1.50 and the gradual move upward of Britain’s benchmark 10 year borrowing rate on government bonds, or gilts, to above 4 percent suggest that investors are now getting ready to reassess the country’s fiscal condition.

 

On Tuesday, the pound was at $1.4977 and the yield on 10-year gilts was down 6 basis points at 4.02 percent. That followed a big fall in the value of the pound Monday, after polls released over the weekend indicated that the opposition Conservatives had lost their clear lead in the election race.

 

Britain is not in the 16-nation euro zone and, unlike Greece and other struggling countries that use the currency, it retains control over its monetary policy. As it result, it has benefited so far from a huge bond-buying program undertaken by the Bank of England — proportionally, the largest in the world — that has kept mortgage rates and gilt yields at unusually low levels.

That means the government and its citizens have been able to continue to borrow at interest rates that do not reflect their true financial situation.

 

Indeed, the increase in private and government debt here contrasts sharply with the deleveraging that has been going on in the United States.

British household debt is now 170 percent of overall annual income, compared with 130 percent in the United States. In an echo of the U.S. rush into subprime mortgages with low teaser rates, millions of homeowners in Britain have piled into variable-rate mortgages that are linked to the rock-bottom base rate.

 

As for the British government, it has been able to finance a budget deficit of 12.5 percent of G.D.P. — equal to Greece’s — at an interest rate more than two full percentage points lower only because the Bank of England bought the majority of the bonds it issued last year.

“It’s not just ‘basket cases’ like Greece that can be considered candidates for sovereign crises,” said Simon White of Variant Perception, a London-based research house that caters to hedge funds and wealthy individuals. “Gilts and sterling will continue to come under pressure as scrutiny of the U.K. fiscal situation intensifies.”

 

Not a great article on the UK's fiscal position. It appears that the BoE has been manipulating the market now who would have thought that?

[interestrateripoff]

Real top football rich list again

Real Madrid beat Barcelona and Manchester United to head the 2008/09 list of the richest football clubs in the world.

TV is the key to Real success

Man United sees debts drop

Utd buyers need deep pockets

High Court halts BAE settlement

 

The High Court grants an injunction to stop the Serious Fraud Office striking further deals with BAE Systems.

 

Euro drops to lowest in 10 months

 

The euro falls to its lowest level against the dollar in 10 months amid continuing concerns over Greece's debt crisis

 

 

OTHER TOP BUSINESS STORIES

Ford outsells GM after sales jump

 

Apple sues HTC over phone patents

 

GM recalls 1.3m cars over fault

 

Contactless card limit up to £15

 

Manchester United sees debts drop

 

Regulator 'seduced' by boom years

 

MORE FROM BUSINESS

Housebuilder sees sales improve

 

Firm closes with 1,200 job losses

 

Mixed picture for European homes

 

No pay rise for '57% of workers'

 

Wood Group's profits plunge 31%

 

Doorstep lender in profits fall

 

GM triples Opel investment pledge

 

Paddy Power hit as punters win

 

Allied Irish Banks make huge loss

 

GM potato cleared for EU farming

 

Small cars dominate Geneva show

 

Sports Direct mulls Blacks deal

 

Google to buy photo-editing site

 

YOUR MONEY

'Green loan' fuel plan for homes

 

UK banks see surge in bad debts

 

Mortgage approvals drop sharply

 

ECONOMY

Australian rates rise to 4%

 

UK pound drops on election fears

 

Greece 'must do more on deficit'

 

COMPANIES

Record profit for insurance firm

 

Financiers 'discuss Man Utd bid'

 

Pru shares hit by $35bn Asia deal

 

Can an investment banker and a hedgie save Man Utd?

[interestrateripoff]

Bernanke (and others) One-Dimensional Thinking - The Market Ticker

 

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard is entirely off the deep end with this mess:

The West risks a slow grind into debt-deflation unless central banks offset fiscal tightening with monetary stimulus – QE, of course – to keep demand alive. Yet the Fed and the European Central Bank are letting credit contract.

Letting credit contract?

Of course there's the famous 2002 Bernanke Speech, also displaying an amazingly one-dimensional view of reality:

Deflation

per se

occurs only when price declines are so widespread that broad-based indexes of prices, such as the consumer price index, register ongoing declines.

Amazing. Here's a man with a mandate to manage credit aggregates and he's talking about one of the effects of credit aggregates - price.

Yet when you read through Bernanke's so-called "seminal" helicopter paper you find even more evidence of one-dimensional thinking. For example, tidbits like this:

Although deflation and the zero bound on nominal interest rates create a significant problem for those seeking to borrow, they impose an even greater burden on households and firms that had accumulated substantial debt before the onset of the deflation. This burden arises because, even if debtors are able to refinance their existing obligations at low nominal interest rates, with prices falling they must still repay the principal in dollars of increasing (perhaps rapidly increasing) real value.

The implication, of course, is that if one has inflation then the repayment of debts is "easier". But as I will explore and explain here, that premise is dangerously false.

We must first agree on a few principles which I have espoused for the entirety of the time that The Market Ticker has been in publication (and before, if you find my earlier writings.)

The first and most important of these principles is that nobody works for free. That is, no business intentionally runs at a loss, and nobody handles a financial transaction of any sort without being compensated in some form.

This is similar to the physical world and the laws of thermodynamics which, in essence, boil down to TANSTAAFL, or "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch." That is, in the physical world if you wish to convert energy from one form to another, there will be some sort of loss in the conversion, no matter what you do.

Such is an inescapable reality of the physical world, and it applies to the financial world as well. While there are certainly isolated cases in which people appear to work for free or a negative cost, when looked at in aggregate the economic world looks an awful lot like the physical world as seen through the lens of thermodynamics. To put it simply every element of economics has "slippage", or inefficiency, inherent in each and every transaction that takes place.

 

More at the link.

[interestrateripoff]

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Governor Christie: "Time to Hold Hands and Jump Off the Cliff" - Chris Christie For President?

 

In an amazingly candid appraisal of the sorry state of affairs in New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie laid it on the line in a speech to about 200 mayors at the New Jersey League of Municipalities.

 

The speech is 24 minutes long and well worth a listen because it is both an honest admission of the problem, and a refreshingly accurate appraisal of what the solutions are. He chastised the legislature, unions, municipalities, and affordable housing initiatives while promising to do something about all of those.

 

Unfortunately I cannot find a transcript, nor is there a YouTube video but you can Watch Chrstie's Speech To League of Municipalities on public television. It starts out with an ad you have to listen to, but it quickly picks up once Christie starts speaking. He starts off in fine fashion calling the legislature's budget "Alice In Wonderland Budgeting"

 

Partial Transcript

 

In the time we got here, of the approximately $29 billion budget there was only $14 billion left. Of the $14 billion, $8 billion could not be touched because of contracts with public worker unions, because of bond covenants, because of commitments we made accepting stimulus money. So we had to find a way to save $2.3 billion in a $6 billion pool of money.

 

When I went into the treasurer's off in the first two weeks of my term, there was no happy meetings. They presented me with 378 possible freezes and lapses to be able to balance the budget. I accepted 375 of them.

 

There is a great deal of discussion about me doing that by executive action. Every day that went by was a day where money was going out the door such that the $6 billion pool was getting less and less. So something needed to be done.

 

People did not send me here to talk, the people sent me here to do. So we took the executive action we did to stop the bleeding.

 

As we move forward, and we evaluate what we need to do three weeks from now in our fiscal year 2011 budget address, you all need to understand the context from which we operate.

 

Our citizens are already the most overtaxed in America. US mayors hear it all the time. You know that the public appetite for ever increasing taxes has reached an end.

 

So when we freeze $475 million in school aid, I am hearing the reverberations from school boards saying now you are just going to force us to raise taxes.

 

Well there is a 4% cap in place as you all know, yet school boards continue to give out raises which exceed that cap, just on salary. Not to mention the fact that most of them get no contribution towards the spiraling increase in health care benefits.

 

More at the link.

[interestrateripoff]

Breaking news:

 

• DSG says UK mkt slightly slower after VAT hike - Reuters
  
• France welcomes Greek austerity measures -agency - Reuters
  
• Moody's wants near perfect delivery from Greece - Reuters
  
• Atheros exec pleads guilty in Galleon case - Reuters
  
• NYSE Euronext CEO to focus on derivatives business - Reuters
  
• Atheros exec pleads guilty in Galleon case - Reuters
  
• Costco, BJ's miss profit estimates, Big Lots beats - Reuters
  
• Spain calls for EU prosecutor to protect euro - Reuters
  
• US probes hedge fund bets against euro - source - Reuters
  
• Data suggests a recovering U.S. job market - Reuters
  

 

 

 

• Mandelson attacks Obama's plans for US financial reform
   
   
  Business secretary says Obama administration should focus on principle and practice of regulation, not the size of banks
   
  
• UK services rebound after cold January
   
   
  The service sector expanded at its fastest pace in more than three years in February, suggesting positive GDP growth this quarter 20 comments
   
  
  • What the economists say
    
  • Another gilts success in £4bn auction
    

   

  [*] Nissan recalls 540,000 vehicles

   

   

  Brake and petrol-guage problems prompt Japanese manufacturer Nissan to recall more than half a million vehicles, mostly in the US

   

   

  • Car recalls: From Toyota to Nissan
    

   

  [*] ITV returns to profit

   

   

  Broadcaster reports profit of £25m for 2009 after £2.7bn loss in 2008. By Mark Sweney 10 comments

   

  [*] Greece unveils radical austerity package

   

   

  Greece's radical austerity measures expected to raise €4.8bn for the cash-strapped country

   

 

 

• 
  Aureos puts the equity into investment
   
   
  Private equity firm Aureos Advisers has $1.2bn of investments and has shown how to use it responsibly in emerging markets. By Nick Matthiason
   
  
• Standard Chartered chief donates £2.1m bonus to charity
   
   
  Move by Peter Sands means none of Britain's 'big five' bank bosses have taken their bonuses for last year 18 comments
   
  
  • Investors want answers on Eric Daniels' bonus
    
  • Who gave their bonuses up and who got £10m?
    

   

  [*] EasyJet boss takes off for Whitbread

   

   

  Andy Harrison to quit budget airline for pubs and restaurants group despite receiving £1.2m 'golden carrot' last year. By Julia Finch

   

 

 

• More business news
   
   
  
  • Weight Watchers endorses McDonald's
     
     
     
    
  • BP will boost profits, boss pledges
     
     
     
    
  • Plot to blow final whistle on Glazers as Man Utd owners
     
     
     
    
  • Goldman admits cost of public outrage
     
     
     
    

[interestrateripoff]

Barnier refuses to back down in EC battle with hedge funds

 

Commissioner presses on with reforms and reveals new probe into CDSs

 

 

• US economy continues to slow new
  
• Bank set to keep interest rates at all-time low new
  
• BAE protesters win SFO injunction
  
• David Prosser: Starting over on protecting consumers
  
• Ashley mulls takeover bid for Blacks after cash call veto
  
• Trade minister rejects plan to nationalise SA mining sector
  
• Allied Irish Banks records £2.4bn loss as bad debts soar
  

 

Agile, smaller enterprises are leading a revival in the industry

 

Excessive focus on big manufacturers is a distraction from the sector’s real innovators

 

• Stephen Timms: We're here for the times when a small business needs a lifeline
  
• Adventures in micro-business: 'Where can I get support to expand my business?'
  
• Virtual solution to a data dilemma
  
• Soapbox: ‘Look to collaborate with those who can do what you can’t’
  
• Roger Trapp: 'Even poets have been cited nio inspiring business founders & managers"
  
• Top of the fair trade fashion tree
  

 

Business Comment RSS Feed - click to grab the feed David Prosser: 'Red Knights' were once seen as devils

 

Outlook There is certainly plenty to dislike about the way the Glazer family bought Manchester United and loaded it up with debt, but one cannot help a wry smile at the identities of some of the Red Knights now riding over the hills to the rescue of the club on behalf of "true" football fans. If the likes of Jim O'Neill and Paul Marshall now represent the acceptable face of capitalism, it tells you something about the opprobrium reserved for the Glazers.

 

 

• David Prosser: A better light for banks
  
• Econoblog: Vauxhall on the comeback trail
  
• Econoblog: Hedge funds and private equity - Europe's flying locusts
  
• James Moore: Thiam takes Pru into the corporate champions league
  
• David Prosser: The Tory-Labour divide is a political, not economic, one
  

[interestrateripoff]

US job losses in February at lowest for two years

 

Decline in rate of private sector job losses to 20,000 in the month suggests employment might be close to stabilising 1 Comment

 

• Obama says US economy is over worst of crisis
  

 

• US unemployment rate falls to a five-month low
  

 

Greece demands EU payback for new austerity cuts

 

Debt-laden country plans to raise a further €4.8bn through draconian measures likely to prompt further strike action 29 Comments

 

• Q&A: The Greek crisis
  

 

• Bankruptcy stalks Greece, says Prime Minister
  

 

Whitbread names ex-easyJet boss as new chief

 

Andy Harrison steps into vacancy to replace Alan Parker who will step down after six years at the helm

 

• Andy Harrison, departing chief executive of easyJet
  

 

• Outsider leads race to be next Whitbread chief
  

 

UK recovery gains traction on services rise

 

Engine room of the economy grows at the fastest pace for three years after January's weather-related slowdown 12 Comments

 

• COMMENT: beware signs of hope
  

 

• Industry grows at strongest rate in 15 years
  

 

 

ITV returns to profit and forecasts rebound

 

Broadcaster predicts 7% growth in the first quarter and finally names a start date for new boss, Adam Crozier

 

Standard Chartered sets aside £750m bonus pool

 

Bank's chief Peter Sands has vowed to follow other bosses and give his estimated £2.1m reward to charity

 

Ex Cazenove partner will not testify in case

 

Malcolm Calvert will not give evidence in trial on 12 counts of insider dealing, a jury at Southwark Crown Court is told

 

• Insider deal profit handed over in envelopes full of cash, court told
  

 

• Ex-Cazenove broker tried for ‘inside deals’
  

Jittery investors dump shares in Prudential

 

Traders said that the falling price left it open as a takeover target, arguing that Tidjane Thiam had ‘put it in play’

Food price inflation falls to record low

 

British Retail Consortium figures show competition among retailers led to cheaper electrical items and clothes

 

 

Nissan orders global recall over faulty brakes

 

Japanese carmaker follows Toyota to warn over faulty brakes and petrol gauges but puts blame on its parts suppliers

 

Apple sues rival HTC over smartphone patents

 

Steve Jobs claims company 'stole our patented inventions', notably in handsets running on the Android operating system

 

• HTC launches world's fastest smartphone
  

 

• Nokia dispute with Apple heats up
  

Toyota warned of potential car faults in 2006

 

An internal document warning that the vehicles were becoming 'less defensible' was shown at the third hearing in a week

Allied Irish Banks reports first annual loss

 

Ireland’s biggest bank sees challenging outlook after provisions for construction and property loans wipe out profits

It’s now or never for the Pru, if it can calm nerves

 

Some of his biggest shareholders were focusing on the volatility the insurer’s share price could suffer in the short term

 

 

Britain must decide whether to welcome allcomers

 

The UK has benefited from its openness to foreign investment, but the balance in merger and acquisition activity has shifted

[interestrateripoff]

[/url]

 

Recession fears ease as services expands

 

Pound climbs for first time in more than a week after Britain's services sector grows more than forecast.

Food inflation drops to three-year low

 

 

 

Greece passes new deficit cuts to avert 'catastrophe'

 

The Greek government has passed another multi-billion euro package of cuts as it seeks to convince markets it's serious about tackling the deficit.

 

ITV returns to profit as it signals worst is over

 

ITV has signalled that the worst downturn in television advertising may be behind it.

 

FTSE 100 tax burden threatens UK jobs

 

 

 

 

Anti-arms campaigners halt SFO deal with BAE

 

 

 

 

Babcock and VT advisers meet to break deadlock

 

 

 

 

UK economy would crumble under Labour, warns Clarke

 

 

 

 

More GM money into Europe

 

 

 

 

The 'richest' football clubs in the world

 

 

 

• Greece must learn from this crisis – not blame the EU
  

 

• Britons' love affair with debt appears worringly strong
  

 

 

• Six short words that could solve inheritance tax worries
  

 

Britain's record deficit: a real diagnosis and solution

 

 

 

Food inflation drops to three-year low

 

 

 

 

Greece must learn from this crisis – not blame the EU

 

 

 

 

UK jobs market improves, but more pain is around the corner

 

 

 

 

Sterling's slippery slope

[interestrateripoff]

BA lines up 1,000 volunteer crew

One thousand British Airways staff have offered to work as cabin crew if strikes at the airline go ahead.

BA to resume talks with union

BA cabin crew back strike action

Q&A: What's BA dispute about?

Glazers receive backing from Gill

 

Man Utd chief executive David Gill says the club's owners, the Glazers, are "running the club the right way".

 

ITV makes profit after cost cuts

 

ITV returns to profit thanks to cost-cutting and increasing its share of a declining TV advertising market

 

 

OTHER TOP BUSINESS STORIES

Tax dodgers revealed from 1 April

 

Rail safety plans under scrutiny

 

Euro rises on new Greek measures

 

UK service sector 'grows sharply'

 

Home ownership 'set to decline'

 

Standard Chartered's profits rise

 

Job market 'continues to improve'

 

UK consumer confidence 'rising'

 

Taylor Wimpey reduces its losses

 

Football 'needs to rethink pay'

 

Oil prices higher as dollar drops

 

Australia ends 2009 with growth

 

Apple action 'threatens Google'

 

EU sets 'smart economy' targets

 

Money sharing on Facebook

 

Greece backs new austerity plan

 

Rising costs hit Adidas profits

 

China censorship a 'trade issue'

 

Gold warns of administration risk

 

Arsenal boss upbeat about future

 

YOUR MONEY

Contactless card limit up to £15

 

Mixed picture for European homes

 

No pay rise for '57% of workers'

 

ECONOMY

Regulator 'seduced' by boom years

 

Australian rates rise to 4%

 

Venezuelan economy shrinks 5.8%

 

COMPANIES

Nissan recalls 540,000 vehicles

 

Ford outsells GM after sales jump

 

High Court halts BAE settlement