March 22, 2007

Analysts: Tax advantages behind Barclays bid for Amro?

by Elaine Frei
Some analysts are saying that one of the reasons that Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) has offered to move its headquarters to Amsterdam if its bid for ABN Amro (Euronext: AAB; NYSE: ABN) is successful is that such a move would give it a huge tax advantage. While tax experts say that it is much to early ...

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March 21, 2007

The heat over ICE

by Khurram Naik
The battle for the CBOT between CME and ICE is illustrative of the future of futures. Futures exchanges are no longer simply markets, but for-profit businesses, and unlike most for-profit businesses or even most exchanges special considerations must be made. Futures contracts are not like stocks, which can be bought at one exchange and sold at another. Most futures contracts are not fungible ...

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European markets mixed on session

by Elaine Frei
Equities markets in Asia and the Pacific were mostly up on the session Wednesday. The major exception was in the Pacific region, in Australia, where The SP/ASX dropped 14.7 points to close at 5,861.9 and the Sydney Ordinaries fell 10.2 points to 5,846.3 on a volume of 1.74 billion shares. Elsewhere, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong added 0.82 ...

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Lyons report: add top, bottom council tax bands to increase fairness

by Elaine Frei
The Lyons report reviewing local government funding has proposed that two new council tax bands be created, one for the most expensive properties and the other for the least expensive. The proposal applies only to properties in England. Pointing out that many people see the current council tax band structure, based on property value, needs to ...

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Barclays concessions to ABN in negotiations cause concerns

by Elaine Frei
Among the details discussed when Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) outlined its plans for talks toward a merger with ABN Amro (Euronext: AAB: NYSE: ABN), was its intention to move its headquarters to Amsterdam if the merger proceeds. Barclays also intends to allow the entity created by such a merger, which would become the fifth ...

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March 20, 2007

Equities markets trend upward

by Elaine Frei
Equities markets in Asia and the Pacific were up on Tuesday. In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries were 0.29 percent higher to 5,856.5. The Straits Times index in Singapore, meanwhile, added 0.3 percent to 3,125.28, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong gained 0.47 percent to 19,356.9. In India, the Sensex was up 0.48 percent to 12,705.94. In Tokyo, ...

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February mortgages set record for month

by Elaine Frei
The amount of money lent out for mortgages in February set a new record, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders on Tuesday. The amount borrowed was at £24.6 billion, a new record for February and 9 percent more than was borrowed in the same month last year. The CML said that the record figure showed that the housing ...

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Dormant accounts money to go to community projects fund

by Elaine Frei
Money from dormant accounts in UK banks and building societies could soon be used to fund community projects in a program first proposed in 2005 by Gordon Brown. However, before the money is transferred to a fund independent of the government, the banks, and the mechanism to distribute them to various projects, financial institutions will make an ...

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March 19, 2007

Global equities markets see gains; yen weakens

by Elaine Frei
Asian equities markets were higher on Monday, many rising by more than a full percentage point on the session. The Straits Times index in Singapore added 1.25 percent to 3,115.92, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong gained 1.65 percent to 19,266.74 and in India the Sensex was 1.73 percent higher to 12,644.99. In Japan, meanwhile, the ...

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Rightmove Index shows house prices up in March

by Elaine Frei
It the latest edition of its House Price Index, property comparison service Rightmove (LSE: RMV) says that the average price of a house in the UK is up by 1.5 percent in March, to £228,183. That is an average increase of £3,381. The March increase brings the annual inflation of house prices to 12.2 percent. House ...

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Barclays Bank to announce plans for ABN Amro talks

by Elaine Frei
After declining to comment Sunday on reports that it is getting ready to bid on Dutch bank ABN Amro (Euronext: AAB; NYSE: ABN), Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) said on Monday that it will make an announcement regarding its plans early in the day on Tuesday. ABN has yet to comment on the reports. Barclays ...

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March 16, 2007

London, Asia markets mixed as Europe and Wall Street decline

by Elaine Frei
Global equities markets were mixed but trending lower on Friday. Asian markets were mixed, while European markets were lower on the continent, and mixed in London. US markets were down in early afternoon trade. Asian markets were largely lower, the main exception being Singapore’s Straits Times index, which added 0.64 percent to 3,068.75. The Hang ...

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Study: “Green” babies cost more to raise

by Elaine Frei
Most new parents would like to know that the products they purchase for their baby did not harm the environment, and that they did not cause harm or hardship to someone else’s child, in the course of their harvest or manufacture. However, a new report prepared for Family Investments, a provider of child trust funds, shows that buying eco-friendly ...

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NAPF says National Pensions scheme aimed at too many

by Elaine Frei
During meetings in Edinburgh, the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) warned that government plans to introduce a National Pensions Saving Scheme (NPSS) could be too widely intended and that it could actually cost some individuals pension money. The NPSS scheme is currently scheduled to be activated by 2012 and is aimed to be targeted to around ...

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Little risk to UK banks from subprime crisis, say analysts

by Elaine Frei
Despite worries that problems in the subprime mortgage sector in the United States could spread to the UK, Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) says that it will not be seriously affected by the current troubles. While it has asked New Century Financial, which has been delisted by the New York Stock Exchange, to ...

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March 15, 2007

Most equities markets gain on session; oil lower

by Elaine Frei
Most equities markets had a much better day on Thursday than they did Wednesday, as declines were replaced by gains. Asia had its share of advances. In India, the Sensex added 0.11 percent to 12,543.82. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was 0.7 percent higher to 18,969.44, while the Straits Times index in Singapore gained 1.35 percent ...

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Elections funding possibilities revealed in report

by Elaine Frei
A review commissioned by the UK government has suggested a package of reforms to political campaign donation rules, according the a report published Thursday. None of the main political parties have yet agreed to any of the reforms, however, according to Sir Hayden Phillips, who conducted the review. Most analysts doubt that any agreement will be reached before the ...

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Prices skyrocket for London luxury homes

by Elaine Frei
Competitive bidding and interest from foreign buyers has sent prices for luxury homes in central London up by 31 percent in the year ending in February, according to Knight Frank. It is the biggest growth rate in luxury homes since 1979. 2.4 percent of that growth came in February alone, and the total growth for January and February was ...

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Gore urges pensions funds to consider longer-term investments

by Elaine Frei
In a speech before the National Association of Pensions Funds in Edinburgh on Wednesday, former US Vice President Al Gore told the pension industry that if they do not look to longer-term investment goals, they risk harm to efforts to build sustainable economies. He said that most mutual funds now turn over completely within a year, while the ...

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Prudential policyholders could receive payout

by Elaine Frei
Because Prudential Insurance (LSE: PRU; NYSE: PUK) is thinking of buying out policyholders’ entitlement to “orphan assets” within its with-profits fund, up to four and a half million policy holders could receive windfall payments in 2009. The payments could come as either cash payments or as bonuses to their policies, and will go to policyholders who had a policy in force ...

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