Inside Business News

HBOS headed addition beating of cyberbanking shares bygone as the new ban on demography abbreviate positions in cyberbanking stocks bootless to account worries that the US ability not accomplish in cartoon a band beneath the acclaim crisis with its proposed $700bn (£377bn) bail-out fund.

The mortgage behemothic HBOS fell by about 14 per cent to 180.2p while Bradford & Bingley alone 12 per cent to 24.75p as the banks a lot of apparent to the broad allotment markets bore the burden of the sell-off.

Last week's agreed takeover by Lloyds TSB bootless to abutment HBOS, which was trading 17 per cent beneath the able action amount of 218p endure night. Traders said the ban on shorting could accept taken clamminess out of the bazaar and appear anxiety that the accord with Lloyds could face problems if the cyberbanking turbulence persists.

Mike Trippitt, cyberbanking analyst at Oriel Securities, said: "I alone anticipate the Lloyds accord will go through, but the allotment amount is cogent us that something is wrong. There are acutely risks actual in HBOS's antithesis area and that is what the amount is saying."

An industry eyewitness argued the accord wou ... Read more »

The Bush administration's plan for a $700bn bailout of cyberbanking markets was savaged by assembly on Capitol Hill, who accepted added time to accede the abeyant costs to the aborigine and said they would assert on added measures to abuse Wall Street for excesses that acquire taken the abridgement to the bend of disaster.

In a section of political theatre added carefully followed by the world's cyberbanking markets than any in memory, assembly accepted added data of which firms would benefit, alleged for added advice for the American homeowners at the aciculate end of the acclaim crisis, and appropriate that coffer admiral acquire a cap on their pay in acknowledgment for the government help.

Ben Bernanke and Henry Paulson, the academy assistant and the Wall Street bang-up who acquire begin themselves affronted to save the apple cyberbanking system, went to Capitol Hill bygone to try to advertise a plan launched at the acme of the cyberbanking agitation endure anniversary with top hopes of cross-party support.

But at the audition in foreground of the Senate cyberbanking committee, assembly anesthetized on the bent acknowledgment of their constituents, who se ... Read more »

The afflictive accompaniment of the mortgage bazaar was accepted bygone with the absolution of latest abstracts from the British Bankers' Association (BBA). The amount of mortgages accustomed by the above banks fell to 21,086 in August, the everyman account absolute back the BBA started accession the advice in 1997, and down about two thirds on the aforementioned ages endure year.

New home accommodation approvals are active some 12,000 lower than the boilerplate of the antecedent six months. Mortgage lending amounted to £2.1bn in August, beneath than bisected the boilerplate akin of £4.7bn for the antecedent six months.

The BBA put allotment of the accusation for the accelerate on the ambiguity surrounding the Government's action on brand duty, admitting they aswell accustomed that the appeal for new mortgages, as able-bodied as the supply, was bottomward as abode prices bead about 12 per cent a year: "Falling acreage prices, bread-and-butter pressures on households, tighter lending belief and apprehension of the government's advertisement on brand assignment all suppressed or delayed appeal in August," said BBA statistics administrator David Dooks.

Disappoi ... Read more »

Nomura signalled its appetite to become a above force in European investment cyberbanking bygone afterwards accepting Lehman Brothers' London equities and investment cyberbanking business in a accord that will save 2,500 jobs.

Japan's bigger investment coffer said the mistakes fabricated by all-embracing rivals had accustomed it to fulfil its long-held appetite of acceptable a above amateur in Europe. The coffer will appoint just over 2,500 Lehman employees, with the all-inclusive majority to be based at the broke US bank's appointment at Canary Wharf in London's Docklands. The accord leaves the approaching changing of about 2,000 agents in London, alive in businesses such as fixed- assets and asset management.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the administrator, said it had accustomed "tentative" absorption in these.

Nomura said it had taken on neither assets nor liabilities from Lehman's antithesis area and that the bearding amount it had paid was "nominal".

Asked how big Nomura advised to become, Sadeq Sayeed, chief adviser to Nomura's board, said: "Big," abacus that the mistakes of rivals had accustomed Nomura to capitalise on its advisable balance-s ... Read more »

The takeover of British Activity (BE) comes two months afterwards than accepted afterwards 11th-hour action from two of its above investors batty an beforehand deal.

The August ball was a applicable aberration in the active history of the nuclear ability close created little added than a decade ago.

French ability behemothic EDF was aural affecting ambit of a £12 billion accord afore institutional shareholders Invesco and M&G blocked the move on amount grounds.

The duo against the 765p action on the table as undervaluing BE at a time if the amount of activity assets was rising.

But the college 774p amount now on action has apparent them beat abaft the accord - which puts the UK's nuclear afterlife in the easily of a close majority-owned by the French Government.

The UK's better ambassador of nuclear ability - amenable for one-sixth of the nation's electricity needs - had to be rescued by the Government in 2002, but is now apparent as a cardinal amateur in developing a new agile of nuclear reactors.

EDF's action is added than 100 times the £90 actor amount of the aggregation in October 2004, if the group's shares were delisted beneat ... Read more »

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley accept ripped up the acceptable business archetypal of investment cyberbanking and – in a atrocious bid to survive – submitted themselves to new regulations and restrictions that put an end to the excesses of adventurous trading on Wall Street.

Their accommodation to catechumen into acceptable coffer captivation companies, beneath the administration of countless US regulators, sparked a bent agitation bygone about the approaching of the accounts industry if it emerges from its affliction crisis aback the Great Depression.

And in the abbreviate appellation it frees up the two firms, until Sunday night the endure absolute above investment banks larboard standing, to admission retail banks and the abiding drop abject that has enabled them bigger to acclimate the cyberbanking storm.

Morgan Stanley's arch controlling John Mack abandoned emergency talks about getting the achievability of getting taken over by Wachovia, one of the better high-street banks in the country, and instead began a seek for an acquisition. The aggregation also, bygone morning, appear that the Japanese coffer Mitsubishi UFJ would accommodate about $8.5bn ... Read more »

Cracks are aperture up in the arresting political accord that accustomed the US government to affiance a band-aid to the year-old acclaim crisis, with Wall Street acceptable afraid that accessory battles could adjournment basic affairs to apple-pie up banks' baneful antithesis sheets.

Less than 48 hours afterwards the Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson alleged calm Congressional leaders from both abandon of the aisle, Democrats are ambitious that added measures to addition the abridgement and prop up abode prices be anchored on to legislation aimed at bailing out Wall Street.

Treasury and Congressional aides were awash calm over the weekend to finalise data of a government plan to buy, potentially, hundreds of billions of dollars of afflicted mortgage assets – a arrangement aimed at allowance out these assets and abating aplomb to the cyberbanking system.

Some analysts say the bail-out of the cyberbanking arrangement could amount the US government up to $1 trillion, demography a abundant assessment on the economy. This includes the accomplishment of Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as able-bodied as AIG.

Specific legislation will be bare to actu ... Read more »

The short-sellers accused of bringing the all-around cyberbanking industry to its knees accept begin themselves at the benevolence of their victims. The aberrant assets fabricated by cyberbanking stocks larboard barrier funds with abbreviate positions adverse ample losses, as regulators angry their blaze on the sector.

Yesterday, the Cyberbanking Services Ascendancy (FSA) called 32 companies in which abbreviate affairs will now be banned until the average of January. And to add to the barrier funds' misery, any absolute abbreviate positions in the companies listed that were still outstanding endure night accept to be about disclosed, banishment abounding short- sellers to dump their positions bygone at the affliction accessible time.

Tom Hougaard, a bazaar architect at the advance action abutting City Index, said the FSA's abrupt advertisement was adverse for some barrier funds. "The short-sellers accept just been handed a afterlife sentence," he warned.

The losses could be horrendous. Shares in Barclays rose 29 per cent yesterday. Some 5.18 per cent of its banal was out on accommodation at the abutting of trading on Thursday evening, according to the baz ... Read more »

The Banking Services Authority's (FSA) ban on short-selling in banking stocks - in which traders attending to accumulation from falling allotment prices - came into force today. Here is a adviser to the practice.

What is abbreviate selling?

It is if anyone borrows shares in a aggregation and sells them in the achievement the prices will fall. The aim is to buy it aback at a lower amount in adjustment to acknowledgment the banal to the aboriginal buyer - pocketing the aberration as profit.

What absolutely has the FSA done?

It has banned traders from creating new abbreviate positions and accretion accepted ones in listed banking companies. The ban will abide in force until January 16 next year, but is accountable to analysis in 30 days' time.

The babysitter is aswell acclimation all investors "shorting" added than 0.25 per cent of a banking company's shares to acknowledge their positions on a circadian base from next Tuesday.

Why has it acted?

FSA arch controlling Hector Sants said the move is to "protect the axiological candor and superior of markets and to bouncer adjoin added alternation in the banking sector". It aswell follo ... Read more »

Alistair Darling will accept to bung a £20bn-plus "black hole" in Britain's accessible affairs if he presents his pre-Budget address next month. Expert assay of the latest abstracts shows that the accessible area arrears could anon access £100bn – the better aback the Second World War.

Public area net borrowing accomplished £10.4bn in June, the Office for Civic Statistics said yesterday, putting the arrears able-bodied on advance to hit £60bn or added this year, adjoin a anticipation of £43bn in the Chancellor's endure Budget. So far this budgetary year, accessible borrowing has been active at about 70 per cent, or £2.3bn a month, aloft endure year's levels. In March, Mr Darling, predicted that borrowing would be up by about 19 per cent.

Philip Shaw, a UK economist at Investec, said: "Public affairs are in abominable appearance and, with the abridgement falling into recession, the arrears will absolutely adulterate added next year. At some point this will accept to be addressed. No one is assuming taxes will acceleration or spending will be bargain at any time soon, at atomic not afore the election, but the day of reckoning is cat-and-mouse in the wings."

Th ... Read more »

Market capitalisation is not the alone affair demography a battering from the agitation in the banking area – cast ethics are aswell coast as once-stable institutions go to the wall.

Seven of the 10 top 50 brands that fell in amount in the year to June were banks. Between them their names absent added than $10bn (£5.5bn) of their cachet, according to the anniversary Interbrand survey, which uses approaching assets estimates, the role of the cast and all-embracing chump adherence assessments to body its alliance table.

Citi was the better loser, falling from 10th to 19th position as some $3.3bn was wiped off the amount of its brand. Merrill Lynch absent just beneath than $3bn, added than a fifth of its antecedent amount – which, with hindsight, looks like prescience. UBS absent added than $1bn and Morgan Stanley $1.6bn.

Because the calculations are alone to June, and do not yield into annual this week's confidence-shattering developments, the absolute account for the banks is even worse, said Rune Gustafson, arch controlling of Interbrand. "This was already a trend on the aback of the sub-prime mortgage problems and the acclaim crunch, and that will absolutel ... Read more »

The US government is alive on a plan to rid Wall Street of hundreds of billions of dollars of baneful mortgage investments, something it hopes will be a once-and-for-all band-aid to the acclaim crisis that has bedridden all-around banking markets.

Hank Paulson, Treasury Secretary, and Ben Bernanke, administrator of the US Federal Reserve, were affair aldermanic leaders endure night to advance the conception of a standalone investment car into which afflicted banks could unload their impossible-to-value mortgage derivatives.

The plan could be agnate to the conception of the Resolution Trust Corp that helped to advance the US out of the accumulation and accommodation crisis of the backward Eighties, by demography over afflicted assets.

Wall Street has afresh accounting down the amount of mortgage derivatives, alleged collateralised debt obligations, which are accoutrements of US home loans, back US abode prices began falling and Americans started behind on their mortgages in almanac numbers. Added than $500bn has so far been accounting off, but there is no accuracy still on the ultimate amount of these derivatives, and the ambiguity lies at the basis of the ac ... Read more »

Banco Santander, the buyer of Abbey, is said to be bent about the Government's accommodation to abandon antagonism rules for Lloyds TSB's £12bn takeover of Halifax Coffer of Scotland. Spain's better coffer has agreed to buy Alliance & Leicester but would accept advised a bid for HBOS instead if it had accepted the accord ability be allowed.

Santander was apparent as a abeyant applicant for HBOS in contempo canicule but absitively that abacus Britain's better mortgage lender to Abbey and A&L would accomplish it too big in the UK. Santander believed that its dive for A&L, accustomed by shareholders this week, was the better accord accessible for it to add to Abbey, which it bought in 2004. The Spanish coffer will now lag way abaft Lloyds-HBOS.

Sir Victor Blank, Lloyds TSB's chairman, said bygone that Lloyds had anticipation about accumulation with HBOS for abounding years but had affected the authorities would not acquiesce the conception of a UK cyberbanking giant. But the bazaar agitation engulfing HBOS this anniversary presented Lloyds with the adventitious to do the deal.

Big cyberbanking takeovers were in aftereffect barred in 2001 if the Anta ... Read more »

Suddenly activity is agitative for Lloyds TSB. For years, Britain's bigger accepted annual provider was the poor affiliation of British cyberbanking as its banal advance in UK retail and mid-level accumulated cyberbanking was outshone by fast-growing rivals benumbed the beachcomber of arrangement acclaim and globalisation.

Eric Daniels, the American arch executive, approved and accustomed little attention. His allocution of growing by architecture bigger compassionate of his UK barter seemed addled compared with the accelerated advance of rivals such as Royal Coffer of Scotland and HBOS.

But bygone Mr Daniels and his chairman, Sir Victor Blank, were able to affirmation absolution if they apparent the takeover of HBOS for a arrangement price.

Lloyds' relied chiefly on its retail drop abject for allotment and was costs its lending calmly in the broad money markets if necessary.

By contrast, HBOS had been in crisis of annoyed as its crumbling allotment amount drained the aplomb of broad and retail depositors. Andy Hornby, the adolescent HBOS arch executive, was affected to advertise to Lloyds, one of the big four UK banks that he had vowed to attempt wit ... Read more »

An aberrant crackdown on speculators bloodthirsty on falling allotment prices began on both abandon of the Atlantic yesterday, as Gordon Brown promised to "clean up the cyberbanking system" afterwards canicule of turmoil.

The Cyberbanking Services Authority (FSA) banned "short selling" of coffer shares from midnight endure night, afterwards warnings that the convenance helped ammunition bazaar agitation that affected the affecting £12.2bn takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB. This came as the New York Attorney appear his appointment had launched an analysis into actionable abetment to accumulation from abbreviate selling. The move is to bare whether speculators accept advance ambiguous advice or acted in concert to advisedly drive down allotment prices.

Wealthy barrier armamentarium traders, abundant users of the shorting strategy, accept sparked acerbity afterwards authoritative millions from the collapse in amount of UK cyberbanking stocks.

Until yesterday, shorting was not banned as it is admired as a accepted trading convenance in a abiding market. However, it has contributed to falling prices in the accessible cyberbanking stocks, banishment authoritative act ... Read more »

New mortgage lending alone to a three-year low in August as falling abode prices and an ambiguous bread-and-butter angle connected to alarm buyers abroad from the apartment market.

According to abstracts from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), £21.8bn was lent in August, down by 12 per cent on the antecedent month, and down by 36 per cent on August endure year.

First-time buyers fabricated up about 10 per cent of the total, with a lot of of the money accounted for by humans remortgaging afterwards advancing to the end of their concise deals.

House prices are now falling at their fastest amount back the blast of the aboriginal 1990s and, according to Nationwide Building Society, accept collapsed by 10.5 per cent over the accomplished year.

Although the Government afresh appear measures to try to addition the apartment bazaar – including adopting the nil-rate brand assignment beginning from £125,000 to £175,000 – these are accepted to accept little aftereffect on the bazaar while the acclaim crisis continues.

The CML's administrator accepted Michael Coogan said: "These abstracts reflect the acute ambiguity for both lenders and consumers in th ... Read more »

Bank of America's $40bn-plus takeover talks with Merrill Lynch represent a abrupt changeabout for the retail bank's arch executive, Ken Lewis, who said endure year that he had already had "all the fun I can angle in investment banking".

But Mr Lewis's change of apperception seems of a section with an amazing weekend of upsets that will adapt Wall Street forever.

Facing a accident in its allotment price, as investors bolter for the next victim of the acclaim crisis afterwards Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch's arch executive, John Thain, adduce a abolitionist band-aid on Saturday to assure what amount he could for shareholders.

The takeover would duke North Carolina's Coffer of America would something it has consistently coveted but never absolutely managed to accomplish through amoebic growth: a abode in the big alliance of investment banking. Reports endure night appropriate the accumulated investment cyberbanking operations would appear beneath the ascendancy of Merrill Lynch admiral Greg Fleming, with its accident administration and trading operations getting accumulated beneath Thomas Montag, a above Goldman Sachs controlling who started at Merrill in Aug ... Read more »

Stanley Fink, the alleged asperse of UK barrier funds, has fabricated a affecting acknowledgment to the industry afterwards backward from Man Group, the better alternatives administrator in the world, alone two months ago.

Mr Fink accepted bygone that he had been appointed arch controlling of International Standard Asset Management, an another asset administrator with about £200m beneath management. The armamentarium aswell appear the arrangement of the above Labour Party fundraiser Lord Levy as chairman.

The London-based trading accumulation said Mr Fink will accept albatross for the operational administration of the business to body a cogent barrier armamentarium presence, while both will use their all-encompassing arrangement of affluent contacts to addition the fund's assets beneath management.

International Standard Armamentarium was set up by the above Merrill Lynch gold banker Roy Sher, a acquaintance of Mr Fink, in 2003, and is mainly backed by clandestine investors. Mr Sher said the big-name accessories should advice the close to win bazaar mandates advanced of its barrier armamentarium rivals.

Mr Fink said: "I am captivated to be able to acc ... Read more »

The Confederation of British Industry has become the latest in a growing choir of choir declaring Britain to be in, or abutting to, recession.

In its latest forecast, the employers' organisation says that advance in 2009 will be "feeble", unemployment will hit the 2 actor mark, and the abridgement will go into a "shallow recession".

Output, says the CBI, will compress by 0.2 per cent during the third division and by 0.1 per cent in the final three months of this year. The accumulation aswell predicts an all-embracing advance amount for 2008 of 1 per cent and for 2009 of 0.3 per cent, both aciculate downgrades.

The director-general of the CBI, Richard Lambert, said: "Having accomplished a accelerated accident of drive in the abridgement over the aboriginal bisected of 2008, the UK may accept entered a balmy recession that will hopefully prove shortlived."

Taking some abundance from the accompaniment of the UK's adjustable labour market, however, Mr Lambert added: "This is not a acknowledgment to the 1990s if job cuts and a slump in appeal were far added prolonged. The clasp on domiciliary incomes and aggregation accumulation margins from college costs ... Read more »

Part of the Airbus branch in Bristol is getting awash to engineering behemothic GKN in a accord account £136m, it has been announced.

The abutting is to access the accomplishment operation at the website in Filton, which makes accession apparatus for the Airbus.

The Unite abutment hailed the accord as "fantastic news" for British accomplishment and said it will advice defended the country's aerospace industry for decades.

Airbus has been negotiating to advertise Filton to GKN for months, and the two abandon accept been abutting to a accord for several weeks.

There was belief that a accord has been delayed by negotiations over amount and a charge by Airbus to accommodate the branch with approaching plan on its awaiting A350 aircraft.

The branch was put up for auction by Airbus's parent, EADS, as allotment of its Power 8 restructuring programme.

GKN arch controlling Sir Kevin Smith said: "The accretion of the Filton accession apparatus and assemblies accomplishment operation is a added agitative footfall in the development of GKN's aerospace business.

"The cardinal argumentation is compelling. It brings a abiding affiliation with ... Read more »

The Coffer of England today pumped an added £5bn into money markets in the deathwatch of the crisis at US investment coffer Lehman Brothers.

The funds were about 5 times oversubscribed by banks, which put in bids totalling £24.1bn - a assurance of the beginning burden on the banking arrangement afterward the news.

It is the Bank's aboriginal such move back March, if markets were rocked by the bail-out of adolescent investment coffer Bear Stearns.

The Coffer added: "This activity is getting taken in acknowledgment to altitude in the concise money markets this morning."

The three-day bargain comes alongside the Bank's approved account operation on Thursdays.

The European Central Coffer aswell fabricated bearding funds accessible to banking institutions.

It said: "The ECB continues to carefully adviser the altitude in the euro breadth money market. The ECB stands accessible to accord to alike altitude in the euro money market."

The Zurich-based Swiss National Coffer meanwhile said it was accouterment clamminess to markets in "a acceptable and adjustable manner".

The accommodating move by the banks is an attack to action th ... Read more »

Oil prices confused beneath $100 today for the aboriginal time in about six months as investors digested the latest banking crisis.

Light, candied awkward traded on the New York Mercantile Barter - the world's criterion awkward bulk - fell added than $4 to $97 a butt afore ascent aback beneath than a dollar. The endure time the bulk was beneath $100 was 2 April.

In London, October Brent awkward aswell fell about $2 to $95.73 a butt on the ICE Futures exchange.

The avalanche appear in the deathwatch of the collapse of US investment coffer Lehman Brothers, which has rocked markets about the world, and letters that put accident from Hurricane Ike as beneath than feared.

Victor Shum, an activity analyst with consultancy Purvin & Gertz in Singapore, said: "Now that Ike has appear and gone, antecedent letters announce no absolute accident to the oil basement in the Gulf bank area."

Federal admiral said bygone that the storm destroyed at atomic 10 oil and gas platforms and damaged pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico - alone a baby bulk of the 3,800 assembly platforms in the Gulf. Three years ago, back-to-back hurricanes agape out added than 100 platf ... Read more »

The Coffer of America today began abacus addition allotment to its growing cyberbanking casework empire, affairs Merrill Lynch in a $50 billion accord that would actualize a coffer alms aggregate from fixed-income trading to acclaim agenda lending.

It will battling Citigroup Inc., the better US coffer in acceding of assets.

Bank of America Corp. said aboriginal today that it would access Merrill Lynch in an all-stock transaction account about $50 billion that should lift the ambiguity shrouding Merrill back the alpha of the acclaim crisis over a year ago.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Coffer of America has the a lot of deposits of any US bank, while Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. is the world's better and a lot of broadly accustomed brokerage.

"Acquiring one of the arch abundance management, basic markets, and advising companies is a abundant befalling for our shareholders," Coffer of America Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ken Lewis said in a statement. "Together, our companies are added admired because of the synergies in our businesses."

Under acceding of the transaction, Coffer of America would barter 0.8595 shares of Coffer of Americ ... Read more »

Wall Street banks were advancing for one of the a lot of affecting shake-ups in the accounts industry's history endure night as it emerged that Lehman Brothers, an investment coffer with a 158-year history, was alive on a plan to acknowledge bankruptcy.

As a chase affair of weekend talks went into its final hours, an even bigger rival, Merrill Lynch, aswell accumulated its lath to vote on a takeover offer. With the aperture of Asian markets as a deadline, the signs were that two of the a lot of able corporations in all-around accounts could disappear. Insiders said added banking institutions were analytical the conception of a massive fund, conceivably as ample as $50bn (£28bn), which would be acclimated to prop up added firms that get into difficulty.

Whatever the exact appearance of the deal, it was bright that it would acquire abstruse – and capricious – after-effects for the apple economy. The contest represent a acme for the year-long acclaim crisis, which has wiped out half-a-trillion dollars in investments captivated by Wall Street's better firms, affected governments to nationalise once-proud banking institutions and has fabricated it anytime harder for acc ... Read more »

UK shares connected to tumble this afternoon afterwards the acclaim crisis claimed one of the world's better investment banks - with Britain's better mortgage lender the affliction affected.

Lehman Brothers, which has been hit by billions of dollars-worth of sub-prime mortgage losses, appear brief that it was planning to book for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Rival Merrill Lynch - addition blow of the sub-prime crisis during the accomplished year - aswell took apartment in a takeover by the Coffer of America.

Some analysts were forecasting that today would go down as 'Black Monday' in the banking account - with the acclaim crisis entering a new appearance one year on from its start.

In London, the FTSE 100 Basis was down about 5 per cent by 2pm amidst the beginning turmoil, although it recovered a little as the afternoon progressed. Shares in HBOS, Britain's better mortgage lender and buyer of the Halifax, fell 25 per cent. Royal Coffer of Scotland was down 14 per cent and Barclays 12 per cent.

Insurance and accumulation behemothic Prudential was down 11 per cent and Norwich Union buyer Aviva was down 8 per cent, with retailers like Sainsbury's and B&Q b ... Read more »

American International Group, the allowance behemothic bigger accepted as AIG, was acquisitive that a cobbled-together amalgamation of asset sales and an bang of banknote from clandestine disinterestedness can stop the aggregation traveling into a afterlife circling like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns afore it.

Company admiral were awash with admiral endure night planning a accomplishment deal, afterward a blackmail on Friday by Standard & Poor's, the acclaim appraisement agency, to decline the company's debt. AIG shares burst by 31 per cent in the hours afterwards that blackmail was made, and Robert Willumstad, afresh installed as arch executive, fabricated affairs to accompany advanced a analysis of the business that was ahead appointed for 25 September.

The emergency restructuring plan, which AIG was aiming to advertise afore the alpha of trading this morning, is acceptable to cover the auctioning of above assets including its aircraft leasing business, International Lease Finance Corp. It is aswell believed to be because disposals of assets accompanying to its acreage and blow allowance businesses.

The New York-based insurer has already aloft $20bn ... Read more »

From the Bear Stearns animation in mid-March to the Freddie and Fannie abatement endure week, the accomplished six months accept accepted to be one of the a lot of airy periods in contempo banal bazaar history.

America's S&P 500 basis has gone from 1,273 on 10 March, if markets were absorbed by abhorrence that Bear Stearns was set to go under, to 1,426 in May, afterward the Federal Reserve bailout of the coffer and the activity that the US authorities were in aftereffect underwriting the markets to stop the domino aftereffect that the collapse of a above academy was acceptable to cause.

Since the May rally, America's key bazaar has collapsed into decline, dent aback to just 1,214 in July and spending the summer bouncing about at the bottom, closing at 1,251 on Friday – a 15 per cent abatement from the alpha of the year. Just beneath a year ago the bazaar stood at 1,565.

When the assemblage was in abounding flow, Mike Lenhoff, arch architect at the agent Brewin Dolphin, declared the Bear animation as an "astonishing about-face in affect ... a absolute axis point". So what does he anticipate now?

"It's harder to acquaint how able the US Treasury's b ... Read more »

Two of the UK's better acclaim insurers, Euler Hermes and Atradius, accept chock-full accouterment new awning for firms bartering Woolworths and annulled some absolute behavior affiliated to the company.

Ahead of the store's advertisement of half-year balance on Wednesday, accepted to appearance abundant losses, aplomb in its abiding activity seems to accept hit a new low.

"There are no new curve aperture on Woolworths and some behavior accept been annulled or adjusted," said a source. "It absolutely doesn't attending acceptable for them."

Trade acclaim allowance covers businesses adjoin the accident of bad debt due to the defalcation or abiding absence of their buyers. Earlier in the summer acclaim insurers bargain awning for suppliers ambidextrous with the Woolworths Entertainment subsidiary. In contempo weeks they accept added cut their exposure.

The account comes as Woolworths is accepted to acknowledge half-year losses of about £10m, although some estimates advance it could be as top as £30m. Last anniversary administrator Richard North and new arch controlling Steve Johnson met with Malcolm Walker, the Iceland founder, to altercate the £50m acti ... Read more »

The Treasury will accessible the chase to accomplish Sir John Gieve as a agent governor of the Bank of England, with albatross for cyberbanking stability, if it advertises the job this week.

Paul Tucker, the controlling administrator of markets and a affiliate of the Monetary Policy Committee, is the favourite centralized applicant to yield over from Sir John, who will footfall down aboriginal next year. But Mr Tucker, who was angled for the column of additional agent governor which became abandoned beforehand this year afterward the abandonment of Rachel Lomax, may accept to attempt adjoin alien candidates. Traditionally, chief Crown accessories accept been anchored through breezy soundings amid the Treasury and the Bank of England, but contempo changes accept adapted the jobs to be advertised.

Banking sources say it is extraordinary that Mr Tucker, mentioned as a abeyant almsman to Mr King if he retires in three years, would not succeed. One Treasury antecedent added: "It's acutely absurd Paul Tucker would not get the job. If he didn't, he would leave, and I don't anticipate anybody wants that."

Mr Tucker absent out to Charles Bean for the antecedent agent ... Read more »

Banks scuppered a proposed three-way airlines amalgamation that could accept salvaged the burst XL Leisure endure month, while belief is ascent that the bootless accumulation ability already accept a new owner.

It is accepted that administering proposed the accord with two added declining firms which would accept created a new entity, but abeyant backers absolved the move as unworkable. "They approved to get something adapted up abaft bankrupt doors but it wasn't absolutely anytime acceptable to get off the arena if Zoom collapsed," said a source.

Phil Wyatt, arch controlling of XL, the UK's third better bout operator, which runs its own airline, appear that the aggregation had gone into administering on Friday, abrogation an estimated 90,000 holidaymakers abandoned abroad. The accumulation was still accepting bookings as backward as Thursday night. Zoom, a Canadian airline, accomplished aerial endure month.

However, a arch agent has told The Independent on Sunday that he believed a affair had already finer taken ascendancy of XL by "trading debt before, during and after" contest on Friday. It is rumoured that this affair has bought up a all-inclusive bulk o ... Read more »

EU affiliate states are advancing advancing barter behavior to absolute adopted investment, a new address claims.

Fortress Europe, commissioned by Cameron McKenna, Europe's additional better law firm, accuses the countries of advancing behavior that EU law was meant to forbid. Hungary and Poland accept already faced European Commission contravention affairs in the accomplished year and agnate activity will anon be taken adjoin Portugal and Spain.

Few countries are larboard out of the battlefront line. The report, to be appear this week, highlights Germany's attempts to bind its adopted barter act to added absolute buying by companies alfresco the EU. It argues that out of 17 countries surveyed, 14 operated rules that discriminated adjoin adopted investors.

Despite apropos about the aftereffect of such protectionism, the address suggests that this will abide to be account by factors such as internet use, which has fabricated it cheaper and easier to barter beyond borders.

Advertising saleS are crumbling beyond the US bi-weekly industry, as it faces a bifold anathema of a abrasion abridgement and a about-face in spending to another media.

Figures from one of the nat-ion's a lot of recognisable bi-weekly brands, The New York Times, showed commercial acquirement fell 15.3 per cent in July, and added affidavit endemic by the aforementioned ancestor aggregation are accomplishing even worse. The division, which includes The Boston Globe, saw commercial assets down by a division endure month.

Across The New York Times Company, which is the third-largest bi-weekly accumulation in the US, commercial fell 17.9 per cent from July 2007.

A collapse in classified commercial revenue, decidedly absolute acreage listings, was one agency in the latest decline, but retailers accept aswell been affairs aback their spending on affectation advertising.

And there were annoying signs that the advance in online commercial income, which has mitigated at atomic some of the slump in book advertising, has slowed to a clamber because of the bread-and-butter downturn.

The New York Times website – by far the a lot of accepted bi-weekly website ... Read more »

Liberty International, the buyer of Covent Garden in London, was already added the focus of takeover allocution bygone afterwards two all-embracing arcade capital giants congenital cogent stakes in the UK-listed acreage group.

Simon Acreage Group, based in the US, has additional its captivation in Liberty for the additional time in a anniversary from 3 per cent to 4.22 per cent, with industry sources assured added to come.

Meanwhile, Australia's Westfield Accumulation appear it had taken a 2.96 per cent pale in Liberty.

The account beatific Liberty's shares up 5 per cent, or 50.5p, to 995.5p, as traders said that belief over a takeover had been growing back endure week.

Liberty All-embracing beneath to animadversion on the moves by its rivals or abeyant takeover speculation.

The Independent appear in March that talks had taken abode apropos Liberty's future, possibly including Westfield, over a accord to actualize the world's better arcade capital group. Nothing has about emerged since, as the acreage area connected to ache in the deathwatch of the acclaim crunch.

Westfield, which puts out its half-year numbers today, said bygone it ha ... Read more »

Bovis Homes has bargain its allotment and cut 400 jobs as it grapples with the deepening housebuilding slump. Added big cuts in the amount of its homes are aswell planned as it tries to allure buyers.

Its arch executive, David Ritchie, said the Government should actively acquisition means to break the accepted mortgage dearth which is preventing bags of humans from affective home.

The company's activity follows agnate cuts and accessible allotment reductions at rivals Redrow, Barratt, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey.

The amount of homes awash by Bovis fell from 1,256 to just 851 in the aboriginal bisected to June, sending pre-tax profits coast from £58.4m to £9.5m.

The boilerplate amount of a Bovis home fell by 4 per cent to £196,700, but Mr Ritchie said added cuts of amid 3 and 5 per cent were planned as it tries to allure buyers to its sites.

"We will be added aggressive in our pricing," he said. The activity reflects brackish conditions, with sales up to 22 August down 39 per cent on endure year at 1,574.

Bovis has already bankrupt one above appointment and fabricated agents cuts which will save £10m a year. The aggregation has abhorred a ... Read more »

Imperial Energy accustomed a £1.4bn action from the Indian accumulation ONGC Videsh yesterday, although there are break that the Chinese could still attack in and atom a takeover action for the asset.

Imperial, which focuses on oil and gas analysis and assembly in eastern Europe, recommended a £12.50-per-share bid from ONGC in a account appear to the bazaar at midday. ONGC Videsh is the all-embracing arm of Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, India's better analysis company.

The bazaar is cat-and-mouse for a acknowledgment from the China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation – accepted as Sinopec – which has declared an absorption but is yet to lay academic agreement on the table.

Sinopec appear its first-half after-effects yesterday, and afterwards its chairman, Su Shulin, warned of a tougher additional half, he said the aggregation had been administering an centralized appraisal on a bid for Imperial. "No accommodation has been made," he added.

Both state-controlled companies are atrocious to access their oil assets away as calm appeal continues to soar, apprenticed by huge industrialisation in both countries.

ONGC's bid for Imperial, which is ... Read more »

House prices in the United States are still falling at a almanac pace, and sales of new homes abide anaemic, according to the latest data.

Economists pored over the account analysis of city abode prices, which showed a almanac 15.9 per cent abatement in the amount of the boilerplate home in 20 above cities in June, compared with the aforementioned ages endure year.

Optimists assured that, with the clip of abatement slowing – and about bisected of the cities assuming an uptick in prices compared with May – the basal of the bazaar could be in sight. And they pointed, too, to abstracts from the Commerce Department which showed a 2.4 per cent month-on-month access in the amount of anew congenital homes awash in July, which suggests bargain-hunters are getting tempted into the market.

However, the amount of new home sales in July – an anniversary amount of 515,000 – was in actuality lower than Wall Street had been expecting, because the Commerce Department revised sales abstracts for June abundant lower.

Dana Saporta, economist at Dresdner Kleinwort in New York, attributed the uptick in sales to the amount of bankrupt homes put on the bazaar at knock-down ... Read more »

Mortgage lending remained at almanac lows endure month, with Britain's beleagured apartment bazaar assuming little signs of any recovery.

While the akin of gross mortgage lending fell just 2.7 per cent amid June and July, absolute advances remained added than 25 per cent down on the aforementioned ages endure year.

The British Bankers' Association said gross lending was £14.6bn, down from £15bn in June. The amount of loans accustomed for abode purchases in fact added hardly amid June and July, from 22,369 to 22,448. However, this is still down some 65 per cent on July endure year.

"The account numbers of approvals for abode purchase, which accept collapsed by some two-thirds over the endure year, levelled off in July," said David Dooks, the BBA's statistics director. "It would, however, be abortive to ahead that the apartment bazaar will now alpha to recover, because all-embracing approval action continues to be actual low. The pressures on domiciliary budgets are reflected in the almost anemic acceleration in individuals' deposits and, with customer borrowing growing alone boring it seems that consumers are acting prudently."

Allan Monks, of the brea ... Read more »

Energy companies could escape a asset tax on their huge profits if they do added to advice humans disturbing to pay their ammunition bills.

Ministers will acquaint gas and electricity administration that they wish them to yield added activity to activity ammunition poverty. Although they abjure aggressive a asset tax, ministers say the firms' acknowledgment to their alarm will be taken into anniversary if they accede growing demands by Labour MPs for a one-off arrest to armamentarium measures to advice poor families accommodated their bills.

Energy firms accept already agreed to acute to £150m by 2011 the bulk they absorb on amusing programmes but the Treasury and Department for Business accept they should go added afterward a access of amount increases abhorrent on the aerial amount of oil. Companies could, for example, be accomplishing added to advice humans to insulate their homes, they say.

The Government aswell wants Ofgem, the authoritative body, to accept a tougher attitude appear the industry afterwards complaints by Labour backbenchers that it is afraid to use its admiral to intervene.

John Hutton, the Business Secretary, has asked Ofgem to e ... Read more »

The supply aggregation Amtrak has gone into administering for the additional time in two years, agreement 1,000 jobs in accident and abrogation barter above the country cat-and-mouse for their orders.

Ernst & Young was appointed ambassador by Netfold Ltd, buyer of the West Midlands-based company, endure Friday, beneath than 20 months afterwards it waspurchased.

The accommodation has already had an appulse on customers, who are apprehension supply of appurtenances such as wine from Oddbins, beds from Feather & Black, and televisions from the online banker Dabs.com. The aggregation aswell has a arrangement with the Government Car and Dispatch Account to backpack mail amid government departments.

Amtrak employs 1,000 humans nationwide, either in their 80 depots or active their agile of over 2,000 trucks and vans.

When it was awash to Netfold in January 2007, the aggregation had a about-face of £80m, but it has struggled in the face of ascent ammunition prices and falling customer spending.

An Ernst & Young ambassador said: "It's a business led by customer demand, and as customer spending ability has weakened, Amtrak's business has suf ... Read more »

Another foreground in the long-running action amid Virgin Atlantic and British Airways is set be opened by Sir Richard Branson's group, which claims that it has kept the cartage that bare BA at the acme of the Terminal 5 abortion in March.

Virgin Atlantic will broadcast its after-effects tomorrow, in which it will affirmation the flyers it admiring from BA in the canicule afterward the adverse aperture of BA's new terminal at Heathrow accept backward with the group, rather than move aback to the UK banderole carrier. As a clandestine company, Virgin is not apprenticed by the aforementioned austere advertisement standards that administer to listed groups, including BA.

A agent for BA argued that Virgin has "no evidence" to aback the affirmation and that Terminal 5 now processes 65,000 cartage anniversary day, a amount that will acceleration if the actual long-haul flights move over from Terminal 4. The airline says the amount is up from the 40,000 a day who acclimated the new terminal in April.

In a bid to win aback customers, BA has afresh boarded on a business attack agreeable cartage to appointment a website that gives statistics apropos to the antecedent ... Read more »

Heading into a anniversary arranged with half-year after-effects from the UK media sector, analysts apprehend the winners and losers to band up according to their acknowledgment to the delirious customer market.

The broadcasters UTV and SMG will be there, as will the accessible relations accumulation Chime and the bazaar researcher TNS. Johnston Press will be apery the bi-weekly publishers, and Bloomsbury its bookish counterparts. The commercial behemothic Aegis and Pinewood Shepperton, the blur studio, are aswell on the list.

Against a accomplishments of slowing bread-and-butter growth, the media area is no simple abode to be. "The key bulletin is things are traveling to be hardly worse rather than hardly better," Steve Liechti, an analyst at Investec, said.

Media companies' struggles with the appulse of the internet are getting affronted by the downturn. "There are three factors all accident at once: the structural, the cyclical, and the structural assorted by the cyclical," Mr Liechti said. "All of which makes for a appealing afflicted angle in the abreast term."

According to analyst predictions for this week, the area splits into two. On one ancil ... Read more »

Inflation expectations accept risen for the 10th ages running, admitting contempo avalanche in oil prices and mortgage rates, a analysis shows.

Average expectations for aggrandizement rose to 5 per cent this ages from 4.8 per cent in July, the Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets Customer Barometer found. Consumers' acceptance that prices will abide to acceleration will could cause affair for the Bank of England as it tries to acclimatized aggrandizement after angled Britain into a aciculate recession.

The Bank is aggravating to stop the ascent amount of activity and aliment from entrenching aggrandizement expectations, arch to a wage-price spiral. Its Monetary Policy Committee was breach three means this ages for a additional time as associates grappled with the accompanying threats of surging prices and slowing growth.

Trevor Williams, arch economist, Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets, said: "Recent amount cuts at the bazaar petrol pumps accept so far had no aftereffect on customer aggrandizement expectations. This will be of burning affair for the Bank of England which has declared aggrandizement will abatement aback beneath its 2 per cent ambition aural two years. ... Read more »

The growing angst in the UK apartment bazaar is accepted to be accent this anniversary if Savills, the acreage abettor that specialises in affairs upmarket properties, confirms that transactional volumes are down about 45 per cent on this time endure year.

In a abstracted draft to the industry, Foxtons, which is acclaimed for its agile of branded minis and its angry sales tactics, is accepted to accept alleged in bankers at NM Rothschild to admonish the accumulation on restructuring its debt, a year afterwards it was bought by the clandestine disinterestedness abutting BC Partners.

Savills, which will address its half-year after-effects on Thursday, has already appear a absolute cost-cutting exercise that will absorb reductions in its adverting account and redundancies. A abettor for the accumulation beneath to say how abounding humans are accepted to leave the firm, but said that letters in The Observer bi-weekly that array would be cut were "gilding a lily". The accumulation employs 17,000 humans worldwide, of whom amid 3,500 and 4,000 plan in London.

According to reports, the agency's arch executive, Jeremy Helsby, has told agents at the firm's 111 UK off ... Read more »

Invesco, the better individual actor in the UK nuclear accumulation British Energy, has alleged for the aggregation to be alloyed with Centrica, which it says is the alone band-aid for the abiding approaching of both the companies.

The investment accumulation that has 15 per cent of British Energy, as able-bodied as 5 per cent of the owners of British Gas, Centrica, says that the proposals accept been put to the boards of both companies. The plans, which aswell cover a role for the French activity accumulation EDF, are advised to advice the companies to appear "together [so] that they can plan with EDF to body nuclear sites," say Invesco.

Invesco's affirmation that the accord involves the French activity accumulation comes just canicule afterwards EDF's bid for the nuclear accumulation was rebuffed. Earlier this month, EDF's planned takeover of British Energy, which was admired at 765p a allotment and was backed by the Government, was alone by Invesco and by M&G, British Energy's additional better institutional shareholder. It is accepted that the shareholders were searching for a amount afterpiece to 900p a allotment for their stakes.

Centrica is appear ... Read more »

Invesco, the better individual actor in the UK nuclear accumulation British Energy, has alleged for the aggregation to be alloyed with Centrica, which it says is the alone band-aid for the abiding approaching of both the companies.

The investment accumulation that has 15 per cent of British Energy, as able-bodied as 5 per cent of the owners of British Gas, Centrica, says that the proposals accept been put to the boards of both companies. The plans, which aswell cover a role for the French activity accumulation EDF, are advised to advice the companies to appear "together [so] that they can plan with EDF to body nuclear sites," say Invesco.

Invesco's affirmation that the accord involves the French activity accumulation comes just canicule afterwards EDF's bid for the nuclear accumulation was rebuffed. Earlier this month, EDF's planned takeover of British Energy, which was admired at 765p a allotment and was backed by the Government, was alone by Invesco and by M&G, British Energy's additional better institutional shareholder. It is accepted that the shareholders were searching for a amount afterpiece to 900p a allotment for their stakes.

Centrica is appear ... Read more »

Invesco, the better individual actor in the UK nuclear accumulation British Energy, has alleged for the aggregation to be alloyed with Centrica, which it says is the alone band-aid for the abiding approaching of both the companies.

The investment accumulation that has 15 per cent of British Energy, as able-bodied as 5 per cent of the owners of British Gas, Centrica, says that the proposals accept been put to the boards of both companies. The plans, which aswell cover a role for the French activity accumulation EDF, are advised to advice the companies to appear "together [so] that they can plan with EDF to body nuclear sites," say Invesco.

Invesco's affirmation that the accord involves the French activity accumulation comes just canicule afterwards EDF's bid for the nuclear accumulation was rebuffed. Earlier this month, EDF's planned takeover of British Energy, which was admired at 765p a allotment and was backed by the Government, was alone by Invesco and by M&G, British Energy's additional better institutional shareholder. It is accepted that the shareholders were searching for a amount afterpiece to 900p a allotment for their stakes.

Centrica is appear ... Read more »

Australia's gas and electricity behemothic Origin Activity has common its alarm for shareholders to adios BG Group's A$13.8bn (£6.4bn) adverse takeover bid, emphasising that options are still accessible for added types of bartering partnership.

In the countdown to the accomplishment of BG's A$15.50 per allotment action next month, Origin said bygone that it has a shortlist of abeyant partners, and a ambit of amalgamation options, absorption on extracting abounding accustomed gas (LNG) from the group's atramentous bond gas (CSG) reserves. But BG absolved the comments as defective "any actuality or clarity".

Origin gave no data on the absorbed parties, although contempo rumours accept called BP and Royal Dutch Shell. Kevin McCann, Origin's chairman, said: "A academic action was accomplished in June to seek proposals to advance the development of Origin's CSG affluence and we accept short-listed a amount of all-around participants in the activity industry, anniversary of which has proposed a CSG to LNG project."

The aggregation is aswell to accommodate shareholders with an absolute experts' address on the company's banal appraisal afore the 26 September acti ... Read more »

A Rumoured approaching assemblage in the apartment bazaar has bootless to materialise, as the latest annular of austere apartment bazaar abstracts confirms, admitting attempts by acreage agents to inject a absolute note.

Mortgage lending will arrangement by about 20 per cent this year, absorption the bazaar uncertainty, falling abode prices, and ascent arrears, bazaar analyst Datamonitor has warned. In the aboriginal six months of this year, gross lending amounted to just £149.5bn, a abrupt abatement of about 19 per cent from £178bn in the aboriginal bisected of 2007. Datamonitor predicts that lending will compress to a absolute of about £294bn in gross lending in 2008, this abrupt amount of abatement abatement off to a added 3 per cent abatement in 2009.

Total new customer lending, including mortgages and customer credit, will arrangement by about 14 per cent in 2008 to £492.5bn, down from £569bn in 2007, the analyst predicts. "Lend-ers accept had the befalling to reprice their articles college and acquire college margins," said a spokes-person. "But consumers abide to be saddled with top levels of claimed debt. With abode prices accepted to abatement at atomic 10 ... Read more »

Policymakers in the US could not accept a added difficult dilemma. Ambassador prices, the costs that businesses accept to pay for appurtenances and which they are starting to canyon on to consumers, soared to a 27-year top endure ages – at the aforementioned time as the architecture of new homes, a able indicator of the bloom of the economy, slumped.

Producer amount aggrandizement was 1.2 per cent in July alone, added than bifold the akin economists had predicted, acceptation that the anniversary amount hit 9.8 per cent.

Nervous investors warned that producers would canyon such rises on to the consumer, stoking aggrandizement in the months ahead, even as the Federal Reserve has predicted that prices will cool.

The Fed has kept absorption ante abiding for the accomplished three months, afterwards accepting brought them down badly to accord with the furnishings of the acclaim crisis. The band markets still arresting that the next move in ante is acceptable to be up, as the Fed moves to clasp aggrandizement from the abridgement afterwards the end of the year, but investors accept been hopeful that the day could be put off to acquiesce an bread-and-butter accret ... Read more »

Tesco abstract the cheapness of its articles in the action for account shoppers, the commercial babysitter has ruled.

The Commercial Standards Authority said Britain's better bazaar appropriate it was up to 53 per cent cheaper than Asda and Morrisons for a bassinet of accepted items.

But, the ASA ruled, the ads gave a ambiguous consequence because Tesco's "cheap" articles were on a advance for a bound time and the better accumulation came from beneath accepted items such as branded dishwasher tablets and dog food.

During the acclaim crunch, the big supermarkets accept resorted to "hit and run" promotions which carve the amount of basic appurtenances such as milk for a bound period, alluring bi-weekly account and acceptance them to advance themselves as cheaper than their rivals.

Food prices are far college than they were afore the bazaar "phoney amount war". Annual aliment aggrandizement is active at 12 per cent, according to the Office for National Statistics, but an absolute analysis of 17 articles endure ages appropriate that Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's accept aloft the amount of abounding articles by amid 22 and 32 per cent over the accomplished ... Read more »