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  • Bank of England to print more money

    Wednesday 18 Feb 2009

    Bank of England policymakers voted 8-1 in favour of cutting interest rates by half a point earlier this month, but all agreed that the process of quantitative easing should begin soon. Minutes of the meeting held on 4 and 5 February revealed perennial dove David Blanchflower wanted a full one point reduction from 1.5% to just 0.5%.

  • Property cash-call avalanche continues

    Wednesday 18 Feb 2009

    The avalanche of property companies looking to raise cash continues with Brixton and Segro, formerly Slough Estates, admitting they may undertake equity placings.

  • GM and Chrysler request extra $21.6bn

    Tuesday 17 Feb 2009

    General Motors and Chrysler, two of the US's struggling car making giants, are to slash thousands more jobs and ask for a combined $21.6bn in additional US government loans to ensure their survival. GM intends to cut 47,000 jobs, almost 20% of its workforce worldwide, in attempt to stave of bankruptcy, an event that it says would cost the US taxpayer more than $100bn.

  • Billionaire Stanford found in Virginia

    Tuesday 17 Feb 2009

    Twenty-20 cricket sponsor Sir Allen Stanford has been located in Fredericksburg, Virginia and served with papers accusing him and three of his companies of orchestrating a $8bn investment fraud, according to the FBI.

  • Inflation drops less than expected

    Tuesday 17 Feb 2009

    Inflation crept closer to the Bank of England's 2% target last month, but the fall in the annual rate was far less than expected, down to 3% from 3.1% in December. Consumer prices fell 0.7% on the month as retailers tried to tempt wary shoppers with heavily discounted goods, but the effect was diluted by big pre-Christmas sales.

  • Legal & General jumps on financial reassurance

    Monday 16 Feb 2009

    Life group Legal & General jumped by more than 10% as it reassured on its corporate bond portfolio, though it left question marks over its dividend going forward. L&G said it capital surplus was £1.6bn even after it doubled its credit default provisions to £1.2bn after reassessing its corporate bond portfolio. That capital surplus figure, though, does not include a final dividend.

  • FTSE100 - on the brink

    Monday 16 Feb 2009

    The FTSE100 has continued to slide this week on the back of pessimism about the state of the economy, and the omens are starting to look alarmingly bearish from a charting perspective.

  • Land Securities mulls rights issue

    Monday 16 Feb 2009

    Land Securities is mulling a rights issue, part of a sector-wide trend as real estate companies struggle to cope with plunging residential and commercial property prices.

  • BMW sacks 850 at Mini factory

    Monday 16 Feb 2009

    A slump in demand for its vehicles has forced BMW to cut 850 jobs at its plant in Cowley, near Oxford which makes the new Mini. The German car giant said all weekend agency staff at the factory, which will now close until next Monday, will lose their jobs. Production days will also be reduced to just five from seven on 2 March.

  • Pat on the head for 'Dogs of the Footsie'

    Friday 13 Feb 2009

    The prospect of capital growth for an investment portfolio has largely been a fantasy for the last year or so, notwithstanding the Footsie's crab-like sideways scuttle since October. A lot of investors have shifted their focus away from chasing share price appreciation to the pursuit of dividend income, and this has resulted in a revival of interest of the so-called ‘Dogs of the Footsie’ strategy.

  • Savers tempted by property again

    Friday 13 Feb 2009

    Estate agents are selling fewer homes than at any time since records began in the late seventies, but there is evidence that a massive slump in bank savings rates since last October is tempting people back into property.

  • Cash ISA deals still worth a look

    Friday 13 Feb 2009

    The plunge in interest rates to a record low of 1% this month, down from 5% in October, has seen returns on Cash ISAs plummet.

  • Blue chips have cash to pay off year’s debts

    Friday 13 Feb 2009

    FTSE 100 companies are on average carrying enough cash to repay all their debts that will fall due over the course of the next year (360 days), says DigitalLook.com, the private investors’ website. (Figures exclude financial services sector and based on latest reported results - see table of individual companies below).

  • Lloyds sinks as HBOS loses £10bn

    Friday 13 Feb 2009

    HBOS, now part of Lloyds Banking Group, is expected to have made a pre-tax loss of about £10bn in 2008 as market conditions worsen, credit quality deteriorates and estimated asset values fall. Shares in Lloyds, now 43% owned by the UK government, plunged 40% on news that the Halifax-owner will lose £1.6bn more than it predicted back in November.

  • Beazley joins cash call trend

    Friday 13 Feb 2009

    Insurer Beazley joins our ever-growing list of companies undertaking a rights issue.

  • Snow blasts sales at John Lewis

    Friday 13 Feb 2009

    The snow storms which paralysed Britain’s transport system last week and trapped shoppers in their homes crippled sales at retail bellwether John Lewis.

  • Eurozone economy suffers record slump

    Friday 13 Feb 2009

    Eurozone gross domestic product plunged by 1.5% in the fourth quarter of 2008, the biggest contraction since the euro was launched in 1999. Germany suffered its worst performance since reunification in 1990, shrinking by a larger than expected 2.1% during the final three months of the year. Analysts expected Europe’s biggest economy to contract by just 1.8%

  • Snow blasts sales at John Lewis

    Friday 13 Feb 2009

    The snow storms which paralysed Britain’s transport system last week and trapped shoppers in their homes crippled sales at retail bellwether John Lewis.

  • Irish Life directors resign, CEO stays

    Friday 13 Feb 2009

    Two directors at Irish Life and Permanent have stepped down following controversy over the bancassurer’s role in providing deposits to now-nationalised Anglo Irish Bank.

  • LSE confirms Rolet as new boss

    Friday 13 Feb 2009

    The London Stock Exchange announces that Frenchman Xavier Rolet will become its new chief executive, ending Dame Clara Furse’s eight-year reign. Rolet, the former head of Lehman Brothers’ French operation, will join the board on 16 March and take over from Furse on 20 May. Furse will remain as a director until July this year.

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