. By Shavasb Bohdjalian Forex traders warmly welcomed the EU sumit accord, which essentially means Greece has been saved, removing the main uncertainty which had dominated the forex markets over the past few weeks. Fitch has already announced that it may put Greece on restrictive default, while Moody’s downgraded the country to Ca from Caa1
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. ANALYSIS * European politicians have mishandled immigration debate * Anti-immigrant political rhetoric offers no solutions Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik said he killed 93 people to spark a "revolution" against the multiculturalism he believed was sapping Europe's heritage, and experts say a frank debate about immigration may be the best way to prevent similar explosions
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. Yet another bastion of anti-entrepreneurship and free market obstacles has finally come down. It took a court decision last week to determine that the antiquated laws restricting sales periods for retailers was in violation of European Directives on free market activities. The Limassol District court ruled in favour of Shacolas Group’s Ermes Department Stores
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The fragile coalition government in Cyprus is headed to collapse as the junior partner is disappointed by the mainly communist government’s inability to deal with a major energy, financial and political crisis. The centre-right Democratic Party (DIKO) told its ministers to submit their resignations on Wednesday in a bid to force the hand of a
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Gold fell on Wednesday after hitting record highs near $1,630 an ounce, as a broad sell-off of riskier assets prompted bullion investors to take profits amid mounting fears of a U.S. debt default. Gold initially benefited on news a vote on a deficit reduction plan offered by House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner was pushed
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Debt issued by Cyprus will no longer be eligible for use with clearing house LCH.Clearnet's repo service following Moody's move to cut Cyprus' credit rating cut earlier on Wednesday, the company said. LCH.Clearnet, in a statement on its website, said the criteria for each of its 'baskets' of eligible bonds remained fixed, and that until
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The island’s two main lenders, Bank of Cyprus and Marfin Popular Bank, have issued a total of 1 bln euros in covered bonds, both eventually aiming to issue a total of 10 bln of the instrument. Market analysts said this was the first facility by both banks to enhance their position and make provision “if
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* Economic sentiment drops in July * Moody's cut Cyprus's credit rating by two notches on Wednesday, saying an energy crisis and fallout from the island's banks' exposure to Greek debt risked derailing fiscal reforms, and a further downgrade was possible. The rating agency also cut its growth outlook for Cyprus, to zero this year
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Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas and HSBC are advising Greece on its planned voluntary swap of privately-held government bonds for longer maturity paper, a finance ministry official told Reuters on Wednesday. Greece's private sector creditors will take a 21% loss on their bond holdings as part of a 37 bln euro contribution to a rescue plan
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Private bank EFG International reported an 18% fall in its first-half core net profit on Wednesday as the strong Swiss franc hit euro and dollar revenues and client inflows fell short of targets. The bank reaffirmed the core net profit target for the year of 140 mln to 160 mln Swiss francs which it cut
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