Britain's pound took a battering on foreign exchange markets on Monday, falling more than 1 percent to 10-month lows against the dollar on worries about a coming election and its impact on the G7 nation's economy. Wall Street looked set for gains, but equities in Europe were depressed as investors digested Prudential's purchase of AIG's
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Greece needs to take further action to tackle its debt crisis and must meet its budget goals, EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said on Monday. "I am asking the Greek government to announce new measures in the coming days," Rehn told reporters after talks with Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou. For his part, Papaconstantinou said
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Factories around the world enjoyed a bumper February with business surveys showing the manufacturing sector in major economies continued to lead an economic recovery, despite a slowdown in some growth rates. Factory activity expanded across Asia last month, although powerhouse China showed some signs of weakening, while in Europe growth rates hit 30-month highs despite
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HSBC Holdings missed expectations with a $7 billion annual profit after bad debts rose and risked a public backlash by paying three investment bankers over 9 million pounds ($13.7 million) each. Europe's biggest bank said on Monday that Stuart Gulliver, head of investment banking, would receive 9.8 million pounds ($14.9 million) for 2009, mostly in
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British consumer and mortgage lending rose faster than expected in January, though mortgage approvals dipped due to tax changes and poor weather, Bank of England figures showed on Monday. The central bank said that consumer credit posted its biggest rise since November 2008, rising by 500 million pounds in January after an upwardly revised increase
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Outbound travel showed signs of recovery in January as the number of residents of Cyprus returning from a trip abroad rose by 6.5% over the corresponding month of 2009 to reach 78.328, compared with 73,550 in January 2009. There was an increase of 16.9% in the number of trips of residents to Greece (from 20,904
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Rising mining stocks, powered by surging copper prices, lifted Britain's top share index to a five-week high early on Monday, but gains were capped by HSBC after the bank's results missed expectations. At 0915 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 36.67 points, or 0.7 percent to 5,391.09 points, having hit a five-week high earlier of
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Equity investors kicked off the new month in a buying mood on Monday, lifted by speculation an EU deal over Greek debt was pending and piling into mining stocks as copper prices rose after the Chile earthquake. Uncertainity over British politics, meanwhile, knocked sterling to its lowest level against the dollar in nine months. World
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HSBC Holdings missed expectations with a $7.1 billion annual pretax profit as accounting losses masked record investment bank earnings and a late year slowdown in bad debts at its troubled U.S. business. Profits by Europe's biggest bank in 2009 were down from $9.3 billion in 2008, missing an expected pre-tax profit forecast of $11.4 billion,
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Euro zone unemployment remained at 9.9 percent in January and the previous month's jobless numbers were lower than previously thought, data showed, defying expectations of further labour market deterioration. The European Union's statistics agency said unemployment in the 16-country currency area stayed unchanged from the downwardly revised December reading. It had previously estimated December unemployment
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