The talks had long been kept secret, but Deutsche Börse AG apparently had plans to merge with the New York Stock Exchange. Now that the news is out, Deutsche Börse is saying the deal fell through. The plans, though, were highly developed.
Wagon, which employs more than 500 people in the UK, is set to appoint administrators for its British operations this week after car makers cut orders for Wagon's vehicle components. BA said yesterday that it would cut more than 100 jobs at Gatwick airport as part of a plan to reduce services there by 15 per cent from the middle of next year. The cuts to ground staff will be made voluntarily as aircraft based at Gatwick are reduced from 41 to 37, the airline pledged.
The company, controlled by Wilbur Ross, an American rich businessman did not manage convince the banks to lend him more money. Banks like Royal Bank of Scotland or Lloyds TSB refused to support the company with another 12 million euro. The company, with headquarters in Birmingham has 6300 employees globally and declared that UK employees have every chance to be fired. However, the company holds that its other factories in Spain, Romania, Italy or Turkey might continue their activities.
The company, with headquarters in Birmingham has 6300 employees globally and declared that UK employees have every chance to be fired. However, the company holds that its other factories in Spain, Romania, Italy or Turkey might continue their activities.
...Even though Dacia registered a success in its exports this does not compensate with the general decrease of the car market in Europe, the company informs... In Romania, the car market registered a 50% decrease in November 2008 and in the same month, Dacia sold 4698 cars on the internal market, a 52% decrease as compared to the similar month, last year. Starting July 2008, second hand imports increased in Romania: in November alone, there were 50 912 requests for officials to verify second hand cars. The number of requests received after July 1, 2008 increased to 217 510. Most requests target cars that are at least 10 years old.
In Romania, the car market registered a 50% decrease in November 2008 and in the same month, Dacia sold 4698 cars on the internal market, a 52% decrease as compared to the similar month, last year.
Starting July 2008, second hand imports increased in Romania: in November alone, there were 50 912 requests for officials to verify second hand cars. The number of requests received after July 1, 2008 increased to 217 510. Most requests target cars that are at least 10 years old.
(Dacia is a car manufacturer in Romania that started with license production of a Renault model in 'communist' times.) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Job losses in the services industry are expected to accelerate after business slumped in the three months to November, a Confederation of Brit-ish Industry (CBI) report shows. Consumer and business services companies were both hit hard by falls in volumes and profitability as customers reined in their spending.
A political movement in Bulgaria launched a campaign aimed at encouraging Bulgarian citizens to consume local products, Novinite informs. The campaign, entitled "Let's increase the consumption of Bulgarian products" and plans to negotiate with producers to label their produces as Made in Bulgaria. This way, the initiators want to make sure that citizens know what products they buy. Plus, as people will purchase local goods, a 0.01 leva will be transferred to a special account to help those who lost their jobs due to the financial crisis. Over 10 days, the movement will launch the video campaign on all local televisions.
Frank Delaney ~ Ireland
Generally written by members of the wealthiest part of the world's population to pretend that they're hard done by.
Second, my major point is that, as we continue down the current road, all countries will attempt to protect their own populations in terms of food, jobs, etc. or they will see severe "social unrest" (like Greece is currently experiencing "social unrest") which could force them out of their jobs (oh no, NOT THAT!).
Third, as much as the vast hoard of people are about to see Depression Era conditions, as you would expect, the ultra-wealthy will do just fine as the vast majority fishes through garbage cans for dinner. No need to go into a strict definition of who's wealthy, who's not. In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.
Discounts of up to 75 per cent saw shoppers flood the high street over the weekend, prompting hopes that reluctance to spend because of the credit crunch may finally be easing. In central London, traffic was banned from Oxford Street and Regent Street on Saturday as part of West End VIP Day - an annual event to make Christmas shopping easier. Organisers believe the event attracted about 1.5 million people, up from around a million last year. Sales, however, were expected to be flat at about L100m, given heavy discounting.
It would be interesting to know how profitable last year was compared to this year, on equivalent sales.
The local Woolworths, which is in administration, had some eye popping bargains when I had a look around.
There were DVDs reduced by an epic 35p - from £9.99 to £9.64.
Gordon Brown has said more investment is needed in technology and environmentally friendly industries in an effort to tackle the downturn. The prime minister held Downing Street talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Jose Manuel Barroso, head of the European Commission. Afterwards he said technology could help governments in their efforts to "invest out of the downturn". EU leaders are to hold an economic summit in Brussels later this week. Also taking part in Downing Street meetings were representatives of companies including Vodafone, Tesco, British Telecom, the National Grid, Corus, Prudential and Diageo.
Gordon Brown has said more investment is needed in technology and environmentally friendly industries in an effort to tackle the downturn.
The prime minister held Downing Street talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Jose Manuel Barroso, head of the European Commission.
Afterwards he said technology could help governments in their efforts to "invest out of the downturn".
EU leaders are to hold an economic summit in Brussels later this week.
Also taking part in Downing Street meetings were representatives of companies including Vodafone, Tesco, British Telecom, the National Grid, Corus, Prudential and Diageo.
more investment is needed in technology and environmentally friendly industries in an effort to tackle the downturn.
Japan's biggest bond investors say Barack Obama has room to unleash a flood of Treasuries without driving up borrowing costs as he tackles the worst economy since World War II. The U.S. is starting to look like Japan in the 1990s, when the Bank of Japan struggled to revive growth as the combination of deflation and recessions stranded the nation in the so-called Lost Decade. Yields on Treasuries are falling as the government sells a record amount of debt to prop up the American economy. Two-year note yields have fallen to 1 percent, compared with 0.57 percent for Japanese government bonds of similar maturity. The gap last week touched the narrowest since 1992. "History repeats itself," said Hiroyuki Bando, chief manager for fixed income, equities and currencies in Tokyo at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp., which manages the equivalent of $200 billion and invests on behalf of Japan's biggest bank. "Based on our experience in Japan, the same thing will happen in the U.S. The U.S. has more room to borrow." Bando bought Treasuries, as did Mizuho Asset Management Co., which oversees $41.9 billion and bet all year that inflation in the U.S. will turn into deflation, buoying government debt. JPMorgan Asset Management Japan Ltd., part of the largest U.S. lender, is buying Treasuries, speculating the Federal Reserve will purchase the securities to keep yields down and spur the economy, just as the Bank of Japan did a decade ago. Fed holdings of Treasuries on behalf of foreign central banks and other institutions rose 12 percent since September, compared with a 7.7 percent increase last quarter.
Japan's biggest bond investors say Barack Obama has room to unleash a flood of Treasuries without driving up borrowing costs as he tackles the worst economy since World War II.
The U.S. is starting to look like Japan in the 1990s, when the Bank of Japan struggled to revive growth as the combination of deflation and recessions stranded the nation in the so-called Lost Decade. Yields on Treasuries are falling as the government sells a record amount of debt to prop up the American economy. Two-year note yields have fallen to 1 percent, compared with 0.57 percent for Japanese government bonds of similar maturity. The gap last week touched the narrowest since 1992.
"History repeats itself," said Hiroyuki Bando, chief manager for fixed income, equities and currencies in Tokyo at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp., which manages the equivalent of $200 billion and invests on behalf of Japan's biggest bank. "Based on our experience in Japan, the same thing will happen in the U.S. The U.S. has more room to borrow."
Bando bought Treasuries, as did Mizuho Asset Management Co., which oversees $41.9 billion and bet all year that inflation in the U.S. will turn into deflation, buoying government debt. JPMorgan Asset Management Japan Ltd., part of the largest U.S. lender, is buying Treasuries, speculating the Federal Reserve will purchase the securities to keep yields down and spur the economy, just as the Bank of Japan did a decade ago.
Fed holdings of Treasuries on behalf of foreign central banks and other institutions rose 12 percent since September, compared with a 7.7 percent increase last quarter.
This article seems to be using the phrase "Obama bonds" in a different sense than it was used here:
Japan economists call for 'Obama bonds' | Asia Times - Kosuke Takahashi (2008 November 19)
"The US will be forced to issue foreign currency-denominated US Treasures in its hour of need," said Mizuno [Kazuo, chief economist in Tokyo at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co, a unit of Japan's largest publicly traded lender by assets]. "The US cannot finance its deficit by itself. The US financial system cannot survive without foreign investors. We will see 'Obama Bonds' in the future." <...>
Yields on two-year U.S. notes have fallen for five straight weeks and are down from this year's high of 3.11 percent in June. They may drop to 0.6 percent by mid-2009, JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts led by Terry Belton and Srini Ramaswamy in New York said in a Nov. 28 report. The level is "not unreasonable" since yields in Japan were between 0.1 percent and 0.8 percent for three months after the central bank began its zero-rate policy in 1999, the analysts wrote. The Fed will cut its target overnight rate for loans between banks to zero by January from 1 percent now, the JPMorgan analysts said in their 2009 U.S. fixed-income outlook. London-based HSBC Holdings Plc and New York-based Citigroup Inc., which like JPMorgan are among the 17 primary dealers of U.S. government securities that trade with the Fed, also predict the rate will go to zero.
The level is "not unreasonable" since yields in Japan were between 0.1 percent and 0.8 percent for three months after the central bank began its zero-rate policy in 1999, the analysts wrote.
The Fed will cut its target overnight rate for loans between banks to zero by January from 1 percent now, the JPMorgan analysts said in their 2009 U.S. fixed-income outlook. London-based HSBC Holdings Plc and New York-based Citigroup Inc., which like JPMorgan are among the 17 primary dealers of U.S. government securities that trade with the Fed, also predict the rate will go to zero.
You asked, Is there a problem here? There's your answer. That's the problem. When you stopped worrying about the curliness of your fries, when workers like you stopped worrying about the curliness, or creaminess, or deadliness of their respective fries, that's when this country got on the wrong track; that's when the bankers and the C.E.O.s all disappeared into that underground paradise they've been building since the eighties; that's when women's skin started falling off; that's when the Treasury Department, in a last-ditch effort to solve the financial crisis, certified all Monopoly and other board-game moneys; that's when the rivers ran red, and gelatinous, with what many thought was strawberry Jell-O but really, really was not; that's when the post office finally followed through on its threats to stop Saturday delivery; that's when dogs mated with cats, producing a pet that was unfriendly yet still slobbered all over you; that's when the President and the Congress went on a fact-finding mission to Subterrania and never came back; that's when baboons gained speech but only used it to make hurtful comments; that's when the dead rose and flooded the job market with cheap, disposable labor, and the serpents, seeing an opening, took dominion over this once great nation of ours.You and your uncurled fries.Oh, yeah, sure. And the asteroid. Let's all blame the asteroid.
You asked, Is there a problem here? There's your answer. That's the problem. When you stopped worrying about the curliness of your fries, when workers like you stopped worrying about the curliness, or creaminess, or deadliness of their respective fries, that's when this country got on the wrong track; that's when the bankers and the C.E.O.s all disappeared into that underground paradise they've been building since the eighties; that's when women's skin started falling off; that's when the Treasury Department, in a last-ditch effort to solve the financial crisis, certified all Monopoly and other board-game moneys; that's when the rivers ran red, and gelatinous, with what many thought was strawberry Jell-O but really, really was not; that's when the post office finally followed through on its threats to stop Saturday delivery; that's when dogs mated with cats, producing a pet that was unfriendly yet still slobbered all over you; that's when the President and the Congress went on a fact-finding mission to Subterrania and never came back; that's when baboons gained speech but only used it to make hurtful comments; that's when the dead rose and flooded the job market with cheap, disposable labor, and the serpents, seeing an opening, took dominion over this once great nation of ours.
You and your uncurled fries.
Oh, yeah, sure. And the asteroid. Let's all blame the asteroid.
A leaked intelligence document issued by Spain's CNI spy agency in October warns that Russia is aggressively pursuing a plan to "monopolize access to energy supplies to Europe." The report validates what many analysts have been saying for a long time, namely that Moscow is using Russian energy companies to gain geo-strategic control over northern, central and southern Europe. Now Russia's largest independent oil company, Lukoil, is negotiating the purchase of a 30 percent stake in Repsol YPF SA, Spain's largest oil company. The deal, which is valued at 5 billion euros ($6.5 billion), calls for Lukoil to buy a 20 percent stake in Repsol from Sacyr Vallehermoso SA, a debt-laden Spanish construction company, and another 10 percent stake from La Caixa, a Catalan savings bank. Lukoil is now seeking financing in order to close the deal. News of the politically sensitive acquisition has come as a shock to many Spaniards, who now are fiercely debating the wisdom of giving effective control of their "national energy champion" to a Russian company. Analysts say the deal could lead to a full-scale takeover or break-up of Repsol, which has lagged rivals in profitability and in reserves growth in recent years. Under Spanish takeover law, a shareholder must launch an offer for the entire company once it passes the 30 percent threshold.
Now Russia's largest independent oil company, Lukoil, is negotiating the purchase of a 30 percent stake in Repsol YPF SA, Spain's largest oil company. The deal, which is valued at 5 billion euros ($6.5 billion), calls for Lukoil to buy a 20 percent stake in Repsol from Sacyr Vallehermoso SA, a debt-laden Spanish construction company, and another 10 percent stake from La Caixa, a Catalan savings bank. Lukoil is now seeking financing in order to close the deal.
News of the politically sensitive acquisition has come as a shock to many Spaniards, who now are fiercely debating the wisdom of giving effective control of their "national energy champion" to a Russian company. Analysts say the deal could lead to a full-scale takeover or break-up of Repsol, which has lagged rivals in profitability and in reserves growth in recent years. Under Spanish takeover law, a shareholder must launch an offer for the entire company once it passes the 30 percent threshold.
This is becoming a huge political deal in Spain and the Russia scaremongers in the Western™ press are having a field day. Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith
Lukoil is said to be in talks to acquire their combined 30% stake at a small fraction of the price they would have to pay in the open market
Well, this is plainly incorrect: There was a very detailed post at The Fistful of Euros. At the moment of their writing (Nov 23), Lukoil was offering something like 28 Euro/share while on Nov 21 Repsol was worth 13.61 on the open market. 14 Euro per share could be a fire sale price, but the offer is for twice that amount.
In general, the article strikes me as essentially racist. They try really hard to confuse the reader into thinking that Lukoil is state-owned, while in fact it's a private company, and included into the article for no reason a statement by Spanish Economy Minister Pedro Solbes who opposed a sale of Sacyr's Repsol stake to Gazprom (never heard of this deal). The Brussels Journal is clearly afraid of openly acknowledging that it's the Russian smell of money which they object to, and try to mask ethnic discrimination behind mythical state ownership and discounted price.
One of these days, a significant part of the European media will get hit by a huge class action anti-discrimination suit. I hope all awards would go into improving health services in Russia.
Moscow is using Russian energy companies to gain geo-strategic control over northern, central and southern Europe.
Question: what's not part of "northern, central and southern" Europe? Hmmm... some offshore financial centers with no energy companies of their own? In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
