So the Obama administration just exchanged $25 billion worth of dividend paying preferred stock for not dividend paying common stock paying $3.25 a share while the market price for Citi common stock is $1.80. Somehow that deal does not make sense to me ...
So the Obama administration just exchanged $25 billion worth of dividend paying preferred stock for not dividend paying common stock paying $3.25 a share while the market price for Citi common stock is $1.80.
Somehow that deal does not make sense to me ...
Divorced bankers who have had their bonuses cut are trying to wriggle out of millions of pounds worth of maintenance payments they promised to pay their children and former wives. Dozens of ex-husbands in the City are going back to court to ask judges to reduce divorce settlements that were agreed in much rosier economic times. Two of the City's leading law firms advising bankers and wealthy businessmen confirmed that they were helping husbands get better maintenance deals in light of their clients' reduced financial circumstances.Sandra Davis, head of family law at Mishcon de Reya, told The Independent: "We have had a number of male clients who have been forced to renegotiate settlements where maintenance awards were substantial. These were based on projected bonuses and salary levels which have not been sustained in the economic downturn."
Divorced bankers who have had their bonuses cut are trying to wriggle out of millions of pounds worth of maintenance payments they promised to pay their children and former wives. Dozens of ex-husbands in the City are going back to court to ask judges to reduce divorce settlements that were agreed in much rosier economic times.
Two of the City's leading law firms advising bankers and wealthy businessmen confirmed that they were helping husbands get better maintenance deals in light of their clients' reduced financial circumstances.
Sandra Davis, head of family law at Mishcon de Reya, told The Independent: "We have had a number of male clients who have been forced to renegotiate settlements where maintenance awards were substantial. These were based on projected bonuses and salary levels which have not been sustained in the economic downturn."
The head of General Motors Europe, Carl-Peter Forster, said on Friday that Opel would become a semi-independent company, adding that the stricken German carmaker needed 3.3 billion euros ($4.2 billion) to survive. Forster, said on Friday that the US company envisioned Opel becoming an "at least partly an independent business unit." He also confirmed that Opel needed 3.3 billion euros to to help it through the current downturn in the car market. He made the comments at a press conference at Opel's headquarters in the western city of Ruesselsheim after presenting its board with a plan to save the German car maker. Forster said GM Europe would present the plan to German authorities on Monday. Earlier on Friday, German Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg warned that the degree of integration between Opel and the Detroit-based GM would make Opel 's push to part company with its troubled US parent very difficult.
Forster, said on Friday that the US company envisioned Opel becoming an "at least partly an independent business unit."
He also confirmed that Opel needed 3.3 billion euros to to help it through the current downturn in the car market. He made the comments at a press conference at Opel's headquarters in the western city of Ruesselsheim after presenting its board with a plan to save the German car maker.
Forster said GM Europe would present the plan to German authorities on Monday.
Earlier on Friday, German Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg warned that the degree of integration between Opel and the Detroit-based GM would make Opel 's push to part company with its troubled US parent very difficult.
German chancellor Angela Merkel has given the strongest signal to date that her country may come to the rescue of embattled eurozone economies. "We have shown solidarity and that will remain so. We should use Sunday's summit [in Brussels] for member states affected to give an honest report of their situation," she said on Thursday evening (26 February) at a press conference in Berlin. Ireland's banking sector makes it particularly vulnerable, said Angela Merkel "We will have to discuss the situation in each individual country. It all depends on whether we are able to speak openly and honestly about the situation because there are a lot of rumours flying around." Certain conditions are likely to be attached to any support plan offered by Berlin. While Ms Merkel refused to be drawn on the exact nature of financial support, she made it clear that action to tackle excessive budget deficits would be a stipulation for receiving aid.
German chancellor Angela Merkel has given the strongest signal to date that her country may come to the rescue of embattled eurozone economies.
"We have shown solidarity and that will remain so. We should use Sunday's summit [in Brussels] for member states affected to give an honest report of their situation," she said on Thursday evening (26 February) at a press conference in Berlin.
Ireland's banking sector makes it particularly vulnerable, said Angela Merkel
"We will have to discuss the situation in each individual country. It all depends on whether we are able to speak openly and honestly about the situation because there are a lot of rumours flying around."
Certain conditions are likely to be attached to any support plan offered by Berlin.
While Ms Merkel refused to be drawn on the exact nature of financial support, she made it clear that action to tackle excessive budget deficits would be a stipulation for receiving aid.
EUOBSERVER / BLAA LONID - As the debate over the issuance of eurozone-level bonds heats up, Nordic prime ministers are lukewarm on the idea, with Sweden saying there are "better answers" to deal with the problem of spreads in the cost of borrowing across the union. "[The EU] should try other things," Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told reporters on Thursday (26 February) after a meeting in Iceland of the Nordic Council of Ministers - which brings together the premiers of Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Iceland and Norway - on Wednesday (26 February). Th Hallgrimskirkja church in Iceland - Nordic leaders were lukewarm on the eurobond idea "There was a co-ordinated answer to the crisis decided [by the European Council] last autumn, many of which measures are still not in place," he continued. "That should be the road forward. When these measures are in place thoroughly, that will open up credit markets." Mr Reinfeldt added that public funds used to stabilise western European banks are not only there to aid the "mother banks, but also the daughter banks" in eastern Europe. "That is also sending a message of stability, especially in the Baltics in the Swedish case."
EUOBSERVER / BLAA LONID - As the debate over the issuance of eurozone-level bonds heats up, Nordic prime ministers are lukewarm on the idea, with Sweden saying there are "better answers" to deal with the problem of spreads in the cost of borrowing across the union.
"[The EU] should try other things," Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told reporters on Thursday (26 February) after a meeting in Iceland of the Nordic Council of Ministers - which brings together the premiers of Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Iceland and Norway - on Wednesday (26 February).
Th Hallgrimskirkja church in Iceland - Nordic leaders were lukewarm on the eurobond idea
"There was a co-ordinated answer to the crisis decided [by the European Council] last autumn, many of which measures are still not in place," he continued. "That should be the road forward. When these measures are in place thoroughly, that will open up credit markets."
Mr Reinfeldt added that public funds used to stabilise western European banks are not only there to aid the "mother banks, but also the daughter banks" in eastern Europe.
"That is also sending a message of stability, especially in the Baltics in the Swedish case."
The banking sectors in Central and Eastern Europe are to get a 24.5bn euro ($31bn; £21.8bn) rescue package to support them in the economic crisis. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the World Bank have pledged the investment. The funds are particularly aimed at helping small firms survive. Countries such as Latvia and Hungary have seen their economies particularly hit by the global economic slump.
The banking sectors in Central and Eastern Europe are to get a 24.5bn euro ($31bn; £21.8bn) rescue package to support them in the economic crisis.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the World Bank have pledged the investment.
The funds are particularly aimed at helping small firms survive.
Countries such as Latvia and Hungary have seen their economies particularly hit by the global economic slump.
The official European data agency released new figures for January showing more than 13 million people were jobless in the eurozone, with a 8.2% unemployment rate, the highest since September 2006. AFP - The battered eurozone economies suffered more bad news on Friday with a quarter of a million jobs lost in January bringing the unemployment rate to 8.2 percent, the highest level in over two years. The European Union's Eurostat data agency also confirmed that the inflation rate in the 16-nation zone recorded its sharpest fall on record in January, from 1.6 percent to just 1.1 percent, well below the European Central Bank's comfort zone of close to but less than 2.0 percent. The official figures bore out a widely-watched EU study released Thursday which showed European consumer and business confidence at record lows as the recession gets longer and deeper.
AFP - The battered eurozone economies suffered more bad news on Friday with a quarter of a million jobs lost in January bringing the unemployment rate to 8.2 percent, the highest level in over two years. The European Union's Eurostat data agency also confirmed that the inflation rate in the 16-nation zone recorded its sharpest fall on record in January, from 1.6 percent to just 1.1 percent, well below the European Central Bank's comfort zone of close to but less than 2.0 percent. The official figures bore out a widely-watched EU study released Thursday which showed European consumer and business confidence at record lows as the recession gets longer and deeper.
Shares across the UK, America and Europe tumbled today after it emerged that the US economy shrank at the fastest rate since 1982 in the final three months of last year, far worse than the US Government had initially estimated. Gross domestic product (GDP) fell at an annual rate of 6.2 per cent between October and December, above initial estimates of a 3.8 per cent decline during the fourth quarter of 2008. In response, London's FTSE 100 index plunged further below the 4,000 level today, losing 127.35 points to 3,788.29 and America's Dow Jones industrial average fell 132.45 points to 7,049.63. Investors in Germany and France also took fright - Frankfurt's Dax fell 4.1 per cent while French-listed stocks dropped 3.3 per cent to 2,654.52.
Shares across the UK, America and Europe tumbled today after it emerged that the US economy shrank at the fastest rate since 1982 in the final three months of last year, far worse than the US Government had initially estimated.
Gross domestic product (GDP) fell at an annual rate of 6.2 per cent between October and December, above initial estimates of a 3.8 per cent decline during the fourth quarter of 2008.
In response, London's FTSE 100 index plunged further below the 4,000 level today, losing 127.35 points to 3,788.29 and America's Dow Jones industrial average fell 132.45 points to 7,049.63.
Investors in Germany and France also took fright - Frankfurt's Dax fell 4.1 per cent while French-listed stocks dropped 3.3 per cent to 2,654.52.
The county-by-county map won't be released until later next week, but the most recent numbers showed that we were witnessing 1930s levels of unemployment in the agricultural counties - 20% around Fresno, 15% here in Monterey County - and that the urban counties were steadily trending upward.
As I understand it, this puts California at #2 in the nation in unemployment, behind Michigan. And the world will live as one
Irish gangsters have staged the biggest cash robbery in the history of the Republic, stealing up to €7 million from the Bank of Ireland in Dublin's College Green early today. The Garda Siochana said an armed gang took the family of a Bank of Ireland worker hostage at their County Kildare home on Thursday night... Security sources in the Republic today told the Guardian that the chief suspect in the robbery was a career criminal in his early 60s based in north County Dublin. He is out on bail on other charges.
The Garda Siochana said an armed gang took the family of a Bank of Ireland worker hostage at their County Kildare home on Thursday night...
Security sources in the Republic today told the Guardian that the chief suspect in the robbery was a career criminal in his early 60s based in north County Dublin. He is out on bail on other charges.
The Guardian's sense of irony was harmed with the publication of this story.
GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING the theft of €7.6 million from a Bank of Ireland vault believed last night they had recovered a large portion of the cash in the Dublin suburbs of Phibsboro and Blanchardstown. The operation was ongoing last night but gardaí said they were confident the recovered money, believed to be several million euro, represented a portion of yesterday's robbery. Six men and one woman have been arrested. They are members of a well-known gang from Dublin's north inner city and are connected to a major Dublin gangland figure.
The operation was ongoing last night but gardaí said they were confident the recovered money, believed to be several million euro, represented a portion of yesterday's robbery.
Six men and one woman have been arrested. They are members of a well-known gang from Dublin's north inner city and are connected to a major Dublin gangland figure.
When Deutsche Bank determined that strategist Rod Manalo was, in the merciless language of hard times, "redundant," it was an abrupt and humbling end to a seven-year career in finance. But Manalo, 30, has not been trudging the gray streets of London where he was based looking for work. This week, he was in the sun-drenched Brazilian resort city of Florianopolis, taking surfing lessons and dancing in throbbing nightclubs amid Carnival revelers... "Decent finance jobs are nonexistent. Few hedge funds and no investment banks are hiring. If I were to find a job, I'd just fear losing it again, would continue to watch markets drop and would expect little or no bonus," said Manalo, who was fired in December from his position as a vice president in risk arbitrage. Apart from occasionally watching his investments, he said, "I am fully focused on traveling."
But Manalo, 30, has not been trudging the gray streets of London where he was based looking for work. This week, he was in the sun-drenched Brazilian resort city of Florianopolis, taking surfing lessons and dancing in throbbing nightclubs amid Carnival revelers...
"Decent finance jobs are nonexistent. Few hedge funds and no investment banks are hiring. If I were to find a job, I'd just fear losing it again, would continue to watch markets drop and would expect little or no bonus," said Manalo, who was fired in December from his position as a vice president in risk arbitrage.
Apart from occasionally watching his investments, he said, "I am fully focused on traveling."
After eight years in finance, Jessica Alberti, 32, said she abandoned her work on emerging markets at a major New York hedge fund in October when people were losing so much money that she now has trouble finding sufficient pejoratives to describe it. "It was so negative, it was horrible. It was tense, extremely negative. Miserable," she said. "It was so bleak." So after getting her bonus, factoring in the weather and world currencies, and deciding that Europe was too expensive and that she'd already seen Asia, she headed for South America... She plans to return briefly to New York to deal with her taxes and refinance her apartment, but then she wants to return to Argentina and start a new life abroad. "Right now I don't want to be in New York pedaling my feet. I'd rather look for interesting investments down here," she said.
"It was so negative, it was horrible. It was tense, extremely negative. Miserable," she said. "It was so bleak."
So after getting her bonus, factoring in the weather and world currencies, and deciding that Europe was too expensive and that she'd already seen Asia, she headed for South America...
She plans to return briefly to New York to deal with her taxes and refinance her apartment, but then she wants to return to Argentina and start a new life abroad.
"Right now I don't want to be in New York pedaling my feet. I'd rather look for interesting investments down here," she said.
A lot of people who have been fired due to harsh economic times cannot afford to become world travelers... just saying.
Germany's "scrapping bonus" where people are offered 2500 euros (£2231.9) to dump cars nine years old or more appears to be working after a host of carmakers reported a boost in sales this month. Volkswagen reached its highest sales figures ever for February of 120,000 vehicles.Even Opel, teetering on the brink of extinction, sold 40,000 cars, its best results in five months and the Romanian auto manufacturer Dacia has even had to boost production lately to keep up with high demand in Germany. "There has never been a state promotion that has had such a positive effect as the scrapping bonus," said Robert Rademacher, president of the German Association for Motor Trade and Repairs. He added it was a far more effective stimulus than the UK decision to lower VAT on goods.Most of the cars being sold as a result of the bonus are smaller, cheaper models like the VW Polo, Dacia Sandero or Opel Corsa.
Volkswagen reached its highest sales figures ever for February of 120,000 vehicles.
Even Opel, teetering on the brink of extinction, sold 40,000 cars, its best results in five months and the Romanian auto manufacturer Dacia has even had to boost production lately to keep up with high demand in Germany.
"There has never been a state promotion that has had such a positive effect as the scrapping bonus," said Robert Rademacher, president of the German Association for Motor Trade and Repairs. He added it was a far more effective stimulus than the UK decision to lower VAT on goods.
Most of the cars being sold as a result of the bonus are smaller, cheaper models like the VW Polo, Dacia Sandero or Opel Corsa.
LISBON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - The International Energy Agency fears that an expected recovery in oil demand from 2010 and oil project cancellations due to low crude prices and the credit crisis will mean no spare oil capacity at the end of 2013. "That is our concern. Investment, investment, investment, that is what we are asking," IEA Executive Director Nabuo Tanaka said at a conference in Lisbon on Friday. The Paris-based IEA, which advises 28 industrialised countries, earlier this month said global oil demand would drop by 980,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year but would rise again by about 1 million bpd in 2010 with an expected economic recovery. Tanaka said that there was no room for complacency on spare oil capacity. "We now see many cancellations or postponements of supply investment projects...and we learned the lesson last year when we didn't invest, the market became volatile and oil prices reached $147 per barrel," he said. He added that supply from producing oil fields will decline dramatically, and that to offset the decline by 2030 "we need 45 million barrels per day of new capacity, or the equivalent of 4 Saudi Arabias".
LISBON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - The International Energy Agency fears that an expected recovery in oil demand from 2010 and oil project cancellations due to low crude prices and the credit crisis will mean no spare oil capacity at the end of 2013.
"That is our concern. Investment, investment, investment, that is what we are asking," IEA Executive Director Nabuo Tanaka said at a conference in Lisbon on Friday.
The Paris-based IEA, which advises 28 industrialised countries, earlier this month said global oil demand would drop by 980,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year but would rise again by about 1 million bpd in 2010 with an expected economic recovery.
Tanaka said that there was no room for complacency on spare oil capacity.
"We now see many cancellations or postponements of supply investment projects...and we learned the lesson last year when we didn't invest, the market became volatile and oil prices reached $147 per barrel," he said.
He added that supply from producing oil fields will decline dramatically, and that to offset the decline by 2030 "we need 45 million barrels per day of new capacity, or the equivalent of 4 Saudi Arabias".
