17th Sep 2013 11:05
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Tuesday.
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COMPANIES
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Lloyds Banking Group PLC is on its way to privatisation following the UK government's decision to sell a 6% stake in the bank at a price of 75 pence per share. The government raised about GBP3.21 billion from the sale of the shares, with its shareholding in Lloyds dropping to 32.7% of Lloyds' shares. The sale price represents a discount on Monday's closing share price of just shy of two pence.
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Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC has rejected the offer for hundreds of its branches made by W&G Investments, the vehicle formed to bid for the branches by former Tesco PLC finance director Andrew Higginson, the BBC's business editor Robert Peston reported. RBS concluded that the two other offers for the 315 branches, from private equity consortia led by Corsair and and Blackstone, offer better value, Peston said, without saying where he got the information.
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Barclays PLC incorrectly charged interest to consumer loan customers under its retail division, the bank said in its rights issue prospectus. "UK Retail Bank Barclays has identified certain issues with the information contained in historic statements and arrears notices relating to consumer loan accounts. It is therefore implementing a plan to return interest incorrectly charged to customers," the bank said in its prospectus for its GBP5.8 billion rights issue, published Monday.
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Debenhams PLC said it expects its full-year pretax profit to be in line with current expectations. The department-store chain said in a pre-close trading statement, before the release of its full year results on October 24, that like-for-like sales in the 52 weeks to August 31 rose 2.0%. It said that like-for-like sales were up 1.9% in the 10-weeks to August 31, as it got a sales boost from a warmer than normal UK summer.
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Financial services giant JPMorgan Chase is set to pay about USD700 million in civil penalties to reach a settlement with regulators related to its handling of the 'London Whale' trading loss, according to media reports on Monday. However, the company has not been criminally charged in the case for any wrongdoing. The settlement is expected to be announced as early as next week and JPMorgan is expected to admit guilt as part of the settlement.
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MARKETS
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Sentiment on Wall Street has turned cautious, as the markets are awash with speculation about the Fed's stimulus tapering plan. The major US index futures point to a slightly lower opening ahead of the two-day FOMC meeting, which gets underway later Tuesday. Asian stocks traded mostly lower, while the European markets are also lower despite the release of some benign domestic data points, including a positive German economic sentiment reading. In London, the FTSE 100 index is off 25.93 points at 6,596.93.
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Gold prices are benefiting from traders' caution over equity portfolios while oil prices continue to slide, albeit at a softened rate, following the easing of tensions in the Middle East.
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK annual inflation slowed for the second consecutive month in August, driven by a slowdown in transportation cost, data published by the Office for National Statistics showed. Inflation edged down to 2.7% from 2.8% in July. The rate came in line with economists' expectations. However, consumer prices gained 0.4% from July.
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German investor confidence hit a three-and-half year high in September as Europe's biggest economy gained momentum, a closely watched survey showed. The index gauging the mood among analysts and institutional investors climbed to a more-than-forecast 49.6 points this month from 42 in August, the Mannheim-based ZEW economic research institute said.
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Europe's new passenger car registrations declined in August reflecting downturn across significant markets, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association reported. New car sales fell 5 percent from a year ago in August, offsetting July's 5 percent rise. Car registrations in the month of August totalled 653,872.
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The visible trade surplus of euro area increased less than expected in July, data from Eurostat revealed. The trade surplus increased to EUR18.2 billion from EUR 16.5 billion in June But it was below the expected level of EUR20.5 billion and last year's EUR 13.9 billion surplus.
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The Greek population cannot suffer more cuts in the name of austerity, Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos warned, amid talk that Athens might need yet another bailout to plug its finances. "We cannot think about new cuts to pensions and wages. From 2010 to 2012, Greek incomes have fallen by over 35 per cent, something that is unique and unacceptable during peace times," Venizelos said in an interview with the Italian news agency ANSA.
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The International Monetary Fund completed its first review of Cyprus's performance under a three-year bailout program. The completion of the review enabled the disbursement of EUR 84.7 million. The latest disbursement took overall payment to EUR 169.4 million. The lender also approved the modifications for the September 2013 fiscal targets as requested by the authorities.
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United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon demanded Monday that the perpetrators of the August 21 attack in Syria be brought to justice now that there is "clear and convincing evidence" that chemical weapons were used. "The conclusion is that chemical weapons have been used in the ongoing conflict between the parties in the Syrian Arab Republic, also against civilians, including children, on a relatively large scale," UN inspectors said in a report submitted to the UN Security Council in New York.
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Investigators began piecing together the story behind a mass shooting Monday at the US Navy Yard in Washington that left 13 people dead, including the gunman, and several wounded.
The FBI was working to "piece together the movements and activities of Aaron Alexis," 34, identified as the assailant, said Valerie Parlave, assistant director in charge of the Washington FBI field office. Alexis appeared to be a troubled military veteran involved in previous shootings, although never formally charged, according to the picture emerging from news reports.
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