Today's Reuters Business News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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ECB offers banks second, maybe last, mega funds fix
Tue,28 Feb 2012 11:45 PM PST
Reuters - FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank is expected to pump half a trillion euros into the euro zone's troubled financial system for the second time in as many months on Wednesday in what it hopes will be the last such operation to fight the euro zone crisis. Banks can stock up on as much of the ultra-cheap, 3-year loans as they like at the second of the twin funding operations - a ploy the ECB unveiled late last year to dampen tensions on euro zone bond markets that threatened to tear the bloc apart. ... Full Story | Top |
South Africa's rand ticks up, bonds also firmer
Tue,28 Feb 2012 11:15 PM PST
Reuters - JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand was a touch firmer against the dollar in early Wednesday trade, ticking up slightly after credit data added to signs the economy is recovering, backing the case for interest rates to remain stable this year. Government bonds also edged up, pulling the yield on the four year issue 3.5 basis points lower to 6.60 percent while that for the 14-year paper was down three basis points on the day at 8.235 percent. The rand briefly touched a new five-month high of 7.46 to the greenback and was at 7.4690/dollar by 0658 GMT, up 0. ... Full Story | Top |
Kenyan shilling falls on Fin Min comments
Tue,28 Feb 2012 10:46 PM PST
Reuters -  NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling lost ground against the dollar on Wednesday after the finance minister said the central bank should prevent the local currency from appreciating beyond 82 per greenback, traders said. Acting Finance Minister Robinson Githae told Reuters he wanted a stable exchange rate and not the volatile swings that sent the local currency lurching from one record low to another last year before a sharp rally, brought on by a tightening of monetary policy. ...
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S.Africa's Nedbank FY earnings jump by 25 pct
Tue,28 Feb 2012 10:33 PM PST
Reuters - JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Nedbank, South Africa's fourth-largest lender, posted an expected 25 percent rise in full-year earnings on Wednesday, boosted by a big jump in fees and underpinned by higher loan income. The bank, which is majority owned by insurer Old Mutual, said diluted headline earnings per share totalled 1,340 cents in the year to end-December, up from 1,069 cents a year earlier. Headline earnings, the main measure of profit in South Africa, exclude certain one-time items. The lender said earlier this month full-year earnings would be up to 28 percent higher. ... Full Story | Top |
S.Africa's Jan credit growth at 7.33 pct y/y
Tue,28 Feb 2012 10:14 PM PST
Reuters -  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Growth in credit demand by South Africa's private sector quickened to 7.33 percent year-on-year in January compared with a downwardly revised 6.14 percent rise in December, central bank data showed on Wednesday. Growth in the broadly defined M3 measure of money supply slowed to 6.58 percent year-on-year from 8.27 percent in December. Economists surveyed by Reuters forecast year-on-year private sector credit growth of 6.99 percent in January while M3 was seen expanding by 8.6 percent.
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Kenyan inflation slows to 16.7 pct in February
Tue,28 Feb 2012 10:12 PM PST
Reuters -  NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's year-on-year inflation rate slowed to a lower-than-expected 16.69 percent in February as food and transport costs dropped, boosting hopes the central bank will soon start easing its tight monetary policy. The consumer price index dropped 0.04 percent in the month thanks to a 0.30 percent fall in the price of food and non-alcoholic drinks while transport costs fell 0.91 percent, reflecting a cut in fuel costs during the month. The consensus forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts was for inflation to slow to 17.48 percent from 18.31 percent in January. ...
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Dow, S&P hit milestones on confidence, lower oil
Tue,28 Feb 2012 09:50 PM PST
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow closed above 13,000 for the first time since May 2008 on Tuesday and the S&P 500 also hit a milestone, as buoyant U.S. consumer confidence data and a sharp drop in oil prices nudged the nearly five-month rally forward. The S&P 500 closed above 1,370, its May 2011 intraday high, a move that could invite momentum buying as money managers chase performance, though low volumes lately have raised concerns about the rally's longevity. ...
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Gold edges up ahead of ECB loan offer
Tue,28 Feb 2012 09:42 PM PST
Reuters -  SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold edged higher on Wednesday, after rallying 1 percent in the previous session, supported by expectations for more cheap loans to be offered by the European Central Bank later in the day. Cash gold was on course for a monthly gain of 2.6 percent in February ahead of the expected injection of nearly half a trillion euros by the ECB, seen as designed to buy more time for European politicians to resolve the region's debt woes. "There is so much cheap money around," said Ronald Leung, a dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong. ...
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Tanzania says to open up capital account by 2015
Tue,28 Feb 2012 09:28 PM PST
Reuters - ARUSHA, Tanzania (Reuters) - Tanzania plans to start opening up its capital account this year, its central bank chief said on Tuesday, enabling it to attract more investment initially from other members of the East African Community and then from the rest of the world by 2015. An open capital account is among the prerequisites for the financial market integration of the regional bloc's five members, a step towards a monetary union protocol, expected to be signed by end 2012. ... Full Story | Top |
Brent rises above $122 as ECB's cheap loan may spur buying
Tue,28 Feb 2012 09:20 PM PST
Reuters -  SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Brent crude rose above $122 on Wednesday, snapping two days of losses, in line with gains across broader financial markets on expectations that cheap loans to be offered by the European Central Bank will spur buying of riskier assets. Asian stocks firmed and the euro held its ground as markets expect European banks to borrow about $670 billion from the ECB later in the day. Brent is recovering from a steep correction, and is poised to gain more than 10 percent this month, the highest since February 2011, on concerns over Iran. Front-month Brent rose 60 cents to $122. ...
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Blackstone CEO gets $213.5 million in 2011 pay, distributions
Tue,28 Feb 2012 08:00 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Blackstone Group LP co-founder Stephen Schwarzman got about $213.5 million in salary, share of profits and cash distributions from his holdings in the world's largest private equity firm in 2011, up 33 percent from the previous year. Schwarzman, 65, who co-founded Blackstone in 1985, got most of his payout from dividends on his 21 percent ownership of the private equity firm and realized investments from funds predating the company's IPO in 2007. ...
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Ex-Berkshire exec Sokol to get $1 mln a year in retirement pay
Tue,28 Feb 2012 07:52 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - David Sokol, who left Berkshire Hathaway last year amid a scandal over his stock trading while at the company, would receive about $1 million in retirement payments every year, according to a regulatory filing. Sokol received $750,000 in 2011 as part of supplemental executive retirement plan, or SERP, the filing showed. "Sokol's post-termination SERP benefit is $1 million annually, paid in monthly installments. ...
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Banker Rohatyn to guide NY infrastructure bank: Governor
Tue,28 Feb 2012 07:50 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Investment banker Felix Rohatyn, who helped rescue New York City from its mid-1970s financial crisis, has agreed to sit on the board of New York State's $25 billion infrastructure bank, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday. Rohatyn is a former U.S. ambassador to France who now serves as a special advisor to the chief executive of Lazard. His decision to help guide the infrastructure bank could help Cuomo get his "New York Works Fund" off the ground. The state's new infrastructure bank aims to tap private capital to build and repair the state's crumbling roads and bridges. ...
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Brazil judge blocks Chevron, Transocean injunction
Tue,28 Feb 2012 06:30 PM PST
Reuters -  RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A federal judge in Brazil declined to grant an injunction suspending the Brazilian operations of oil major Chevron and offshore oil-rig contractor Transocean over a November oil spill northeast of Rio de Janeiro, providing temporary relief to the two companies. The injunction was requested by Brazilian federal prosecutor Eduardo Santos de Oliveira as part of his 20 billion real ($11.8 billion) civil lawsuit against Chevron, the field's majority-owner and operator, and Transocean, its drilling contractor. ...
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ECB's Nowotny says euro zone on path to recovery: report
Tue,28 Feb 2012 06:25 PM PST
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - The euro zone may soon witness the "green shoots" of economic revival, Ewald Nowotny, a member of the European Central Bank's governing council, said in a newspaper interview published on Wednesday. Nowotny told the Times there was a prevailing optimism in the region, helped by progress in the government debts of Italy and improvements in monthly economic indicators. "From the demand side we see improvements in most parts of Europe," Nowotny was quoted as saying. "There is a more optimistic perspective now. There is some talk about green shoots," he said. ... Full Story | Top |
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