US multinational companies are clamouring for a tax holiday to repatriate billions of dollars "trapped” overseas but are being rebuffed byBarack Obama’s administration.
JPMorganresearch estimates that 30-40 per cent of the almost $1,000bn in cash held by non-financial S&P 500 companies is in foreign jurisdictions.
Tuesday 13.00 BST:US stock futures are down nearly 1 per cent after China delivered a shock increase in bank borrowing rates in an effort to cool speculative lending. Earlier in the global session it had been a case of finance jocks versus tech geeks in the battle for sentiment.
The FTSE All World-index is down 0.4 per cent and the dollar is rallying for the third consecutive session. Commodities are sliding on worries about lower demand and the buck’s advance.News that the Peoples’ Bank of China had hiked rates by 25 basis points will raise fears that Beijing’s attempts to slow the pace of economic growth will crimp activity globally and dent insipid recovery in the US and Europe.
Angry customers of Crown Currency Exchange are calling for tighter regulation of the exchange industry after the firm collapsed last month with debts of £25m.
Many small payment institutions cannot guarantee client funds
The company was offering "impossible" exchange rates to customers who paid six months in advance for their currency.
But Crown was using this money to pay off existing debts and gambling on future rates of exchange.
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LONDON (AFP) –
The FTSE 100 slumped Friday as investors were spooked by President Barack Obama's promises to impose regulations on the US banking and financial sectors.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index dropped 0.60 percent to 5,302.99 points.
Lloyds Banking Group was the most traded stock, with 375 million units changing hands, followed by Royal Bank of Scotland, which saw 208 million shares switch owners.
ICAP was the big loser of the session, shedding 6.58 percent -- or 28 pence -- to end at 397.7, followed by the London Stock Exchange, which lost 4.32 percent -- or 30 pence -- to close at 664.5 pence.
On the upside, Xstrata posted the day's top gains, adding 2.37 percent
-- or 26 pence -- to end at 1125. Eurasian also rose, adding 1.7
percent -- or 16 pence -- to end at 954.5.
At 17:00 the pound was trading at 1.6127 against the dollar and 1.1388 against the euro.
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Saturday unloaded on a divided Supreme Court for allowing more corporate influence over elections. The White House and Democratic lawmakers scrambled to figure out how to blunt the impact of the ruling.
Obama
used his radio and Internet address as a platform to expand on
criticism Thursday's decision, which drastically alters the rules of
campaign finance going into November's congressional elections. The 5-4
decision threw out parts of a law that said companies and unions can be
prohibited from using their own money to produce and run campaign ads
that promote or target particular candidates by name.
The justices also struck down a measure that had barred union- and corporate-paid issue ads in the pivotal, closing days of election campaigns.
"I
can't think of anything more devast... Read more »
LONDON – Barclays
is planning to defer bonuses for its highest-paid executives in hopes
of quashing public outrage regarding pay for bankers, Britain's Financial Times reported Saturday.
The
move comes amid a backlash in the U.S. against banks who continue to
pay whopping bonuses to top executives after being bailed out by
taxpayer money.
Bank shares have plunged because of President Barack Obama
plan to limit their size and risky trading and his proposal of a
special tax to recover bailout funds. He also has branded the latest
round of bank bonuses as "obscene."
Top executives at Barclay's will defer up to 100 percent
of their bonuses for up to three years... Read more »
LONDON (AFP) –
Britain's finance minister expressed scepticism Sunday at proposed US banking reforms, saying they would not have prevented the financial crisis and warning they risk undermining the global consensus.
President Barack Obama
announced plans last week to limit the size and scope of US banks and
financial firms, saying they would "never again" get so big that
taxpayers have to bail them out or risk the economy.
The plans aim to limit "excessive" risk taking and to "protect" taxpayers by preventing banks or financial institutions from owning, investing in or sponsoring hedge fund or private equity funds.
WASHINGTON – A top lawmaker on Capitol Hill is calling for the
elimination of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
and the establishment of a new system to provide money for U.S. home
loans.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said Friday he supports replacing the two companies entirely.
"I
believe this committee will be recommending abolishing Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac in their current form and coming up with a whole new system
of housing finance," Frank said at a hearing on executive compensation issues. "That's the approach, rather than the piecemeal one."
His comments show how much the financial cris... Read more »
