Senior managers at Barclays have warned staff in an internal memo that the Libor scandal will envelop other banks. The memo circulated on Friday said that revelations about its rivals would “put in perspective” Barclays’ culpability. Meanwhile Barclays’ former chief operating officer Jerry del Missier will answer MPs’ questions on Monday. Mr del Missier stands [...]
U.S. wholesale inventories edged higher in May despite a big drop in stocks of oil, a U.S. Commerce Department report showed on Wednesday. Total wholesale inventories increased 0.3 percent to $484.1 billion, matching the median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists. The government revised slightly lower its estimate for inventory growth in April. Inventories [...]
The trade deficit narrowed slightly in May as lower oil prices and a rise in exports, including those bound for Europe and China, eased the pain of a slowdown in the broader economy. The gap shrank 3.8 percent to $48.7 billion, the U.S. Commerce Department said on Wednesday. Exports, which have been a key support for [...]
A Chinese aerospace firm is in exclusive talks to buy bankrupt US aircraft maker Hawker Beechcraft. Superior Aviation Beijing has offered $1.8bn (£1.2bn) to buy the company and to fund its operations for the next six weeks. However, the deal is not final and is subject to a legal and regulatory review in both the [...]
US aluminium giant Alcoa has posted a $2m (£1.3m) second-quarter loss after aluminium prices slumped to near two-year lows. The loss compared with a $322m profit in the same period a year ago. Revenue fell 9% to $6bn as aluminium prices fell 18% from last year, Alcoa said. But the results were still better than [...]
A US regulator has frozen the accounts of US futures brokerage Peregrine Financial Group (PFG) following the attempted suicide of its chairman. The National Futures Association said it was worried PFG did not have enough money to meet obligations to clients. Chairman Russell Wasendorf Sr was found in his car near its Iowa headquarters. In [...]
Norway’s government has used emergency powers to step in and force offshore oil and gas workers back to work, ending a 16-day strike. Production was due to be shut down from Tuesday with companies set to lock out workers in a dispute over pensions. “I had to make this decision to protect Norway’s vital interests,” [...]
Eurozone finance ministers have agreed to lend Spain 30bn euros (£24bn; $37bn) this month to help its troubled banks. It will be the first instalment of a bailout of up to 100bn euros, which was agreed in June. The ministers will need to get approval from their own parliaments and hope to make the payment [...]
Dutch pension fund Pensioenfonds Vervoer has filed two claims totaling up to 240 million euros ($300 million) against a unit of Goldman Sachs Group (GS.N), alleging negligence leading to losses, lawyers for the fund told Reuters. The transport workers’ pension fund alleged that Goldman Sachs Asset Management International, in its capacity as fiduciary manager, made [...]
China’s June trade data on Tuesday stoked anxiety about the strength of domestic demand in the world’s second biggest economy as imports rose at only half the pace expected, signaling a need for Beijing to do more to bolster growth. Officials singled out the debt crisis in the European Union – China’s biggest trading partner [...]