Bank of France Points to Recession in Third-quarter
France’s economy is likely to slip into recession in the third quarter, the Bank of France said on Wednesday, forecasting a contraction of 0.1 per cent for the second quarter running which adds to signs Europe’s economic prospects are still worsening. The estimate, which followed the Bank’s forecast last month for a similar contraction...
S&P Lowers Greece’s Rating Outlook as Economy Weakens
Greece’s credit rating may be cut again by Standard & Poor’s on concern the debt-burdened nation will need more support from European Union lenders. The outlook on Greece’s CCC rating, already eight levels below investment grade, was revised to negative from stable, S&P said in a statement Tuesday. The change reflects the risk of a...
Italy’s Recession Pain Stretches to a Year
Source: Reuters Italy shrank further into recession in the second quarter for a 2.5 per cent yearly decline, data showed on Tuesday, threatening attempts by Mario Monti’s technocrat government to control a debt crisis that is undermining the whole eurozone. A 0.7 per cent fall in gross domestic product, only slightly better than the first...
IKEA Close to Securing India Market Entry: Report
India’s government and the IKEA Group are nearing a compromise over local-sourcing rules that have been delaying the Swedish retailer’s entry into the country, a report said Tuesday. India has agreed “in principle” to give IKEA seven years to meet guidelines stipulating foreign, single-brand retailers sell products manufactured from 30 per cent locally made...
StanChart Shares Tumble on Iranian Dealings
Standard Chartered Plc’s shares fell as much as 20 per cent on Tuesday after New York’s top bank regulator threatened to remove its state banking license, saying the British lender hid US$250 billion in transactions tied to Iran. The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) said on Monday that Standard Chartered “schemed” with...
Weaker Euro Boosts Trade Prospects for Struggling Europe: ECB
Struggling southern European countries are becoming more competitive in their main export markets helped by the weakening euro, according to a monthly European Central Bank study of movements in consumer prices in the eurozone and economies it trades with. Ireland gained 7.2 per cent in competitiveness vis-a-vis its trading partners both within and outside the...
RBS Operating Profit Drops 22% as Markets Revenue Declines
Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Britain’s biggest taxpayer-owned lender, said profit fell 22 per cent in the second quarter as revenue from its markets unit slipped amid the worsening European sovereign debt crisis. Operating profit fell to GBP650 million (US$1 billion) from GBP833 million in the year-earlier period, RBS said in a statement today....
BNP Paribas Posts 13.2% Drop in Profit
France’s biggest bank BNP Paribas said Thursday its second quarter net profit fell a better-than-expected 13.2 per cent to EUR1.85 billion (US$2.26 billion) from the previous year. Analysts polled by AFP had predicted profits to come in at EUR1.7 billion, but BNP Paribas’ resistant retail banking unit helped offset a European economic slowdown amid the...
ECB’s Draghi Faces Leadership Test over Euro Pledge
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi was under intense pressure from investors, European leaders and even the United States to deliver on Thursday on his pledge to do whatever it takes to save the euro. Draghi faced the biggest test of his nine months’ leadership of the central bank at its monthly policy meeting, which...
Monti Presses National Leaders for Action to Back Draghi
Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti is making the rounds of European capitals as his country’s borrowing costs creep higher, urging leaders for collective action to back up individual expressions of support. “We can’t allow ourselves even a moment of distraction,” Monti said to reporters yesterday in Paris after a meeting with French President Francois Hollande....
France’s Societe Generale Net Profits Down 42%
French banking giant Societe Generale on Wednesday posted net profits down 42 per cent in the second quarter, hit by writedowns on its TCW investment fund and Russian subsidiary Rosbank. The figure of EUR 433 million (US$532 million) was far lower than analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires forecast, with their predictions averaging EUR764 million....
More Germans Out of Work as Eurozone Crisis Spreads
The number of Germans out of work rose for a fourth month running in July, though it remained close to its lowest since Germany reunified more than two decades ago. The rise, though less than expected, was another sign that the eurozone crisis is beginning to hit the bloc’s biggest economy. The number of people...
