Rosneft ExxonMobil buddy up; Daryl Hannah arrested
Aug31

Rosneft ExxonMobil buddy up; Daryl Hannah arrested

Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin late on Tuesday announced an agreement between US oil conglomerate ExxonMobil and Russia’s Rosneft to explore the country’s oil-rich Arctic continental shelf. The deal replaces a comparable but failed agreement with BP that differs in that Exxon offers Rosneft assets in Texas and in the Gulf of Mexico in exchange for access to untapped hydrocarbon deposits in the Russian Arctic. “This project promises to be highly interesting and ambitious. Today’s event is sure to receive a positive reaction from the world energy markets; Exxon’s exploration of Russia’s strategic continental and deep water shelf will open new horizons,” Putin said. He added: “The scope of investment in this project is very large. In all, direct investments will amount to $200bn to $300bn, including funding for development, infrastructure and new construction, the amount of investment could reach $500bn.” In similar news actress Daryl Hannah was arrested for her part in a protest outside the White House. The actress and other activists have taken umbrage at the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would run through six states to refineries in Texas. Daryl Hannah led the protests in asserting that the world is already too reliant on fossil fuels.

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BofA sells Construction stake to raise $8.3bn
Aug30

BofA sells Construction stake to raise $8.3bn

Bank of America late on Monday announced it is to sell around half of its ten percent stake in China Construction Bank to a group of investors in an effort to increase capital and shed assets.  The sale of around 13.1 billion shares is expected to generate an estimated $8.3bn in cash proceeds and an after tax gain on sale of around $3.3bn, the bank stated. The US’s largest lender by assets said in a statement: “The current proposed Basel III standards place restrictions on capital that represents ownership in financial institutions above ten percent. The sale of CCB shares announced today would put Bank of America’s ownership in CCB below this percentage and would remove the significant investment in financial institutions deduction from the company’s tier one common capital under Basel III associated with this CCB stake.”

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Markets lower ahead of Bernanke speech and Germany rumours
Aug26

Markets lower ahead of Bernanke speech and Germany rumours

Markets showed signs of caution and the dollar declined against its counterparts as traders await a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke which is expected to show a slowing US economy. Following Japan’s downgrade on Wednesday wild rumours emerged that Germany could face a credit rating cut and unnerved German markets in early trading on Friday. The FTSE 100 dropped 0.9 percent to 5,087.94 and the German Dax slumped 106.15 points to 5474.45, while the dollar fell to $1.4429 per Euro compared to $1.4379 in New York the day before. 

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Greek exposure affects Credit Agricole profits
Aug25

Greek exposure affects Credit Agricole profits

Credit Agricole, France’s third largest bank by market value, published in its 2Q11 net profit results on Thursday a 10.6 percent decrease at €339m compared to €379m in the same period last year. The decline was mainly attributed to a pre-tax impairment on its Greek bond exposure of €202m, the bank said in a statement. In Paris trading the lender had dropped around 30 percent in August over the threat the sovereign debt crisis could affect its 960 Italian branches.

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Markets vague as Moody’s downgrades Japan
Aug24

Markets vague as Moody’s downgrades Japan


Asian highs were short-lived on Wednesday when regional markets failed to hold on to Tuesday’s gains after sentiment dampened following Moody’s decision to downgrade Japan’s credit rating to Aa3.
 The ratings agency said that the nuclear accident coupled with the earthquake disaster had aggravated its economy and deferred Japan’s recovery.
The Nikkei 225 and Hang Seng experienced the biggest losses, with 1.02 percent to 8,644 and 2.10 percent to 19,461, respectively. In the US the Dow gained 2.97 percent while Nasdaq climbed 4.29 percent.

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