Financial News

Wall Street spent the last trading session of the year mired in negative territory yesterday, as cautious investors chose to lock in their gains while thin trading volume exaggerated the downward moves. // By midday, both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were down 0.5 per cent at 10,728.55 and 1,248.27 respectively. The Nasdaq Composite, hurt by a continued sell-off in technol ...

LONDON (Reuters) - The competition watchdog said on Friday it had cleared a $6 billion (3.5 billion pounds) merger between cable company NTL (NTLI.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and smaller rival Telewest (TLWT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) , as well as the acquisition of broadband provider Easynet (ESY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) by satellite broadcaster BSkyB (BSY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) . The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said the test for referring the deals to the Competition Commissio ...

European stock markets beat a retreat on the final trading day of 2005 as investors booked profits after the FTSE Eurofirst 300 hit a new 52-month high on Thursday. // Low trading volumes exaggerated the downward move, and the Eurofirst lost 0.7 per cent to 1,275.16. The fall was not enough to take the shine off an excellent year for Europe, with a 22.4 per cent gain for the FTSE Eurofirst 300  ...

By Sudip Kar-Gupta PARIS (Reuters) - European aerospace group EADS and Germany's ThyssenKrupp Technologies said on Friday they would buy sonar equipment maker Atlas Elektronik from BAE Systems (BA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) , aiming to bolster Europe's fragmented naval arms industry. EADS (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and ThyssenKrupp (TKAG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) will pay around 145 million euros (99 million pounds) in cash and assume Atlas Elektronik's pension liabilities of 7 ...

By Friedel Rother LONDON (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 index ended 2005 with a yearly gain of over 16 percent, its best annual performance since the end of the dot-com boom, underpinned by rampant takeover activity and solid corporate profits. The market's third consecutive yearly gain came despite some last-minute profit taking on Friday, which left the index down on the day as investors sealed in profits by selling stocks across the board. Nearly three quarters of the market traded lower, with th ...

By Friedel Rother LONDON (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 index ended 2005 with a yearly gain of over 16 percent, its best annual performance since the end of the dot-com boom, underpinned by rampant takeover activity and solid corporate profits. The market's third consecutive yearly gain came despite some last-minute profit taking on Friday, which left the index down on the day as investors sealed in profits by selling stocks across the board. Nearly three quarters of the market traded lower, with th ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index ended 2005 with a yearly gain of more than 16 percent, its best annual performance since the end of the dotcom boom, underpinned by rampant takeover activity and solid corporate profits. The market's third consecutive yearly gain came despite some last-minute profit taking Friday, which left the index down on the day as investors sealed in profits by selling stocks across the board. Nearly three quarters of the market traded lower, with thin vo ...

By Lincoln Feast LONDON (Reuters) - Prices for some of 2005's top performing assets dipped on Friday as investors sealed in gains on European and Asian stocks, gold and the dollar on the last trading day of the year. The modest declines in thin turnover did little to dent the spectacular annual returns achieved -- the best for European stocks in five years, for the dollar in eight years and for  ...

The company was run in recent months by Stuart Pearson, the former Baker Tilly financier in Leeds, from his home in Stainburn.Pearson was brought on board as chief executive by Mariusz Rybak, who founded the investment company Crown Corporation whose name Pearson changed to Langbar after the village near Ilkley.Now Pearson has stepped down as chief but remains an executive director. The recovery e ...

This is Money30 December 2005 THE UK will have the largest broadband internet take-up in Europe by New Year's Day, it emerged today. OTHER STORIES Shares beat property in 2005 Postal service set for revolution Market report: Friday preview Ladbrokes stands proud after Hilton deal Shoppers shy away from big purchases THE EDITOR'S CHOICE TOP STORY: Experts predict rate cut TOP  ...