Foreign Exchange News

PERNOD Ricard, the world's second-biggest spirits firm, was today toasting a modest rise in operating profits, although its bottom-line figure was hit by the multi-billion-pound takeover of Allied Domecq. The French drinks giant said first-half operating profit had risen 2.1 per cent to around £194 million. Net profit amounted to some £106m, down 7.2 per cent on the same period last year and a ...

THE European Commission has initiated formal proceedings against the government for breaching its borrowing commitments, for the second year running. The EU's Stability and Growth Pact states that budget deficits should not exceed 3 per cent of GDP, but its economics commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, said yesterday that provisional estimates put the UK budget deficit at 3.1 per cent of GDP for 2004 ...

ODDS on any further interest rate cut this year lengthened yesterday as the Bank of England's monetary policy committee (MPC) minutes revealed that all nine members voted to keep rates on hold at its September meeting. City analysts also noted that the section of the minutes covering the debate on interest rates at the meeting on 7-8 September was unusually short, suggesting that the committee h ...

SNP activists yesterday voted to fight to protect Scottish bank-notes from what they believe is a Treasury scheme to wrest control from Scottish banks. Nationalists voted to resist a UK government plan to place new restrictions on the issuing of Scottish banknotes. At the moment, Scottish banknotes are not strictly legal tender throughout the UK, so anybody can refuse to accept them. The Treas ...

FOR the past decade, one name has dominated Britain's £130 billion-a-year grocery market. Not only has Tesco made its way to the top of the retail tree, it has become a darling of the stock market. The group, founded in 1919, is worth some £24bn, generates annual sales in excess of £18bn and employs a staggering 350,000 people worldwide. Yet news of first-half profits nudging the £1bn mark h ...

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Treasury bond prices see-sawed Tuesday as investors struggled to interpret what the Federal Reserve's latest rate hike means for the economy while the dollar ticked higher. For the first time in several months, there was debate over whether the central bank would raise rates again following Hurricane Katrina, but the Federal Reserve kept to its "measured" rate hike  ...

The detailsSee more Old conundrum, new twist Inverted or flat, the yield curve points to a weaker Federal Reserve, not a downturn. (Full story) More on bonds and yields • Harry Potter and the Fed's conundrum • What investors should do NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The dollar hit a seven-week high against the euro Monday, while bond prices rose on limited activity as investors awaited Tuesday's rate decision by the Federal Reserve. The 10-year  ...

New dawn breaks for the Nikkei as reformer returns (Filed: 17/09/2005) Stock market and investment experts are applauding Koizumi's victory, write Alison Steed and Faith Dewey. Japan funds are set to come out fighting now the country's financial years in the doldrums seem finally to have come to an end.  Reformer returns: the Nikkei soared with Koizumi's re-electionThe Japanese stock market responded positively to this week's election result, when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi won a ...