main headlines..........
Markets turn up on recovery efforts
Markets in Asia staged a recovery overnight, building on better performance in the US on Wednesday, which saw futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gain after the market closed. Globally governments are stepping up to try to spend their way out of trouble, with Japan's Bank of Japan the latest institution to play its hand. It will buy ¥1tr in corporate bonds and extend its current lending programmes. Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 0.9 per cent, helping the region's MSCI Asia Pacific Index advance 0.9 per cent. In London the FTSE 100 Index traded marginally higher in early trade, after yesterday's 0.68 per cent decline.
BoE to print money
The Governor of the Bank of England is to seek permission for "printing" new money for the first tine in 30 years, reported the Independent. Mervyn King will write to the Chancellor "within days", after running out of other options to inject life into the economy. The bank will create the funds by buying government and corporate bonds from financial institutions in "quantitative easing", which is designed to inject more cash into the economy. The move is the "most dramatic step " yet from the Bank of England, as it fights the recession.
Bankrupt Britain: how it could happen 
Race to find Stanford and his funds
The US authorities were "scrambling" yesterday to find Allen Stanford and $50bn of assets connected with him, reported the Times. The fallout from his alleged fraud has "rippled across the world", with the Texan billionaire and cricket sponsor boasting of having customers in "140 countries". As depositors in the Caribbean and Latin America desperately tried to withdraw their savings from Stanford's banks, many were turned away as the search for the whereabouts of the larger-than-life character continued in Antigua and elsewhere.
People: where has Allen Stanford gone?
GM looks for Vauxhall partner
Troubled US car company General Motors is looking for an investor to take a stake in its UK car-maker Vauxhall, reported the Daily Telegraph. The group has gone to the US government for $16.6bn of financial support and as part of its restructuring it said it would also "consider an alliance or partnership". GM announced on Tuesday that it would cut 47,000 staff globally, including workers at the company's plants in Ellesmere Port, Luton and Millbrook. The "radical" restructuring is aimed at securing the company's survival and will involve cuts of $1.2bn in Europe.
In pictures: return of the Citroen DS
Prime minister hints at tax cuts
A government document released by Gordon Brown yesterday "hinted" at fresh stimulus to the economy using tax cuts or spending on public works projects in the April Budget, reported the Times. The 74-page blueprint for world leaders, who will be attending the G20 summit in London in April, calls for financial reforms and increases in International Monetary Fund resources. There is, however, a "strong suggestion" that efforts already made to boost the economy may have been insufficient and a second package from chancellor Alistair Darling may be in the pipeline.
Daniel Hannan: Brown pawns the country for electoral expediency
EU fights ring-fencing of UK assets
The UK government's plan to "ring-fence" British banks' toxic assets in an effort to restore lending to the economy has run into a "wall of opposition" in the EU, reported the Guardian. The European commission and "leading" EU countries are thought to have objected that the proposals are a threat to competition and the single market. The commission is due to publish its final thoughts on the treatment of toxic assets next week and it is expected that it will try to force the UK Treasury to impose a "hefty premium" on the banks which receive assistance.
Protectionism will engulf the global economy
...in brief..................
Green shoots seen in China and Zavvi name to exit high street
Global investors have begun to spot the "first green shoots" of recovery in China and are betting that a "powerful rebound" in the country will lead the world out of its slump, reported the Daily Telegraph. The latest Merrill Lynch survey of investors shows shows the "highest level of optimism" since the start of the credit crunch............
Green shoots are nothing but a mirage - for now
Lord Mandelson "stood by" his four-letter word attack on the head of Starbucks yesterday after he described the UK as being in a "spiral", said the Times. Mandelson asked "Who the f*** is he?" at a party at the British Consul-general's residence in New York and added later that Starbucks itself is in "a great deal of trouble"............
People: Mandelson declares war on Starbucks
UBS agreed yesterday to pay $780m in fines and give some of their customers' names to the US government, said the Financial Times. The move was part of a "landmark settlement" in which the Swiss bank admitted helping clients evade taxes and concludes a "long-running crminal investigation" by the US Department of Justice............
Two of Japan's eight major banks are "braced" for losses of $2.6bn after US private equity groups ran them like US institutions, said Bloomberg.com. Aozora Bank, owned by Cerberus Capital and Shinsei Bank, jointly held by billionaire J. Christopher Flowers have made losses on Madoff funds, among others............
Brewer Heineken is to "slash" its capital spending after reporting diving profits, said the Independent. The global beer-maker announced writedowns of more than €750m and "dire" performance at its Foster's unit in the UK, as it faces up to a worldwide slump in alcohol consumption. Heineken jointly owns UK brewer Scottish & Newcastle............
The Zavvi "saga" has drawn to a close, with another 450 shopworkers to be made redundant on Friday as administrator Ernst & Young closes the music group's remaining stores,said the Guardian. Buyers have been found for 13 stores, saving 360 jobs and bringing to an end the brand name after its Christmas Eve bankruptcy............
Posts
