InvestmentsAug 28 2013

Morning papers: US ‘could run out of money’ by October

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Mr Lew said in a letter to House of Representatives speaker John Boehner released yesterday that the government is running out of accounting maneuovers it has used to avoid hitting the borrowing limit. He pressed Congress to act so Treasury can keep paying the government’s bills.

Gold and oil prices surge and shares fall as intervention in Syria looms

Shares across the world fell yesterday as the prospect of military intervention in Syria sent jitters through the financial markets, reports the Independent.

While stock exchanges in the Middle East predictably tumbled as the interventionist rhetoric in London and Washington intensified, western markets also sank heavily as the uncertainty added to pre-existing worries about macro-economic issues such as the US Federal Reserve’s plans for “tapering” its $85bn-a-month quantitative easing programme.

RBS shares slide as Andrew Tyrie renews call for bank to be split

Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland fell 4 per cent yesterday after the chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards Andrew Tyrie again called for the taxpayer-owned bank to be split up, reports the Independent.

That split has been supported by the former Bank of England governor Mervyn King and the former chancellor and commission member, Lord Lawson.

Nationwide to boost capital by buying back securities

Nationwide, the UK’s biggest building society, has launched an offer to buy back up to £715m in bond-like instruments in an attempt to shore up its capital base after a multibillion pound shortfall, reports the Financial Times.

Bank of England denies its rules forced Nationwide into business lending delay

The Bank of England has denied that its insistence on Nationwide holding a bigger capital cushion had forced the UK’s largest building society to slow its launch of small business lending, reports the Guardian.

George Osborne’s homes scheme could sideline first-time buyers, say lenders

Chancellor George Osborne’s policy of kickstarting the housing market with subsidised mortgages could inflate prices to pre-crash peaks and sideline the first-time buyers it is designed to help, according to a group representing some of the UK’s biggest banks and building societies, reports the Guardian.

In the latest warning about the impact of the Help to Buy programme, lenders said property prices could rise by 11 per cent by the end of 2016, with artificially inflated valuations the biggest threat to its success. Without a housebuilding programme to address the extra demand, property prices could spiral to new highs, said the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association.

Bank of England boss Mark Carney sidesteps City to ease rate rise fears

Bank of England governor Mark Carney will attempt to shore up his flagship “forward guidance” policy today amid signs it is not having the desired effect on the city, reports the Guardian.

Just weeks after unveiling the unprecedented shift in Bank policy, Mr Carney is travelling away from the square mile to underline the commitment of policymakers to nursing the economy back to health, in his first UK public speech.

JPMorgan woes deepen as US demands $6bn penalty

US authorities are demanding JPMorgan Chase pay more than $6bn to settle allegations it mis-sold securities to government-backed mortgage companies in the run-up to the financial crisis, according to people familiar with the discussions, reports the Financial Times.