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Markets News Afternoon: Lenihan discusses future of Anglo Irish Bank in Brussels; Homebond says 149 new Irish home starts were registered in August
By Finfacts Team
Sep 6, 2010 - 4:13:30 PM
Minister of Finance Brian Lenihan chatting with his French counterpart Christine Lagarde, at the Eurogroup meeting in Luxembourg, Monday, June 07, 2010.
Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said today a decision has to be
taken in a matter of weeks on the future of the nationalised
former builders' bank Anglo Irish Bank.
In remarks before his departure for Brussels this morning,
he said the Government could not make a decision overnight, and
that the issue would be discussed with European authorities. The
Minister is in Brussels for a meeting of EU finance
ministers, but is due to meet to discuss the Anglo situation with EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia. The Minister said management at the bank had put forward the
case that if the bank were allowed to engage in lending, it
might further reduce the cost to the taxpayer but he added that he was concerned at reports over the
weekend that public opinion believed Anglo would bankrupt the
country. This is simply not the case, he said, adding that the
costs were manageable.
The Minister named December 7th as the date of the Budget,
saying it would not just be about the public finances, but would
also contain measures to boost confidence in the economy. He
said on his own health, he had completed courses in
chemotherapy and radiotherapy at the end of June, adding that
the treatment had stabilised the cancer for the present. He
added that he was in a good position to get on with the
important decisions that have to be taken in the next few
months.
Anglo Irish Bank asked to be taken over by Bank of Ireland on
the same day in September 2008 the Government decided on the introduction of
the blanket guarantee for financial institutions this month two
years ago.
The revelation is contained in a programme called Freefall
which will be aired on RTÉ1 television tonight.
On September 29 2008. shares in Irish banks were falling
sharply less than two weeks after the collapse of US investment
bank Lehman Brothers.
Its then chairman Sean FitzPatrick and chief executive David
Drumm approached Bank of Ireland's then governor Richard Burrows
and CEO Brian Goggin. In a meeting at Bank of Ireland, FitzPatrick and Drumm
said Anglo was facing insolvency, and they asked Bank of Ireland
to takeover Anglo.
Their request was rejected but the
meeting prompted Bank
of Ireland to contact AIB. Both banks sought a meeting with
Government, which was in the midst of crisis meetings on the
introduction of a guarantee. Both banks then met Taoiseach Brian
Cowen and Finance Minister Brian Lenihan and outlined their
concerns about Anglo.
Resistance to
Basel III reforms is misplaced and creating a more resilient global system of
regulation was crucial, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet told
CNBC:
US Multinationals:
The US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, is to host an
economic conference in Washington next month to promote
investment and job creation in Northern Ireland.
Former
President Clinton will visit the North beforehand
in support of the campaign to attract US multinationals.
Details of the initiative were given by Mrs Clinton's
economic envoy to Northern Ireland, Declan Kelly,
in Belfast this afternoon.
He said this was possibly the first time that a US
administration would host a gathering focusing on economic
development in one region of the world.
“Some elements
in US job data reinforce the idea that the labor market in the U.S. is still
quite weak,” Derek Halpenny, European head of global currency research at
Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi told CNBC. Philippe Gijsels at BNP Paribas Fortis also
expects more volatility, and remains very cautious as stocks could go lower.
Obama:
US President Barack Obama will today announce plans to spend at
least $50bn to expand and renew US roads, railways and
airports, in a new bid to boost economic growth.
The President is set to make the announcement in a speech
in Wisconsin at an event marking Labor Day, the traditional kick
off date for US election campaigns.
A White House official said that the 'bold' infrastructure
plan will be front loaded and make significant investments in
the first year, in a bid to stimulate the sagging economy and
boost jobs growth.
On Wednesday, Obama is expected to unveil a series of tax breaks
for small businesses worth $100bn.
There are 67 flagship fashion
brands in Oxford Street, Richard Dickinson, CEO of New West End Company, told
CNBC about why Oxford Street has been voted the most fashionable street in the
world:
Irish House Starts:
Figures issued by house guarantee scheme Homebond show that the number
of new homes registered last month was down by almost 40% from
August last year.
Homebond said 149 new homes were registered
in August, down from 245 in August 2009. This is an improvement
from July, however, as only 61 homes were registered in than
month.
The Homebond figures are seen as an indicator of future
housing activity. Homebond is the bigger of two companies which
provide registration figures, the other being Premier.
Only 45 new homes were registered in Dublin in the month,
with 22 in Cork. There were no new homes at all registered in
seven counties.
Ryanair: Ryanair’s booked passenger and load factor statistics for August
2010 are as follows:
Aug 09
Aug 10
Increase
12 mth to Aug 10*
Passengers (m) 1
6.88M
7.68M
+12%
70.9M
Load Factor 2
90%
89%
-1%
82%
1. Represents the number of booked seats sold by Ryanair.
2. Represents the number of passengers as a percentage of total seats
available.
*Year to date booked passenger and load factor figures include up to 1.45m
passengers who were booked to fly on flights which were cancelled due to the
unnecessary closures of parts of EU airspace following the volcanic
eruptions in Iceland.
Dublin Traffic: Mixed Results for 30kph Zone
“The six month review of the 30kph speed limit in the city centre has shown
mixed results,” said Cllr. Andrew Montague, chair of Dublin City Council’s
Transport Committee, today.
“While the morning peak speed only dropped from 41kph to 39 kph, the
afternoon speeds dropped from 39kph to 34kph. However, the figures weren’t
comparing like-with-like. The report compared the February speeds with August
speeds. Normally we would expect an increase of speed from February to August
but as a result of the new speed limits, we managed to reverse that traditional
trend.
“There are parts of the city centre where the speed limits are working well. For
example the speed on O’Connell Street dropped from 38kph to 32kph in the morning
and Bachelor’s Walk dropped from 37kph to 27kph. These are heavily
pedestrianised areas and I’m glad to see progress being made here.
“But we also need to look at why places like Dame Street have not worked so
well. This may be due to the reduced traffic in the area as a result of the Bus
priority. With reduced traffic, you will inevitably get an increase in speeds,”
concluded Cllr. Montague.
US Markets
Closed for Labor Day.
European Markets
The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is up 0.24% Monday.
In Dublin the ISEQ is off 0.07%.
CRH is up 1.12%; Elan has risen 0.71%; AIB is down 0.50% and Bank of Ireland
is off 2.45%.
