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Irish Bonds: The cost to the State of borrowing money on international
markets fell Thursday after yesterday's decision on Anglo Irish
Bank.This afternoon the yield - - the interest rate
cost based on the market value of the bond - - on 10-year Irish
bonds was 5.92%, having been around 6% earlier in the day.
Earlier, Thursday, the National Treasury Management Agency,
Ireland's debt management agency, also sold €400m of
Treasury Bills.
AIB: AIB (Allied Irish Banks) Plc has received a number of
“substantial”
bids for its Polish unit,
Bank Zachodni WBK SA, Minister for Finance
Brian Lenihan said in an interview
RTÉ Radio today.
Lenihan said the bids have now closed for control of the
Polish bank, in which AIB has a 70% stake
and that he expects “finality” on the capital needs of
Ireland’s second-largest bank “in the next few weeks.”
AIB is seeking to sell its
stake in Bank Zachodni as part of a series of
measures aimed at raising €7.4bn
by year-end to reach new regulatory capital targets.
Poland’s PKO Bank Polski SA, Spain’s Banco Santander SA and
France’s BNP Paribas SA bid for the Polish unit according to
reports.
Goodbody Stockbrokers estimates that Allied
Irish will raise €1.95bn from the sale of the
Bank Zachodni stake.
Goldman Sachs: The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA)
has fined US investment bank Goldman Sachs £17.5m sterling
today, for information failures linked to US fraud charges.
The FSA said the fine, equivalent to €21m, was for
'weaknesses in controls resulting in failure to provide FSA with
appropriate information'.
A spokesperson for the bank said it was
"pleased the
matter is resolved."
The fine relates to failure by Goldman to disclose that it was under
investigation for fraud by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, earlier
this year, a statement said.
The UK fine also relates to Goldman's failure to tell the UK regulator
that
Frenchman Fabrice Tourre, an executive linked to fraud in
connection with packaging of junk mortgages. This was relevant
because Tourre transferred from the US to London, and so had to
be authorised by the FSA.
Insight on the French spirits business, with Pierre Pringuet, CEO of Pernod Ricard, owner of Irish Distillers:
Schering-Plough Cork: Management at the Schering-Plough pharmaceutical plant
at Brinny, Upton, near Bandon in West Cork announced today plans
to 160 jobs over the next three years.
In a meeting with staff today, the management of the company
said that where possible it will try to achieve the job cuts
through voluntary redundancies.
Schering-Plough site director John Howell also said that a
transformation programme at the company presented everybody at
the West Cork plant with an opportunity to secure further
investment at the site in the future.
Howell said the cost reduction programme was geared to secure
the future of the plant within the Merck global network.
Last year Schering-Plough merged with pharmaceutical company
Merck in a deal valued at the time at $41bn. Schering-Plough
currently employs just over 500 people in Upton.
Wage Freeze: The head of one of Ireland's biggest manufacturing companies
says a five-year wage freeze is required for Ireland to regain
competitiveness.
Seán O'Driscoll, of Glen Dimplex, said that Germany had shown
that countries can return to strong economic growth through wage
restraint.
Around 100 of the country's business and political leaders
gathered in Dublin today at the Seán Lemass International Forum
to discuss the future of manufacturing in this country.
Bank of England:
The Bank of England today maintained its emergency support for the
UK economy by keeping interest rates at 0.5% for the 18th month
in a row - - the lowest level since 1694.
Policymakers also continued with the Bank's £200bn
sterling quantitative easing programme or more amid
uncertainty over the path of the UK's recovery.
The Irish government announced plans to split up Anglo Irish Bank Wednesday. Joan Burton, deputy leader and finance spokesperson for the Irish Labour Party, told CNBC that there are problems with other Irish banks as well:
US
Markets
In New York
Thursday, the Dow rose 69 points or 0.66% to 10,456.
The S&P 500
slid 0.89% and the Nasdaq slipped 72%.
The Department of Labor reported today in the week ending Sept. 4th, the advance figure for
seasonally adjusted first-time claims for jobless benefit, was 451,000, a decrease of
27,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 478,000. The
4-week moving average was 477,750, a decrease of 9,250 from the
previous week's revised average of 487,000.
The advance number for seasonally adjusted
insured unemployment during the week ending Aug. 28th was
4,478,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the preceding week's revised
level of 4,480,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,488,000, a
decrease of 3,250 from the preceding week's revised average of
4,491,250.
The US trade deficit contracted
sharply in July, posting its biggest drop in 17 months as exports of aircraft
jumped and US demand for imports fell across the board:
