By Paul Farrow – What caused the European debt crisis, how long will it last, and how worried should Britons be?
Europe is in crisis. Austerity measures have been announced in several countries including Greece and Spain, the euro is under pressure and stock markets across the globe have fallen sharply from their recent highs – and it is all due mainly to sovereign debt.
THE UK savings crisis has reached a stage at which desperate measures are required. Yet the key to tackling it may lie in simplicity and being creative with the savings and pensions infrastructure already in place – and such a solution has been put forward this week.
That the UK faces an alarming savings crisis is disputed by no-one. The industry and the government have thus far attempted to tackle it on the “lead-a-horse-to-water” basis that incentivisation is the only answer, through products such as stakeholder and Isas.
BT shares gained 11 per cent after the company restored confidence that it had turned around its Global Services unit and reassured investors that it expected to start growing again within three years.
The price rose by 13.1p to 133.6p after the company revealed a robust outlook for the coming year, when it will slash a further £900 million in costs from the business. It cut £1.8 million of costs during the past year, which helped to restore profitability at the telecoms company. It also dispelled concerns about its ability to compete in the broadband market after adding 123,000 customers in the three months to March 31, outstripping growth reported at rival providers.
Nic Fildes, Graham Keeley
London’s leading share index fell by more than 100 points today as the euro crashed to an 18-month low against the dollar over fears a €750 billion (£650 billion) rescue package may not be enough to stem the eurozone debt crisis.
The UK’s goods trade gap hit a disappointing £7.5 billion in March amid little sign of an export-led recovery, official figures have shown.
The deficit – well ahead of an upwardly-revised £6.3 billion for February – came as total imports surged £1.4 billion over the month compared with a meagre £200 million rise in exports.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick (2nd L) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn (3rd L) attend the G-24 meeting of the spring IMF-World Bank meeting at the IMF headquarters building in Washington April 22, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Yuri Gripas
Barclays said there were signs the economic recovery had started.
Shares in High Street banking giant Barclays have fallen 6.4% despite a big rise in pre-tax profits for the first three months of 2010.
Barclays’ profit for the first quarter was £1.82bn, up 47% on a year earlier, with most of it coming from investment banking arm Barclays Capital.
By Jorn Madslien – Business reporter, BBC News: Investigators will seek to determine why the blowout preventer failed to shut off the flow of oil from the well.
BP has seen its reputation hammered and the value of its shares plunge after an explosion that damaged and sank the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
The chairman of the part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has conceded that many bank employees earn too much.
Sir Philip Hampton said it was very difficult to defend the massive gap between what most people earned and what some bank employees were paid.
By FIONA MACLEOD
A SCOTTISH university is to offer the UK’s first postgraduate course in Islamic finance.
Dundee University will unveil its MSc in Islamic accounting and finance at a conference on ethical finance in Edinburgh today. The course has been created to meet increased demand from the banking sector.