Japan’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate steady Tuesday but introduced new steps to spur lending and ease the strains of an increasingly painful recession.
The Bank of Japan’s eight-member policy board voted unanimously to leave the key overnight call rate target unchanged at 0.1 percent, as widely expected.
With interest rates close to zero, the [...]
Archive for June, 2009
Japan Central Bank Keeps Interest Rate Unchanged
June 12th, 2009 by Financial Writer
Tags: central bank, interest rate, japan, recession
more...The future of the financial system (South Africa)
June 11th, 2009 by Financial Writer
While financial institutions in South Africa and around the world have been rocked by the global financial crisis, they need to move out of survival mode and start charting a course towards promoting long-term financial stability and growth.
That was the message from Rogan Davies, head of Financial Services at professional consulting organisation The IQ Business [...]
Tags: financial system, Global Recession, South Africa Finance
Mortgage lending for house purchases rises 16%
June 11th, 2009 by Financial Writer
A total of 35,600 loans were advanced to people for house purchase during the month, the highest level since October last year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
The upturn builds on a recent run on positive data on the housing market, as buyers are tempted [...]
Tags: loans, mortgage lenders, mortgage lending, UK Finance
Stocks fall on inflation, interest-rate jitters
June 10th, 2009 by Financial Writer
The stock market has a new priority: interest rates.
Stocks fell moderately Wednesday after the government sold $19 billion in 10-year Treasury notes in a relatively weak auction. There were plenty of bidders, but the government had to lure them with a higher yield than the market anticipated.
The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 24 points.
Investors are [...]
Tags: interest rates, stock market, US Finance, USA Inflation
BSE Sensex drops 2.9 pct; State Bank, ICICI fall
June 8th, 2009 by Financial Writer
The BSE Sensex fell 2.9 percent on Monday in its biggest drop in almost six weeks as investors took profits after a near 90 percent rally over the past three months, with weak Asian and European markets aiding the selloff.
However, underlying sentiment was firm with expectations the economy was set to recover in the coming [...]
Tags: BSE sensex, Global Markets, India Finance
The federal government gets TARP right
June 8th, 2009 by Financial Writer
Sometimes the best investment is the one you didn’t make. That’s the case with one of the biggest investment pools in the country: the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program, which Congress authorized last October to help combat the financial meltdown. The smartest thing the Treasury has done is to not buy troubled assets with [...]
Tags: federal government, TARP cash, usa finance
Mortgage crisis robbing seniors of golden years
June 7th, 2009 by Financial Writer
Howard Weiss is 77 and scared.
This year, the semiretired distributor from Phoenix ran into financial problems and stopped making his mortgage payments. He was told his home was scheduled for a foreclosure auction in May.
CHART: Seniors feeling poorer
So Weiss scraped together more than $2,000 to stave off the foreclosure. He’s still trying to figure out [...]
Retirement Advice for Freelancers
June 5th, 2009 by Financial Writer
Going it alone isn’t easy. Ask any freelancer. The stability that comes from a steady paycheck is just one of the perks that intrepid self-employed workers forgo in the name of flexibility and freedom. They also give up on access to the tried-and-true retirement savings infrastructure that’s built into most big companies, including pensions, profit [...]
Tags: freelancer retirement, self-employed, USA
India - Commercial property mart claws back
June 5th, 2009 by Financial Writer
The commercial realty market is showing signs of revival again after rentals plummeted 40% till the year ended March 2009. Fresh lease deeds are being signed again for office spaces, albeit at much lower rates than before.
According to a report by Colliers International, office rentals dropped 10-40% between Q1 of 2008 and Q1 2009 in [...]
Tags: commercial property, india, realty market
Recession hindering Brits from saving, finds Scottish Widows
June 3rd, 2009 by Financial Writer
The recession is seriously affecting British consumers’ ability to save money, a new poll conducted by Scottish Widows has discovered.
According to the survey, 85 per cent of respondents said that they simply do not have the spare money required to start saving - a figure which has increased from 50 per cent since last year’s [...]
Tags: Deep Recession, UK