News

Blue Index News and Press Releases. Please visit this page often for regular updates regarding Blue Index as an organisation.

The Banks Are Saved

Courtesy of the generosity of the Great British taxpayer HBOS (HBOS) and RBS (RBS) have been saved from a grisly fate. They avoid going to Credit Crunch heaven via a £37bn cash injection. Of this £20bn goes to RBS, the canny people who bought ABN Amro at the top of the market, with £5.5bn going to Lloyds TSB (LLOY), and £11.5bn to HBOS.

Meltdown To FTSE 100 4,000

It would appear that Thursday’s price action was the calm before the storm for the FTSE 100 and leading s stocks. The London market managed to hold its head above water for much of yesterday, but it was a new leg down on Wall Street, possibly helped along by the lifting of the recent short selling ban that opened the floodgates to heavy selling. But perhaps it has actually been the Far East which has suffered the most, with the Nikkei down as much as 10% to make it down a quarter over the past week.

Relative Calm

We have a much healthier looking profile than of late for the FTSE 100 and leading stocks, with the index posting gains of up to triple digits. This is despite the way that we heard news of a further $37bn bailout for troubled insurer AIG in the US. However, this was counteracted to some extent by further interest rate cuts in the Far East to add to the concerted move in the West yesterday.

£50bn For The Banks

It would be interesting to know how much the taxpayer has already coughed up to save the High Street banks, but in the meantime we have a bailout package signed up to by eight of the big UK names. The problem that this deal has had apart from being rather badly leaked yesterday, is the way that it has been released on a morning after further sharp losses on Wall Street. It did not take kindly to Fed Chairman Bernanke’s cautious words on the US economy, and despite the UK bailout the FTSE 100 suffered another 300 point sell off at worse.