Forex Trading

Citigroup and Bank of America, the stricken US banking giants, surprised Wall Street analysts by posting better than expected second-quarter earnings on Saturday. After taking billions of taxpayer dollars to stave off collapse, the Citi and BoA results were eagerly anticipated in the wake of impressive figures from Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan earlier this week. Bank of America, which has endured a number of problems since merging with Merrill Lynch last year, said its earnings after payment of preferred dividends were $2,42-billion in the second quarter – a fall on a year ago but still ahead of forecasts.It said its results reflected a gain from selling part of its stake in China Construction ...

The government has told Bank of America it needs $33.9 billion in capital to withstand any worsening of the economic downturn, according to an executive at the bank.If the bank is unable to raise the capital cushion by selling assets or stock, it would have to rely on the government, which has provided $45 billion in capital through the Troubled Asset Relief Program.It could satisfy regulators’ demands simply by converting non-voting preferred shares it gave the government in return for the capital, into common stock. But that would make the government one of the bank’s largest shareholders.Executives at the bank, one of the largest being examined, sparred with the government over the amount, ...

Bank of China Limited announced its 2009 first quarter results today. In accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”), BOC recorded profit attributable to the shareholders of RMB 18.57 billion, down by 14.41% year-on-year, but up by 320.42% from the fourth quarter of 2008. Fully capitalizing on the opportunities with the State’s measures to increase domestic demand and stimulate economic growth, BOC accelerated its pace in loans and deposits expansion and achieved rapid growth. As at 31 March 2009, the Bank’s domestic RMB-denominated loans increased by RMB 569.4 billion or 24% compared with the end of 2008 and the market share increased by 0.62 percentage point. Domestic ...

Borrowers looking for a new mortgage deal can now add Bank of China to their list of potential lenders, as the Chinese state-owned bank is targeting the UK with competitive loan rates.Bank of China has been providing mortgages to the Chinese community in the UK but has recently broadened the availability of its loans. It is now offering two tracker deals to a wider pool of UK borrowers.The rates – of 2.5 per cent over the Bank of England base rate for residential borrowers and 3.5 per cent over base for buy-to-let customers for the lifetime of the loan – are among the best on the market and undercut many UK lenders.HSBC and Woolwich have similar lifetime trackers but a number of shorter-term ...

March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of China Ltd., the nation’s third-largest by value, will offer at least 500 billion yuan ($73 billion) in new loans in 2009, boosting credit along with other banks after the government directed them to support the economy. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao set a new loan growth target of 5 trillion yuan for 2009 this week as he prods banks to help support a 4 trillion-yuan stimulus package. Collapsing exports have dragged the world’s third-largest economy to its weakest growth in seven years and cost the jobs of about 20 million migrant workers. Domestic lenders offered a record 1.62 trillion yuan in new advances in January, more than double the previous all-time high ...

Despite stock market shocks, falling returns for investors and many other forms of bad news, I recently completed one of the most important financial objectives of my life. No, not to repay the mortgage or furnish myself with an adequate pension; both of those goals still lie some way off in the future. If you want another clue, this was an ambition shared by rising numbers of parents in Britain. Yes, you have guessed it: I finished paying the school fees. To be candid, this was an infinitely more worrying project than paying for the roof over our heads or funding retirement, because it would not have been me who suffered if I made a mess of it. It would be no ...

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) says it will appeal the European Commission's decision to fine the U.S. chipmaker about €1.06 billion ($1.45 billion) for abusing its dominance in the market to exclude Advanced Micro Devices. The fine levied against Intel beats the previous record for an EC antitrust fine, which was held by another U.S. high-tech company: Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT)."Intel has harmed millions of European ...

The search deal between Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) has been a long time coming. But now that it's here, shareholders' reaction to the deal (announced before market) has been both negative and swift. Yahoo!'s stock's tumbled 7% right out of the gate and kept going into the early afternoon.Shares of Yahoo! were down over 11% around 1 pm EDT on Wednesday, while Microsoft edged up only ...

The search deal between Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) has been a long time coming. But now that it's here, shareholders' reaction to the deal (announced before market) has been both negative and swift. Yahoo!'s stock's tumbled 7% right out of the gate and kept going into the early afternoon.Shares of Yahoo! were down over 11% around 1 pm EDT on Wednesday, while Microsoft edged up only ...

Welcome to Deal Stocks, where we focus on a handful of select public companies involved in activity across the deal spectrum -- including M&A, private equity, IPOs, bankruptcies and corporate restructurings. These are the transactions that define The Deal and are likely contributors to a stock's gains or losses. Join in the conversation on Twitter @dealstocks. The market was celebrating on Thursday as ...

Barclays plc is still down on news that its $10.6 billion fundraising deal will be approved. The bank is also suing Ritchie Capital Management and Thane Ritchie for apparently concealing more than $150 million in investments made in the collapsed Petters Group Worldwide LLC and affiliates, according to Bloomberg. Meanwhile, HSBC Holdings plc stocks also remain on decline as recession concerns escalate. After a rough week, Lloyds TSB Group plc is back up after shareholders approved the HBOS plc deal. - Maria Woehr. Troubled International Banks Prices at 12:00 pm EDT Name Open Price at 12:00pm Change Mkt cap UBS 9.39 9.30 0.02 ...

Barclays' offshore banking solutions are often chosen by British expatriates who already have a business relationship with the bank before they leave the UK and who are aware of the bank's pedigree and reputation. All in all Barclays offshore banking division services the main requirements of the individual and corporate client, and because Barclays have a good industry recognised reputation from Standard and Poors, Fitch and Moodys their offshore and international client base is apparently growing. The focus of the private and premier banking services available from the offshore division of the bank is the provision of a first class service for the management, protection and growth of a client's ...

In a recent "2009 Selection of Values of Chinese Listed Companies & The 1st Selection of The Most Popular Network of Listed Company for Investors", ICBC won 6 big awards including "Top 100 Valuable Chinese Listed Companies", "Excellent Management Teams of Chinese Listed Companies", "Top 100 Secretaries of Board of Directors of Chinese Listed Companies", "The Best Chinese Listed Company with Social Responsibility", "The Most Popular Network of Listed Company for Investors" and "The Best Network of Chinese Listed Company in Information Disclosure". According to introduction that "2008 Selection of Values of Chinese Listed Companies" was hosted by Securities Daily, aiming to praise some excellent ...

SHANGHAI — China's biggest lender, state-owned Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, on Friday signed a $3.78-billion investment deal with Goldman Sachs Group Inc., American Express Co. and Germany's Allianz. The deal, aimed at building "strategic partnerships" in banking, insurance and credit card businesses, will involve the purchase of newly issued shares in the Beijing-based bank, known as ICBC, the companies said. The deal is subject to regulatory approval. The bank earlier had announced that the three companies planned to buy a combined 10% stake. Although the transaction will not be completed until April at the earliest, Allianz will begin immediately to sell investment funds and ...