Spencer Winfield at stockbroker Charles Stanley replies: When providing performance comparisons for a portfolio, a stockbroker or fund manager will normally compare the rise or fall of the portfolio they manage against a particular index or indices. The index will generally be chosen at the portfolio's creation and used as a benchmark against [...]
Beleaguered fund management group New Star Asset Management is locked in talks with its lenders over the group's £230m of debt after its shares fell back to an all-time low.
The situation has raised fears that investors may look for a quick exit from New Star funds. Already assets under management at [...]
The stubborn refusal of lenders to turn on the mortgage tap means hundreds of thousands of borrowers are stuck on unaffordably high rates.
And nothing Alistair Darling said last week will make any difference.
Until May, Lee Tibbenham and his partner Melissa Smith, who have a one-year-old son Joseph, were on a fixed-rate mortgage of 5.85% [...]
John Duffield's struggling group said it was in 'advanced and constructive discussions' over its crippling £230m mountain of debt.
The request for shares to be suspended was made at the all-time low of just 14p this morning, having crashed 97% from a peak of 485p just 18 months ago. After the request was denied by [...]
A rally in the price of gold over the past month has seen it rise from about $740 per ounce, at the start of November, to $814 this week. And while its value remains under the $840 seen at the beginning of 2008, and considerably below its peak of more than $1,000 in [...]
The gap between the Bank of England base rate and the interest charged on personal loans has leapt from less than three percentage points to more than five in the last two months.
Many customers will need loans to stay afloat in the present climate. Hundreds of thousands rely on personal loans to consolidate other [...]
Struggling MFI has been hit by falling demand for 'big ticket' goods as the housing market slumps and consumer confidence falls and despite a management buyout in September has gone into administration.
Administrators MCR have said they will be contacting customers who have outstanding orders as soon as they are able [...]
The historic two percentage point cut in interest rates over the past two months means that monthly mortgage repayments have plummeted for some lucky borrowers.
But while the extra cash may come in handy for cash-strapped households, brokers are urging borrowers to maintain their precut payment levels, overpaying on the mortgage to reduce the overall [...]
But her son Don, 73, had another reason to raise a glass at the party last month. A few weeks earlier, Don, who has power of attorney over his mother's affairs, received a cheque on her behalf, refunding £8,600 in excess fees, after a six-month struggle with the local council.
Confusion over the rules setting [...]
The biggest cull came from Wolseley, supplier of plumbing equipment to the building trade, which said it would be axing 2,300 posts and closing 200 branches across the country.
It cited the collapse in the housing market, which has brought thousands of building projects to a standstill.
Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley today started handing out redundancy notices [...]
© 2008 Daily Financial News