Archive for July 12th, 2010

London markets gain on BP news

European equities markets were mostly higher Monday, although some investors were hesitant to make commitments ahead of corporate earnings reports, which are scheduled to begin being released soon.
The FTSE 100 was 0.66 percent higher to 5,167.02 in London, while the FTSE 250 gained 0.29 percent to 9,774.16.
Troubled oil company BP (LSE: BP) led gains on [...]

S&P affirms “AAA” rating for UK

Rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) today affirmed its “AAA” long-term rating on Britain but maintained its negative outlook on the long-term rating.
Following the news, the pound fell to $1.5017 from $1.5068.
Commenting on its announcement, S&P analysts Trevor Cullinan and David Beers, said: “The coalition government has set out what we view as a [...]

SVR huggers miss out on cheaper mortgage payments

New research from Yorkshire Building Society shows that the number of mortgage borrowers now on their lenders’ standard variable rates (SVRs) is over 2.3 million, representing 28% of the total mortgage market.
Typically these households have come off fixed-term deals and for one reason or another have chosen to revert to their lenders’ SVRs, rather [...]

Google’s secret $100m flutter on gaming

Google has secretly invested over $100 million in online gaming company Zynga, it has emerged.
If the reports are true, the investment represent’s the search engine giant’s first major foray into web gaming.
Zynga is responsible for some of the best-known online games, including Farmville and Mafia Wars on social networking site Facebook.
The investment could see a [...]

China’s property market falters

China’s frothy property market may have peaked after a government clampdown on speculators, data shows.