This is Darja Schabad with Corporate Profile.com reporting on the news for Tuesday March 13th.
The Wall Street Journal reports, most of the biggest U.S. banks passed the latest round of “stress tests” administered by federal regulators—a milestone in the recovery from the financial crisis that clears the way for investors to receive tens of billions of dollars in increased bank dividends and share buybacks. in a major setback to Citigroup’s efforts to restore investor confidence, the Federal Reserve rejected the bank’s request to raise its dividend and expand its buyback. Citigroup, the third-largest U.S. bank by assets, passed the stress test, but the Fed indicated it would fall short of some capital requirements if it boosted the payouts. Stock prices reacted positively amid a spate of other upbeat economic news, including a robust retail-sales report and optimistic comments by Fed officials on the overall state of the U.S. economy. JP Morgan, however, the biggest U.S. bank, surprised investors and the Federal Reserve, when the firm announced two days early, that it had received regulatory approval for a 20 percent dividend increase – According to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg also reports as breaking news, the current-account deficit in the U.S., widened more than forecast in the fourth quarter to 124.1 billion dollars, the biggest in three years. A Commerce Department report showed today in Washington, the gap, grew 15 percent from a revised 107.6 billion dollar shortfall, in the prior quarter that was smaller than initially estimated. The median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg News survey, called for a $115 billion dollar fourth-quarter deficit.
Reuters reports, euro zone countries today formally approved on a second, 130 billion euro financing package for Greece, that will keep Athens funded until 2014, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers Jean-Claude Juncker said in a statement. He said euro zone governments have also authorized their temporary bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, to release the first installment of 39.4 billion euros to Greece under the scheme, to be disbursed in several tranches. The formal completion of the procedure follows political agreement to lend more money to Greece at a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday.
It is a bit of a bitter sweet milestone in our era of new technology. The BBC reports, after 244 years reference book firm Encyclopaedia Britannica has decided to stop publishing its famous and weighty 32-volume print edition. It will now focus on digital expansion amid rising competition from websites such as Wikipedia. The firm, which used to sell its encyclopaedias door-to-door, now generates almost 85% its revenue from online sales. It recently launched a digital version of its encyclopaedias for tablet PCs.
This is Darja Schabad with Corporate Profile.com reporting on the news for Tuesday March 13th.
The Wall Street Journal reports, most of the biggest U.S. banks passed the latest round of “stress tests” administered by federal regulators—a milestone in the recovery from the financial crisis that clears the way for investors to receive tens of billions of dollars in increased bank dividends and share buybacks. in a major setback to Citigroup’s efforts to restore investor confidence, the Federal Reserve rejected the bank’s request to raise its dividend and expand its buyback. Citigroup, the third-largest U.S. bank by assets, passed the stress test, but the Fed indicated it would fall short of some capital requirements if it boosted the payouts. Stock prices reacted positively amid a spate of other upbeat economic news, including a robust retail-sales report and optimistic comments by Fed officials on the overall state of the U.S. economy. JP Morgan, however, the biggest U.S. bank, surprised investors and the Federal Reserve, when the firm announced two days early, that it had received regulatory approval for a 20 percent dividend increase – According to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg also reports as breaking news, the current-account deficit in the U.S., widened more than forecast in the fourth quarter to 124.1 billion dollars, the biggest in three years. A Commerce Department report showed today in Washington, the gap, grew 15 percent from a revised 107.6 billion dollar shortfall, in the prior quarter that was smaller than initially estimated. The median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg News survey, called for a $115 billion dollar fourth-quarter deficit.
Reuters reports, euro zone countries today formally approved on a second, 130 billion euro financing package for Greece, that will keep Athens funded until 2014, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers Jean-Claude Juncker said in a statement. He said euro zone governments have also authorized their temporary bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, to release the first installment of 39.4 billion euros to Greece under the scheme, to be disbursed in several tranches. The formal completion of the procedure follows political agreement to lend more money to Greece at a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday.
It is a bit of a bitter sweet milestone in our era of new technology. The BBC reports, after 244 years reference book firm Encyclopaedia Britannica has decided to stop publishing its famous and weighty 32-volume print edition. It will now focus on digital expansion amid rising competition from websites such as Wikipedia. The firm, which used to sell its encyclopaedias door-to-door, now generates almost 85% its revenue from online sales. It recently launched a digital version of its encyclopaedias for tablet PCs.