Mortgage News
Wikileaks reveals King attack on Cameron and Osborne – papers
Mervyn King criticised David Cameron and George Osborne for their lack of experience in private conversations with the US Ambassador, new documents have revealed.
The latest round of US Embassy Cables released by Wikileaks shows the governor of the Bank of England also thought they lacked depth in their inner circle and had a tendency to think about issues only in terms of their electoral impact, the Guardian reports.
The conversations took place before the elections and also saw King predict the economic recovery would be “a long drawn-out process” due to the lack of economic restructuring.
Read more here
ECB urged to make mass bond purchases
Spain’s former prime minister, Felipe Gonzalez, has urged the European Central Bank (ECB) to make mass bond purchases to prevent the spread of the debt crisis.
He has predicted a third country will need to be rescued by “January or February”, with another soon after, referring to Portugal and Spain, the Telegraph reports.
Episode 5: Larger Loans and Complex Lending: Powered by Partnership podcast from Newcastle for Intermediaries
Sponsored by Newcastle for Intermediaries
He said: “If the ECB bought just a third as much public debt as the US Federal Reserve is doing, we could stop the speculation.”
Read more
Europe debt crisis affecting companies
The European debt crisis is spreading beyond sovereign governments and beginning to impact upon companies across the continent.
Spanish, Portuguese and Irish companies and banks are being priced out of bond markets, according to the Financial Times, although non-financial companies generally healthier position than banks.
Hans Lorenzen, credit strategist at Citi, says: “It is difficult to see where [peripheral banks] are going to get funding other than from the European Central Bank. The unsecured bond markets will be very difficult and very expensive if not completely shut to them.”
Read more here
Central European Time could come to UK
A piece of legislation going before the House of Commons this week could lead to the UK switching to Central European Time.
The change would mean being an hour ahead of GMT in the winter, increasing to two hours in the summer, with supporters arguing it could cut the number of deaths on the roads in the evenings, conserve energy and create jobs through increased tourism, the Wall Street Journal has reports.
New MP Rebecca Harris is pushing a private member’s bill and government has indicated it will not attempt to block the legislation.
Read more here