Contributed by Martin Mitchell of the Corporate Training Group.

The U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer’s pre-budget report includes a 50% levy on bank bonuses of more than £25,000. Barack Obama plans to utilise the $200bn of unused Tarp funds to boost job creation. Japan announced a Y7,200bn stimulus package to help the country’s economic recovery. These are but a few highlights of important market events that we’ve gathered to help you start the week well informed.

Economic Backdrop

• U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Alastair Darling presented his pre-budget report. The government is projecting borrowings of £178bn in the current 2009/10 year, then £176bn in 2010/11 and £140bn in 2011/12. Thereafter it will fall to reach around £82bn in 2014/15. The pre-budget report also included a one-off 50% levy on bank bonuses of more than £25,000 that will only apply until 5 April 2010.
• Spain became the latest sovereign issuer to come under scrutiny as Standard & Poor’s revised its outlook from ‘stable’ to ‘negative’. Spain’s long-term outlook is currently AA+.
• Barack Obama plans to utilise the $200bn of unused funds from the troubled asset relief programme (Tarp) by boosting resources for job creation.
• The U.K. economy grew by 0.2% in the three months to November according to the National Institute for Economic and Social Research. This followed a contraction of 0.3% in the three months to October.
• Japan announced a Y7,200bn ($80bn) stimulus package to help the country’s fragile economic recovery.
• The German government looks set to pass an €8.5bn package of tax cuts to stimulate demand.

Read more

Contributed by Martin Mitchell of the Corporate Training Group.

India reported unexpectedly strong third quarter GDP growth. Kraft published its formal offer for Cadbury. U.S. cable company Comcast is entering into a joint venture with NBC Universal. These are but a few highlights of important market events that we’ve gathered to help you start the week well informed.

Economic Backdrop

• India reported unexpectedly strong third quarter GDP growth of 7.9%.
• The U.S. monthly employment report showed that only 11,000 jobs were lost last month, far less than the expected job losses of 125,000. The unemployment rate fell from 10.2% to 10%.
• According to the latest ‘beige book’ survey from the12 regional Federal Reserve banks, economic conditions in the U.S. have generally improved ‘modestly’ since their last report on October 21st.

Read more

Contributed by Martin Mitchell of the Corporate Training Group.

The U.K. revised initial figures for the third quarter from a gross domestic product fall of 0.4% to a fall of 0.3%. Cadbury may receive an offer from Hershey. China issued its first 50 year government bond. These are but a few highlights of important market events that we’ve gathered to help you start the week well informed.

Economic Backdrop

• The U.K.’s Office for National Statistics revised its initial figures for the third quarter from a gross domestic product fall of 0.4% to a fall of 0.3%.

Mergers and Acquisitions

• Speculation is rife that Cadbury is about to receive a ‘white knight’ offer from Hershey, possibly in conjunction with Italy’s Ferrero. The charitable trust that controls Hershey has informed the Pennsylvania’s Attorney General that it is considering its options in relation to the UK confectioner. Cadbury is already facing a hostile offer from Kraft, and there is a possibility that Nestle may also make an offer.

Financial Institutions

• Sir David Walker published his proposals for corporate governance of U.K. financial services companies. The proposals include the requirements to disclose bands of numbers of employees receiving bonuses of greater than £1m, and a requirement to vet new non-executive directors.
• Lloyds Banking Group’s fundraising plans were approved by more than 99% of their shareholders. The plans will see capital increase by £22.5bn through the combination of a rights issue and a debt swap, allowing the group to break free from the U.K. government’s asset protection scheme.
• Royal Bank of Scotland signed the formal agreement to enter the U.K. government’s asset protection scheme, paving the way for £240bn of toxic assets to be insured.
• The Bank of England revealed that it had acted as ‘lender of the last resort’ and lent money to both Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS at the peak of the financial crisis. The loans peaked at a massive £61.6bn (£36.6bn to RBS and £25.4bn to HBOS) and have since been repaid.
• German bank WestLB has secured a €4bn bailout from the German government. Berlin will inject an initial €3bn, and then a further €1bn later if required.
• German bank Commerzbank is being sued by a further 21 investment bankers for €16.7m of unpaid bonuses. The bank is already facing a claim from more than 80 bankers relating to €33m of unpaid bonuses.
• Spain’s BBVA is set to exercise an option to acquire a further 5% in China Citic Bank for €1.1bn. BBVA’s stake will rise to 15%, comfortably below the 20% limit for investments by single foreign groups in Chinese banks.
• The Middle East’s largest private equity house Abraaj Capital has raised its capital by almost a third as it prepares for a new round of investments. Abraaj’s parent entity has raised $375m from existing shareholders in a rights issue.

Read more

By Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

The National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) recently released their Report of The Fourth Annual National Survey On Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms. The survey program, which began in 2006, is, according to the report, “the only national study that annually tracks the professional progress of women in the nation’s 200 largest law firms by providing a comparative view of the careers and compensation of men and women lawyers at all levels of private practice, including senior roles as equity partners and law firm leaders, and data about the factors that influence career progression.”

Stephanie Scharf, founder of the Survey and President of the NAWL Foundation which co-sponsors the Survey with NAWL, explained its genesis: “The old saying is that if you want to change something, first you have to measure it. An important purpose of the survey is to provide baseline benchmarks for how a typical law firm is performing. People can assess a firm against those benchmarks and determine where women in private practice stand.” Scharf was quick to state that the NAWL doesn’t publish firm-by-firm data—“we want answers without fear”—and instead, publishes findings based on objective measures like retention and promotion.

Read more

Contributed by Martin Mitchell of the Corporate Training Group.

The eurozone emerged from recession in the third quarter. U.S. senator Chris Dodd proposed consolidating the four agencies that inspect banks into a single regulator. The London Stock Exchange suffers an embarrassing technical outage. These are but a few highlights of important market events that we’ve gathered to help you start the week well informed.

Economic Backdrop

• The eurozone emerged from recession with third quarter GDP figures showing a 0.45% expansion for the zone as a whole. Within the zone, Germany grew 0.7% and Italy grew 0.6% whilst France disappointed with just 0.3% growth.
• The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco anticipates the U.S. facing a slow and protracted L-shaped recovery with only a gradual upward tilt.
• The Bank of England has upgraded its forecasts for U.K. growth over the next two years. The Bank is forecasting growth of 2.1% for 2010 (up from 1.9%) and 4% in 2011 (up from 3%). However, optimistic figures were counter-balanced by pessimistic rhetoric – such as that the ‘small movements in quarterly growth rates will not alter the extent of the challenges now facing the economy, such is the scale of the fall in output over the past 18 months.’ Read more