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Markets cautious over Spain fears

Mon, 28 May 2012 17:54:18 GMT

European markets remained in a fragile mood today with the euro dropping to near 11-month lows on concerns about Spain's ailing banking sector following the announcement of bailout plans for troubled lender Bankia.

Spotlight On: Arnaud Lagardère, chairman designate EADS

Mon, 28 May 2012 17:48:23 GMT

Arnaud Lagardère – must be related to Christine, of the International Monetary Fund, right?

Bailout fears spark Bankia shares dive

Mon, 28 May 2012 15:37:51 GMT

Concern over the bailout plans for troubled Spanish lender Bankia and the country's ability to finance itself sent the nationalised bank's share price plummeting and Spain's borrowing costs soaring today.

850 jobs at risk as oil refinery closes

Mon, 28 May 2012 14:16:37 GMT

An oil refinery which went bust is to close after administrators failed to find a buyer or the cash needed to keep it going, putting around 850 jobs at risk.

Hundreds of jobs at risk as oil refinery closes

Mon, 28 May 2012 14:16:37 GMT

An oil refinery which went bust is to close after administrators failed to find a buyer or the cash needed to keep it going, putting around 850 jobs at risk.

A tale of two housing markets: north vs south

Mon, 28 May 2012 09:09:01 GMT

The north-south divide in house prices is widening, according to figures for May published today. Rising property values in London helped push the latest national Hometrack house price index into positive territory, despite seven out of 10 regions posting falling or static prices.

The Week Ahead: Spotlight on turnaround attempts at Thomas Cook

Sun, 27 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Today

Small Talk: Public sector failings holding back SMEs' recovery drive

Sun, 27 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Is the public sector hindering the ability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to drive Britain's rebound from recession? The question is worth asking, because for all the rhetoric we hear from this Government – and its predecessors – on the importance of entrepreneurialism, the organisations over which it presides have an irritating habit of getting in the way.

Shareholders set to give RBS chief Hester a rough ride

Sun, 27 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Despite giving up his annual bonus Stephen Hester, chief executive of taxpayer-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland, is set to face angry shareholders at the bank's annual meeting on Wednesday.

Sacked Olympus boss Woodford starts fight against unfair dismissal

Sun, 27 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Michael Woodford, the British whistleblower sacked from Japanese cameras and endoscopes giant Olympus, begins his multi-million-pound unfair dismissal case against the company at a London tribunal today.

CBI in call for pension funds to be given credit subsidies

Sun, 27 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

The Government should offer credit subsidies to pension funds and other institutional investors in order to unlock billions of pounds for infrastructure spending, the CBI argues today.

What the Sunday papers said...

Sun, 27 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

The Independent on Sunday: Goldman Sachs looks at billionaire's oil break-up

David Blanchflower: How much worse do things have to get before we get action?

Sun, 27 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

For us data watchers, last week was a big one and pretty exciting. Oil and commodity prices continued their downward slide. In the euro area, the PMI flash estimates showed weakening in both services and manufacturing. Perhaps more important still was the flash estimate for Germany, which also implied slowing. To this point, Germany has been an island of growth but as John Donne warned in For Whom the Bell Tolls : "No man is an island, Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less." The less indeed. These data appear to strengthen French President François Hollande's argument that it is time for the Euro area to get a growth plan. Austerity is failing everywhere – not just the UK.

Hamish McRae: Let's focus on positives of foreign workers

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

If our economy is doing so badly why do so many people come here?

RBS cuts ties with former broking arm

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Royal Bank of Scotland is set to axe Hoare Govett as its broker, just months after selling the historic City institution as part of a dramatic scale-back in investment banking.

Pension contributions 'may need to be made compulsory'

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

The state will need to make saving for pensions compulsory if the industry does not radically reform by 2017, a think-tank with the Government's ear will warn next month.

Town Centre Restaurants seeks fresh investment

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

The company behind Azzurro restaurants has hired advisers at an accountancy firm to explore its strategic options, including potential new investment, to help turn around its performance.

Margareta Pagano: Eurobond or no? The Iron Lady is not for turning

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

So who's going to win the latest skirmish over a new euroland eurobond? Will it be Mario Monti, Italy's unelected prime minister, who claims he can persuade Angela Merkel, Germany's elected Chancellor, to act for Europe's common good and support a new eurobond to save the eurozone? Or will it be Merkel, the lady with Europe's purse-strings, who is implacably opposed?

We shouldn't be lecturing euro states, says Cable

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Britain's double-dip recession means ministers must show "humility" in dealing with the eurozone and not "lecture" countries on how to run their own economies, warned Vince Cable, as he defended his record as a champion of business.

Facebook: The shares shenanigans

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

So, no honeymoon, then.A week ago, Mark Zuckerberg was celebrating his first morning as a married man, and a $19.1bn married man at that. The previous Friday, Facebook's founder had floated his social network on the stock market, with the eye-popping valuation of $104bn, making millionaires and billionaires out of his early staff. Then he had wed his Harvard University sweetheart Priscilla Chan in a romantic backyard ceremony that he had managed to keep totally secret despite months of planning – a feat that must be unique in the post-privacy era ushered in by Facebook.

Günter Grass attacks Merkel for Athens policy

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

The world's leaders and economists, having put in their euro's worth on Greece and currency union – to no great discernible effect, so far – yesterday, one of the planet's most respected literary figures joined in. Germany's Nobel literature laureate Günter Grass criticised the treatment of Greece in the debt crisis, describing it in a new poem as a "country sentenced to poverty".

Chuka Umunna: 'It is plain, Camerkozy austerity is not working'

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

This Chuka Umunna is cheeky. First, he set the hare running by forcing the controversial Beecroft report out into the open, prompting accusations that Vince Cable is a "socialist and anti-business".

Hamish McRae: Let's focus on positives of foreign workers

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

If our economy is doing so badly why do so many people come here?

RBS cuts ties with former broking arm

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Royal Bank of Scotland is set to axe Hoare Govett as its broker, just months after selling the historic City institution as part of a dramatic scale-back in investment banking.

Business week in review

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

In profit...