TOP 100 NEWS SITES
| |||
|
| |||
| |||
|
| |||
| Baghdad Walk-About: Touring the Tigris -- and the Streets TIME's former bureau chief takes a boat ride on the river, a rare experience for foreigners -- and then an unusual cab ride home. feedproxy.google.com |
Berlin museum's first Hitler exhibition The man behind Germany's first ever major exhibition about Adolf Hitler talks about why the time is right to stage the project. bbc.co.uk |
Morgan Stanley tumbles to third-quarter loss Wall Street bank tumbles to $91m loss against comparable profit of $498m last year – and at a time when Goldman Sachs is reporting profits of $1.9bnMorgan Stanley plunged into the red in the third quarter, slashing pay and bonuses at the US investment bank, which employs 5,500 in London.The shock loss of $91m (£57m) suggested to some analysts the bank is losing hard-won ground in the battle against Goldman Sachs for Wall Street supremacy. Goldman reported a comparable profit of $1.9bn.Morgan Stanley set aside quarterly bonuses and compensation worth $3.7bn (£2.3bn) for investment bankers in the three months to September, or an average of $70,000 (£44,000) for each investment banking employee, putting them on target for an average annual bonus of $280,000. That is 25% below last year's level, but still much greater than the UK annual average salary of about £25,000.At Goldman, compensation topped $3.8bn, down 28% from the $5.35bn set aside in the same period last year.The levels of remuneration at both Goldman and Morgan are likely to ignite fury as Britons brace themselves for job losses across the public sector as a result of today's savage comprehensive spending review.Morgan, which like other US banks benefited from large handouts of taxpayers' money at the height of the financial crisis, made a profit of $498m for the third quarter in 2009.Profits at the bank's institutional securities division crashed 82% as institutional clients shunned trading in equities and bonds at a time of global uncertainty. Morgan Stanley's third-quarter dividend is being frozen at five cents a share.James Gorman, Morgan's chief executive, said that although the bank's fund management business and global wealth management arm for private clients made good progress, "I am not satisfied with our overall showing. Our sales and trading performance was clearly muted … but we are well positioned to benefit as the environment stabilises and investors return to the market. [Nevertheless] we still have considerable work to do across the firm."The figures were also hammered by a $229m charge it took against an investment in an unfinished casino in Atlantic City, as well as a $731m hit related to the bank's debt-related credit spreads."Morgan Stanley is a caterpillar in metamorphosis. It's either going to turn into a beautiful butterfly or get eaten by a robin," said Brad Hintz, an analyst with Sanford C Bernstein.But the bank's asset management division bounced back from a year ago, reporting a pre-tax profit of $279m compared with a loss of $124m during the third quarter last year.Elsewhere, Wells Fargo and US Bancorp reported higher third-quarter earnings and said corporate loan demand was rising. US Bancorp saw its first quarterly rise in commercial loans since the end of 2008; Wells Fargo also reported a quarterly increase in commercial lending. The pickup is a boost to the banks because recent evidence has suggested that nervous consumers and businesses were hoarding cash rather than borrowing.San Francisco-based Wells Fargo said it had seen a rise in car and student loans, as well as burgeoning investments in commercial property.Both banks reported lower losses on loans, but US Bancorp continued to add to its cushion against future bad loans, while Wells Fargo released $650m from its loss reserve.Morgan StanleyBankingGoldman SachsUS economyEconomicsUnited StatesRichard Wachmanguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
British deputy PM: Investigate Iraq leak claims By 2010-10-24T17:08:25ZLONDON (AP) -- Allegations of prisoner abuse and civilian killings in Iraq from a cache of leaked U.S. secret military documents are extremely serious and must be investigated, a top British official said Sunday.... hosted.ap.org |
Senate blocks repeal of tax-filing requirement WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate on Monday rejected an effort to reduce tax-related paperwork for businesses when lawmakers couldn't agree on whether they would make up the revenue the new requirement was expected to produce.... hosted.ap.org |