While shoppers in the UK and the US spent more for the holidays this year, the profit margin for retailers remains in doubt due to steep discounts, the Financial Times reported.
Industry
Buyout firms double down as lender to make money on failed investments- report
Private equity companies are buying the debt of the companies they own so they can become creditors and have a second shot at making money on their investments.
U.S. stocks best year since '97
U.S. stocks closed out their best year in more than 15 on Tuesday, rising modestly on a strong consumer confidence reading that kept 2013's upward bias intact to the end.
Private equity funds seek to diversify to achieve return targets
Private equity firms are increasingly seeking to partner with U.S. companies rather than buying them outright, as they struggle to find ways to put their huge piles of money to work at a time when frothy markets have made takeovers expensive.
2014 promises faster growth, but no leap forward
The world economy should snap a three-year stretch of slowing growth in 2014, although the upturn over the next 12 months looks likely to be incremental rather than a leap forward.
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The problems of Britian-based insurer RSA is a reminder that politicians, regulators and the general public should also put the spotlight on insurance companies and not just banks.
Local buyout funds like MBK Partners and Vogo Fund are now leading the domestic buyout market in South Korea just nearly a decade after its first private equity fund was established in the country, the Financial Times reported.
Islamic banks want to diversify their investments outside of the Middle East and real estate and are seeking to work with Western businesses that comply with the Shariah law.
The American Bankers Association, a group that represents mostly community banks, has filed a complaint challenging the final version of the Volcker Rule, Bloomberg reported.
A report said the wave of hotel initial public offerings of Blackstone Group showcased a resurgence in one of the sectors that suffered the most during the recession, the hospitality industry.
The American bankers Association on Monday said it would mount a legal challenge to the "Volcker rule" unless U.S. banking regulators softened a provision of the rule that restricts bank ownership of certain investments.
In spite of the steep price cuts offered, consumers in the US did not do a lot of shopping in brick-and-mortar stores on the weekend before Christmas, Reuters reported.
During the financial crisis when the deal markets were quiet, banks parted ways with their senior investment bankers. Now that business has slowly revived, lenders are seeing that they are left with junior bankers that are a little wet behind the ears.
There are no sellers even as Scandinavian phone companies believe that mergers would benefit not only the region but corporate earnings as wel.
