Markets
London - The FTSE 100 is currently 189.48 points lower at 3,693.88. Commodity producers are prominent following falling crude and base metal prices. Cairn Energy is off 6%, helped further by a downgrade from Credit Suisse. Royal Dutch Shell drops 6.3% after crude fell below $63 a barrel. Aviva tops the fallers board, down 10.5%, after JPMorgan cut its price target to 440p from 700p

Posted: October 27th, 2008 under Asset Management.
Comments: none

Since the Age Discrimination Regulations of 2006 there has been considerable doubt over whether employers can still consider length of service when selecting for redundancy.  The issue arises because length of service is potentially discriminatory given that younger employees will not usually score as highly as older employees.
Age discrimination is not unlawful if it can [...]

Posted: October 24th, 2008 under Employment/HR.
Comments: none

Markets
London - The FTSE 100 is currently 157.71 points lower at 3,930.12, with all but one of the UK’s blue chip index in negative territory. HSBC tops the fallers board, down 9% after Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on the stock by 25%. Barclays loses 5.2% after UBS lowered its rating on the stock to “neutral” from “buy”. BG leads energy firms lower after declining to comment on a report in Australia that it will make a full offer for Queensland. Vedanta Resources leads miners lower, sliding 9%, after copper, nickel, lead, zinc and aluminium prices also fell.

Posted: October 24th, 2008 under Asset Management.
Comments: none

Markets
London - UK stocks ended 4.5 percent lower on Wednesday, with mounting recession fears further undermining sentiment on ailing banks and demand worries knocking commodity stocks. The FTSE100 closed 188.8 points lower at 4040.89. Energy stocks tracked crude prices lower, with oil falling to a 16 month low below $68 a barrel on growing fears that output cuts by OPEC will not be enough to offset weakening energy demand from leading consumers. BP slid 5.5 percent, Royal Dutch Shell lost 4.1 percent and Cairn Energy lost 5.2 percent.

Posted: October 23rd, 2008 under Asset Management.
Comments: none

Markets
London - The FTSE 100 is currently 45.95 points lower at 4,183.78 following comments from Bank of England Governor Mervyn King. Last night he told business leaders that Britain’s worst banking crisis since World War 1 is likely to push the economy into recession, requiring policy makers to act “promptly” to prevent inflation from slowing too much. Oil and mining companies are lower following a drop in commodity prices. BHP Billiton is down 5.8% after saying “uncertainty” will remain in China after the economy cooled. Vedanta Resources tops the fallers board down 6.7%. However, BG is one of the top risers following a broker upgrade to “buy” courtesy of Dresdner.

Posted: October 22nd, 2008 under Asset Management.
Comments: none