Forex: GBP/USD holds above 1.6300 after the unchanged BoE rate policy

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) – After falling from intra-day high at 1.6345 before the BoE interest rate decision, the GBP/USD is trading just above 1.6300 level after the bank voted today to maintain rates and asset purchases program unchanged. Currently the pair is trading around 1.6305/15, 0.35% above today's opening price action at 1.6260.

The Bank of England has decided to leave its official bank rate unchanged at 0.5% as well as to maintain its bond buying program at GBP200 billion. Bank affirms in its statement: “The Committee expects the announced programme to take another two months to complete. The scale of the programme will be kept under review.”

EURO BONDS-Friesland RMBS, BBVA, Aegon, Stagecoach, Intesa

LONDON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - News, details on corporate bond issues in the European markets on Thursday:

FRIESLAND BANK FRIBK.UL

Issue: The Dutch bank plans an 800 million euro ($1.18 billion) bond backed by prime Dutch residential mortgages, according to Royal Bank of Scotland, which is managing the deal.

The sale of residential mortgage-backed securitisation (RMBS) will include one tranche of 560 million euros, rated triple-A. The rest will be retained.

The RMBS deal will be issued via the Eleven Cities vehicle.

BBVA SENIOR FINANCE (BBVA.)

Issue: The Spanish bank plans a senior unsecured two-year euro benchmark floating-rate note, an official at one of the banks managing the sale said. Pricing is expected later on Thursday

Markets flat on mixed global cues

The key benchmark indices were flat in the early trades amid mixed trends in world markets. The Sensex was down 38 points at 17,087 levels and the Nifty shed 0.2 per cent to 5,099.

Realty, oil & gas and banking stocks were under some selling pressure.

Among the Sensex stocks, Maruti was the top gainer. The stock rose 0.7 per cent in early trades.
Hindalco, ACC and Tata Steel were the other main gainers in the group.
Grasim Ind, however, was the biggest loser in the pack. The stock shed 1 per cent.

In US markets, investors set aside some of their concerns about rising debt levels around the world and looked for bargains after a two-day slide in stocks.

Stocks turned higher after trading erratically, and the Dow Jones industrials closed up 51 points at 10,337.05.

The broader S&P 500 index rose 4.01, or 0.4 percent, to 1,095.95, its first gain of the week. The Nasdaq composite index rose 10.74, or 0.5 percent, to 2,183.73.

Asian markets, however, were trading mostly lower today. Japan’s Nikkei lost 1.4 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.7 per cent.

Bank leaves QE, rates unchanged

LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England left its asset purchase programme intact at 200 billion pounds and held interest rates at 0.5 percent on Thursday, as widely expected.

Policymakers have indicated they are likely to stay on hold until at least February when they will get their new growth and inflation forecasts and the scheduled asset purchases run out.

The Bank launched its quantitative easing progressing -- mainly asset-buying of government bonds -- in March in an unprecedented attempt to boost an economy ravaged by a global credit crunch.

The economy is now showing signs of picking up again, house prices are rising and forward-looking surveys point to an ongoing recovery in activity, suggesting Britain will pull out of recession by the end of the year.

Most analysts, therefore, expect no further expansion of the QE programme -- which was expanded by 25 billion pounds last month -- and say it could be a while before policymakers feel confident enough about growth to start raising interest rates.

Red Hat Makes Virtualization Protocol Open Source

Red Hat released to the open source community its SPICE protocol for virtual desktops.

SPICE, or Simple Protocol for Independent Computing Environment, is a core component in the Linux distributor's Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops product, which is currently in beta and is scheduled for general availability next year. Red Hat took possession of SPICE in the September 2008 acquisition of Qumranet.

The technology is designed for desktops that use remote servers for data processing. SPICE improves the user experience when rendering bandwidth-intensive applications, such as video or voice over IP.

"The SPICE protocol is designed to optimize performance by automatically adapting to the graphics and communications environment that it is running in, so vendors have a terrific opportunity to enhance it for their specific applications," Brian Stevens, chief technology officer at Red Hat, said released Wednesday.

As a Linux distributor, Red Hat's release of technology to the open source community is not unusual, given its close collaboration with the group on product development. In fact, the company in October with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to uphold a lower court's ruling that software isn't patentable.

Last month, Red Hatthe virtualization management field with the introduction of Enterprise Virtualization Manager for Servers. The centralized management system is aimed at IT shops virtualizing servers based on the KVM hypervisor built into Linux.

UK still faces rating risk - Osborne

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is still in danger of losing its triple-A credit rating and the Conservatives would make protecting it a priority if elected next year, Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said.

In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, Osborne also said most of the Conservatives' deficit reduction measures would come from spending restraint.

Chancellor Alistair Darling announced tax rises and a levy on bank bonuses to help plug the government's gaping deficit, but there was little in the way of spending cuts, raising concerns about the near-term debt outlook.

Asked if Wednesday's pre-budget report measures were enough to soothe fears that Britain might lose its triple-A credit rating, Osborne said: "No, I don't think they aI don't think it is a credible plan. Unfortunately, the measures announced yesterday don't start tackling the deficit until 2014/15 and that is far too late. "The thing I'm aiming for is making sure that Britain keeps its credit rating."

Ratings agencies said the outlook for Britain's sovereign debt had not been materially changed by the PBR and they are waiting to see what measures a future government will take after next year's election, which the Labour party is expected to lose.

The Conservatives have said they will hold an emergency budget within 50 days of an election if they win. Their focus will be on spending cuts.

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ICICI, Kotak Mahindra cut home loan rates

The largest private sector bank has joined the interest rate war in home loans, with a product that mimics arch rival HDFC’s special offer.

On Tuesday, Kotak Mahindra Bank has also announced a special home loan product for salaried customers starting from 7.99 per cent.

ICICI Bank’s new loan comes at a fixed rate of 8.25 per cent for the first two years, after which it reverts back to a floating rate. The offer reduced interest rates by 50-100 basis points for the first two years from the present applicable rates.
A senior ICICI Bank official told Financial Chronicle the cost of funds have been coming down for the bank, and this rate reduction in home loans was warranted. “When cost of funds comes down, banks rework rates. At ICICI Bank, we are constantly reviewing our rates and passing on benefits to the customers,” said the official.

The rate war in home loans was sparked off by the State Bank of India (SBI), which offered a loan with a fixed rate of interest of 8 per cent for the first year in February.

After more than a year of curtailing growth of its balance sheet, ICICI Bank now is seeking for a phase of well–rounded growth but with a lot of caution, where retail products such as home and car loans would be important growth drivers.

New CRL Report: Credit Card Issuers Use Loopholes to Bypass New Rules Intended to Curb Abuses

DURHAM, N.C., Dec. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Credit card companies are busy crafting new tricks and traps to bypass both Federal Reserve Board rules and new federal law set to take full effect in late February 2010, a new research report from the Center for Responsible Lending finds. Entitled "Dodging Reform: As Some Credit Card Abuses Are Outlawed, New Ones Proliferate," the report explains why the nation's 80 million families with one or more credit cards continue to be hit with arbitrary, unfair interest rate hikes and fees.

The study examined the practices of issuers that hold over 400 million credit card accounts and found at least eight specific industry practices that flourish despite federal efforts to rein issuers in. These practices make it all but impossible for the average person to determine the real cost of credit card debt. The ability and eagerness of credit card issuers to exploit loopholes in the new federal rules underscores why lawmakers need to pass legislation to create the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, as proposed by the White House and now under consideration by Congress.

The eight practices highlighted in the report include the manipulation of interest rates, the padding of miscellaneous fees and a deceptive policy on late-payment fees. Use of these abusive tactics is widespread and growing, the report finds.