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This is Money
Merrill Lynch is in talks with Temasek that could see the Singapore investment fund become the latest government-backed investor to inject cash into a troubled Western investment bank in return for a minority equity stake. It is understood that $5bn (£2.51bn) could be sunk into the bank.
Merrill Lynch seeks Temasek funds injection
Like the wise men from the East they come, bearing gifts for the new world order. But this Christmas, the wise men are not mystical kings from the Orient but a new breed of Sovereign Wealth Funds laden with cash for the beleaguered investment banks of the West.
Stricken banks turn to Sovereign Wealth Funds
The Wall Street consortium seeking to establish a bailout fund for troubled mortgage securities announced it would abandon efforts to establish the so-called "Super-SIV" fund, adding that it could revisit the solution if credit market conditions worsened.
Banks to abandon 'Super-SIV' fund
Rampant price cutting by high street fashion chains in November led to the biggest monthly drop in the value of clothing and footwear in over two years. The fall reflects just how much retailers have had to slash their prices in order to lure reluctant shoppers into their stores.
Crucial Christmas trading weekend for shops
Record numbers of nervous investors cashed in their stock market investments last month giving evidence that the credit crunch is beginning to cause panic.
Equity fears grow as record numbers cash in
THE Bank of England is likely to slash interest rates four times next year in response to a sharp slowdown in growth, economists say.
Bank expected to cut rate four times next year
The slide in house prices is gathering pace, a survey suggests today, amid signs that housebuilders are digging in for a prolonged residential property freeze. Tulloch Homes, a medium-sized Scottish housebuilder, pulled plans yesterday for a £200 million flotation, and Taylor Wimpey is understood to have ordered a halt to any new land acquisitions.
Housebuilders dig in for deep freeze in residential property
Fresh signs of a slowdown in Britain's economy emerged this weekend, as new data revealed that house prices fell for the third consecutive month in December, while the British Retail Consortium warned that heavy discounting on the high street may have made for a much less merry Christmas than retailers had been hoping for.
Fresh fall in house prices and high street discounting add to fears of slowdown
The flagging European commercial property market could be hit by a record €43bn (£31.1bn) of assets put up for sale over the next three years due to a peak in the number of property funds due to close.
Commercial property flood for Europe by 2010
Middle America is experiencing the most severe financial hardship for more than five decades, a Harvard University academic has claimed. According to research compiled over the past three years, American families who earn between $60,000 (£30,200) and $180,000 a year are in the worst financial squeeze since the 1950s, with soaring health insurance costs, the housing recession, rising childcare fees and the increasing likelihood of caring for an elderly parent.
Squeeze on Middle America at its worse since 1950s