Barclays shares ended the day 22% up as the bank confirmed it is in talks over a possible sale of its iShares fund management business. Whilst potential suitors have yet to confirm a deal, initial thoughts are that the sale could raise anything up to £5bn. (more…)

Shares in Barclays Bank led the charge south as shares fell sharply during the final hour of trading yesterday. The fall came amid fresh fears that the banking and financial sectors are going to hit new troubles. This despite Barclays cutting the wage bill by axing 4,000 jobs, ordinarily seen as a positive move by the city.

Share prices wern’t helped by the restriction on short selling being lifted. A practice seen by some as an immoral way of making a profit.

US car giant General Motors (GM) said it would run out of cash in the first half of 2009 if economic and market conditions did not improve. This follows the announcement that third quarter losses hit £2.66bn. (more…)

News that banks are looking to further tighten their lending criteria and the ever reducing number of new mortgage approvals raises hopes that the Bank of England will cut interest rates. (more…)

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac received Government support yesterday and all seemed well with the banking world. What a difference a day makes….Lehman Brothers dipped 30% on the news that it may not be able to raise the required funding to cover its losses. The credit crunch has led the bank to raise $6bn to cover write-downs. Lehman’s shares are down more than 90% this year and is it’s the US’s fourth largest investment bank, it too cannot be allowed to fail.

Make the most of your savings with an award winning, high interest savings account from Icesave. Icesave launched in Britain in October 2006 and now consistently features at the top of best buy tables in the national press and on price comparison websites. As recently as 26 July 2008 Icesave was commended for ‘Best Savings Account’ by the readers of What Investment magazine. This is for the second year running.

Icesave’s 200,000 strong customer base continues to grow not only thanks to its commitment to offering savers high interest rates, but also its straightforward online application process which means you can sign up for an account in under ten minutes.  (more…)

The deputy chairman of Marks & Spencer, Sir David Michels has bought 37,734 shares, together with Michele Michels. This takes Sir David’s holding to 113,984 shares. Like any other retailer, M&S has been experiencing difficult trading conditions. However, the shares closed the week 10.25p up at 276p on the news of the share deal and sales growth witnessed by two other companies in the sector - John Lewis and H&M.