Innocence of Muslims filmmaker given one year in prison. The producer of the internet film which caused a rash of riots and violent protests in Muslim countries and communities around the world has been jailed. Mark Youssef, who was using the alias Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, has been handed a year in prison and four years on supervised release for various probation violations. [Related story: Anti-Islam filmmaker jailed][Related story: Obama TV ad aims to calm Prophet protests] Innocence of Muslims... producer Youseff is jailed for a year (Copyright: YouTube) The violations, which stemmed from an earlier bank fraud charge, mostly surrounded his using aliases despite being forbidden to do so.
The punishment handed down to Youssef was not, however, related to the controversial content of the film itself, though assistant US attorney Robert Dugdale told him that lies about his real identity had harmed others, including the cast and crew who had agreed to be involved. “They had no idea he was a recently released felon,” he said. Playing to the crowd: How to raise money online for your next big project. Starting a new venture is always a gamble, especially when using your own funds.
But in recent months, the internet and social media has fuelled a whole new approach for entrepreneurs and creative types to raise cash to get their ideas off the ground. People power: Crowd-funding is catching (Picture: Rex)A recent surge in popularity of crowd-funding has seen technology used to match projects with those who are happy to inject even the smallest amount of money to bring them to life. As banks cut lending due to the recession, many business plans have been replaced by callouts on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in a bid to inspire fans to log on to a crowd-funding site.
There they can peruse a project profile from the creator and ultimately invest. Funding platforms include US giants Kickstarter and smaller outfits such as BloomVC, Seedrs, Megafounder, PleaseFundUs and Indiegogo. Mic Wright used BloomVC to raise £2,000 to produce an internet chat show called The Breadcrumb Trail. For a cheap home abroad, head for America! What sort of property could you hope to buy for, say, £125,000 here in the UK? Your money might stretch to a modest family home in the Midlands, a tiny flat in the Home Counties, or a garage (at most) in Central London.
These days, even five times the average wage doesn't buy you a whole lot of bricks and mortar in the UK. [Related feature: The 10 best countries to retire to] Bargain buys abroad However, exactly the same budget would buy you a four-bedroom home with a large garden and a private pool overseas. What's more, a new worldwide property survey by mega-bank HSBC has revealed bargain properties for Brits right across the globe.
Here's what British property-seekers can get for their money by buying abroad in three different price bands: Falling prices and a rising pound There are two key reasons why overseas property is becoming cheaper for British buyers seeking second homes or investment properties. First, property values have fallen steeply from their peaks in several major nations. Nick Clegg’s plan to help people get on the property ladder? It's plain bonkers! The Liberal Democrats have unveiled a new idea to help young adults get on the property ladder: Parents could use their pension pots to act as a guarantor to help their kids get a loan. How would that work? Well the idea seems to revolve around the 25% of your pension pot that you are allowed to take out as a tax free lump sum after you reach the age of 55.
In theory the parent could give a commitment to a bank or a building society that if their child’s mortgage goes wrong for whatever reason, then the bank could call on the parent’s pension pot to help repay the loan. This would allow banks to take a more generous approach to lending money to 20-somethings, who would otherwise struggle to qualify for that first mortgage and get on the housing ladder. What could possibly go wrong? Quite a lot. Even from an investment point of view this looks like bad news for the parent. On top of all that, it would also be complex to police and to administer. I could go on, but you get the idea. Dr ralph stacey. Thomson Reuters: Knowledge Network Training - Thomson Reuters Knowledge for Investment Management. Careers Contributors. What put greece in debt. Derek waters st lucia. Sir arthur lewis. UK inflation posts surprise fall to 3% in April.
Inflation in the UK dropped in April, beating the consensus forecast. The UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) fell from 3.5% in March to 3%, lower than the 3.1% analysts had expected. Retail Prices Index inflation eased from 3.6% to 3.5%, against a 3.4% consensus forecast. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the the timing of Easter had a significant impact on the April data. "Air transport, off-sales of alcohol, clothing and sea transport were the most significant drivers behind the decrease in annual inflation between March and April. "Partially offsetting these were smaller upward pressures from the operation of personal transport equipment, restaurants and hotels, and rents," it said. The largest downward pressures to the change in RPI came from alcoholic drinks, clothing, fares and other travel, and car sales. In March CPI had climbed as higher food and clothing prices pushed inflation up.
RPI inflation fell to 3.6% from 3.7% in February. Financial Services Technical Area. Austerity vs growth: Like debating ‘which side of the Titanic to be on’ Opting for either austerity or growth in the UK will not be enough to tackle the real structural problems facing the country, according to a leading economist. As debate rages over which route the UK and other economies should follow to return to an environment of sustainable growth, Jeremy Batstone-Carr, chief economist and strategist at wealth manager Charles Stanley, said neither solution is viable over the long term.
He said going for growth now – as the US has – is merely a short-term panacea which will have to be funded by more borrowing, while the UK’s austerity alternative is also riddled with problems. Last week, the initial estimate of a 0.2% contraction for UK GDP in Q1 was revised down to 0.3%. This prompted further criticism of the UK government’s austerity strategy, but Batstone-Carr highlighted government borrowing actually climbed in Q1.
“If you drill into the data, government spending rose 1.6% in Q1,” the economist said. Bond managers turn to derivatives and ‘Facebunds’ trade. Strategic bond managers are upping their use of derivatives as liquidity issues, dislocated pricing structures and cheaper trading opportunities transform how they manage their portfolios. OMAM’s Stewart Cowley is among those who have been increasing derivatives usage as fears over the future of the eurozone drive core government bond yields to record lows, and credit market liquidity becomes stifled. “We have increasingly gone to the derivatives market because that is where the liquidity is. A bond only prices when you get a buyer and a seller. You can get long periods of time where nobody does anything.
Cowley used derivatives to put on a new trade last week, in his Global Strategic Bond fund, shorting long-dated bund futures against US and UK government bonds. “The German bund market is absurdly overvalued. A lack of liquidity has been the key driver for many managers to up their derivatives exposure. Asymmetric opportunities << Previous page12Next page >> Structural unemployment vs cyclical unemployment. Are tailored investment solutions necessary anymore?
Mark Rockliffe, head of intermediary sales at Heartwood, reveals why bespoke portfolios are not always the best solution for your clients. One of the most common shouts from the discretionary fund management (DFM) industry in the build-up to Retail Distribution Review (RDR) has been an emphasis on the benefits of bespoke portfolio management. There is a general philosophy that sophisticated, affluent clients need – or demand – sophisticated and unique portfolios designed intricately around their personal traits.
There is a space for truly bespoke portfolios in the wealth management industry. However, the work required to properly manage a range of highly tailored mandates can be profound. Performance This includes understanding and reporting risk appetites for each and every client, adjusting and rebalancing portfolios to match changing risks, communicating with clients on a regular and timely basis, following and incorporating regulations, and generally adhering to industry best-practice. European fund giants offload euro assets. Some of Europe's biggest fund managers, including Amundi and Threadneedle, are dumping euro assets amid rising fears over a possible Greek exit from the single currency.
The euro had been showing resilience, despite the eurozone turmoil, but fell suddenly this month. It has lost 5% in the past three weeks, after barely moving against the US dollar for much of the year, to hit a 22-month low at $1.2514 on Thursday, the Financial Times reports. Citigroup has warned the euro could fall close to parity in the event of a disorderly exit. Amundi, Europe's second-biggest private fund manager, and Threadneedle Investments are among those cutting their exposure to the euro in recent days, according to the FT. US-based Merk Investments, the currency specialist, also cut all of the euro holdings in its flagship fund this month.
"We sold our last euro on May 15," Axel Merk, chief investment officer, told the FT. It has now switched some money out of euro-denominated bonds into dollar assets. Citigroup: 'Grexit' will occur on 1 January, 2013. Technical Connection. TECHNICAL FINANCE. An ‘unbelievable’ safe haven trade - Germany borrows at 0% Berlin is to sell up to €5bn of two-year Schatz notes (treasury notes) at auction today with a 0% coupon, as investors' flight to safety gathers pace and heightens 'market dislocation'.
Benchmark two-year German debt currently yields 0.06%, up from record lows of 0.03% earlier last week, indicating capital preservation remains a paramount objective for many. Berlin's most recent auction of two-year debt, issued in April, priced with a coupon of 0.25%. Marc Oswald of Monument Securities said Germany's finance minstry and central bank, the Bundesbank, had little choice in the pricing of the debt given current market conditions. "With secondary market yields at 0.06% on the current 2-year, the DFA/BBK had no choice given local market issuance rules but to set a zero coupon. If this is not a signal of complete financial market dislocation, nothing is! " "The Germans issuing a bond with a zero coupon is just unbelievable.
"There is no way of introducing them under the current [EU] treaties. Dismal data disappoints as Bank hints at more QE. April UK retail sales have come in well below forecast as Bank of England minutes have revealed many MPC members are considering voting for further quantitative easing. The minutes of the meeting revealed the decision to vote for more QE was finely balanced for "several members" of the committee, though David Miles was the only member to vote for further expansion of the programme. Minutes from April's meeting, by contrast, said Miles' own pro-QE vote was finely balanced but made no mention of other members' deliberations.
Miles voted for an extra £25bn of QE in May in addition to the £325bn worth of existing asset purchases. All nine members of the committee voted to keep interest rates on hold at 0.5%. Sterling extended early morning losses against the dollar following the publication of the minutes, breaking through $1.56 before recovering to stand 0.4% lower at $1.5705. Two-year and five-year benchmark gilt yields dropped to record lows of 0.267% and 0.786% respectively.
FTSE moves below 5,300 as equities slump again. European equity markets have given up all yesterday’s gains as investors remain on the back foot ahead of today’s EU summit. The FTSE 100 was down 1.9% in mid-morning trading at 5,299, reversing yesterday's 1.9% gain, with France's Cac 40 and Germany's DAX both down 1.7% at 3,032 and 6,323 respectively. Miners led the falls in London after the World Bank cut its China growth forecast for 2012 from 8.5% to 8.2%, its lowest level in a decade. Vedanta and Kazakhmys were the biggest fallers, dropping 5.6% each. Banks across the continent were also under pressure as latest eurozone developments suggested a familiar stalemate is emerging amid reports Germany has again rejected the idea of collective eurobonds. Former Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos also caused concern after telling Dow Jones the country had to stick with its austerity programme or else face a damaging exit from the single currency area.
GERMANY EUROBONDS. An ‘unbelievable’ safe haven trade - Germany borrows at 0% World Bank cuts China growth forecast to decade low. The World Bank has cut its economic growth forecast for China this year from 8.5% to 8.2%, which would be its weakest level in more than a decade. It cited sluggish US and European demand and a softening property market as reasons for the fall. The Chinese government's own growth forecast is currently 7.5% for 2012. In its biannual East Asia and Pacific economic update, the World Bank said a slowing China will also drag growth in emerging east Asia to two-year lows this year. However, it warned Europe's continuing debt crisis could inflict even bigger damage on the region. "With the European Union accounting for one third of global import demand, a recession there will inevitably take its toll on east Asia," the World Bank said.
It urged the Chinese leaders to rely on easier fiscal policy that boosts consumption rather than state investment, the Telegraph reports. If these measures are taken, it could mean China's growth rate rebounds in 2013 to an estimated 9.3%, according to the Bank. Morgan Stanley cut Facebook estimates ahead of IPO. Time to reconsider EMD? Time to reconsider EMD? Financial planner. Ebc background. Qfc training. Dow to hit 100,000? Why one analyst thinks so. BNP Paribas analyst Philippe Gijsels has suggested inflationary monetary policy could mean the next bull market sees the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 100,000. Gijsels said it is not yet clear how successful policymakers' deployment of the "greatest financial experiment in history" has been, but pointed to two key periods in history as examples of the strength of previous bull cycles.
The first of these, running from the post-war period through to the 1960s, saw the Dow increase tenfold over a period of 22 years, according to Gijsels. The second - the boom from 1982 to 2000 - saw the index rise more than 13-fold. For history to repeat itself, there must be a resolution to the current crisis rather than more stop-gap measures, said Gijsels, head of fixed income research at BNP Paribas. "If history were once again to repeat itself and stock markets would once again see a tenfold increase over a period of 25 years, the next magical figure of 100,000 for the Dow could come into sight. " EIS Special: How to succeed in film investing.
What has been your best performing alternative asset class? 'Governments are the new hedge funds' - PIMCO on credit risk. The global credit market has been turned upside down as sovereigns contaminate the market and governments become "the new hedge funds", according to PIMCO's Luke Spajic. The head of the pan-European credit portfolio for PIMCO, which manages $1.7trn in its portfolios across the globe, warned investors to "keep credit positions close and your sovereign positions closer", noting the changing nature of fixed income investment risk.
"The credit market has been turned upside down as we have moved from interest rate risk to credit risk. Sovereigns are the new risky creditors, credit is behaving like equity, banks are the new high yield, governments are the new hedge funds and policymakers are the new rainmakers," he said at the Morningstar Investment Conference. He pointed to government bonds within Europe as evidence, and emphasised the significance of spreads as well as absolute yield levels.
"Spreads have been contaminated by sovereigns. Moody's downgrades 26 Italian banks. Four myths about FATCA. Four myths about FATCA. Mundy's Moment: Converting non-believers. US v UK: Who will win the recovery race? How to profit from India’s volatility. Psychology studies relevant to everyday life from PsyBlog.
Return on Equity. Write Money Incorporated | Helping you grow creative business, generate wealth. Business and administratice communication 9th edition. Sign up for a FREE SurveyMonkey account. Finance & investment society. Free job descriptions - job descriptions writing templates and examples. Interest rate. Annual percentage rate. The Big Question: Is now the time to get back into financials? UK trade figures raise fresh GDP fears. Special Report: Is it time to look at UK smaller companies again? Ten funds you should have owned in Q1. Aegon, Anheuser-Busch, Societe Generale: European Equity Preview. Weighing. Decoupling. World business report. Our economy. 7 minimalistic posters representing various mental disorders.