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For once the US stocks have featured prominently among the gainers on the Global 30.

The US market has really been a disappointment for investors this year, but the European and Asian sell-off that marked this month affected the Dow only slightly.

Equities remain attractive since money is cheap with long term interest rates low, says Marc Ostwald, global strategist at Monument Securities.

“The factor driving interest rates higher, strong growth, is driving equities.

“Looking at the economy post the hurricanes, many people, including US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan have been surprised at how strong the economy has been.

Microsoft online

The best of the big US stocks was Wal-Mart, up 7.6%.

The whole retail sector saw sales rise 4% in September, much of that because of emergency buying as the hurricanes hit the Gulf, but the store itself said it is on target to hit a 2-4% rise in sales in October.

BBC Global 30 live

Possibly the biggest boost to the shares came from an article in Barron’s magazine, which said they could climb 40% next year, as higher petrol prices forced people to one-stop shop.

Du Pont, the giant US chemical company saw a turnaround in its share price, up 7% on the month, thanks to a decision to buy back $5bn of shares.

The news of the decision, along with news that it and Dow Chemical had won approval to market their genetically modified corn seed in a direct challenge to the market leader Monsanto, outweighed its first quarterly loss in two years.

Microsoft was also in the news, gaining a modest 1.3% as the battle with Google hotted up. Google is to offer Sun Personal finance insurance
online word processing and spreadsheet functions OpenOffice with its toolbar.

Then this last week Microsoft said it would, for the first time, deliver many of its key products and services online through Windows Live and Office Live.

General Electric’s weak share performance, up just 0.2% on the month, belied its bullish quarterly results and a quadrupling of its share buyback programme to $4bn.

GE says it is focusing on fast growing sectors such as healthcare, water treatment, media and consumer finance rather than laggards such as insurance.

Good looks

Procter & Gamble formally took over Gillette last month amidst much fanfare and then reported a better than expected profit increase of 4.5%.

Mizuho financial was the best performer in Asia

The shares are down 6.7%, but only because they enjoyed a huge run up at the end of September just before the deal was completed.

Chief financial officer Clayton Daley told the BBC’s World Business Report programme that it was shifting its products more and more towards health, beauty and personal care.

“We now have more than 50% of sales in those categories. They have higher growth rates in the market, higher gross margins, higher operational margins, less capital intensive. They’re just a great place to earn returns for shareholders.”

Giant Toyota

Many Asian stocks continued to shine despite some knee-trembling falls in the middle of the month.

Mizuho Financial was the best performer of the whole index, up 12.5%, as a new broom was appointed at the Japanese Economics Ministry - Kaoru Yosano - and an upbeat twice-yearly economic outlook from the Bank of Japan ignited the stock market.

Yosano is generally seen as a force for deregulation and finance insurance tourist zurich
privatisation in the banking sector.

Toyota managed a 1.5% rise. It now has an overall market value that is greater than General Motors, Ford and DaimlerChrysler combined.

At the Toyota Motor Show it showcased something that looked like an electric armchair on wheels which it claimed was a car, designed for sidewalks as well as tarmac.

On a more prosaic note it had to announce Japan’s biggest ever recall of 1.27 million vehicles to mend defects on brakes and headlights.

The cost is $134m, but there have been no accidents associated with the problems.

Then at the end of the month US car sale figures showed that Asian car makers had increased their market share by a staggering 5% to 40% over the last year.

Bird flu

The biggest contrast of the month came from the fortunes of Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline.

Pfizer shares are down 13.3% on the month as net profit plunged 52%; it was the first fall in revenues in four years; its Celebrex pain killer and Neurotin epilepsy drug are selling slower than expected.

At Glaxo it was a very different story: profits for the third quarter rose 20%; it reported a 20% increase in sales of its asthma drug, Advair and 22% increase in Avandia and Avandest, its diabetes drugs.

It is getting good press for its cervical cancer treatment Cervarix, which if it is approved next year could be its next billion dollar drug.

But of course in the month that bird flu dominated the headlines, its Relenza drug has been identified as one of the favourite treatments to mitigate the effects of the virus.

However Relenza has to be inhaled which makes it less popular than the Tamiflu pill made by Roche (up 7.7% on the month).

In Europe, Nestle gained 1.9% after it embraced the concept of fair trade, introducing a Partners Blend instant coffee.

The decision is a turnaround for the world’s biggest buyer of green coffee beans. It previously believed guaranteed prices stimulated dictionary finance insurance international
.

But they’ve had another look at the economics and seen that fair trade coffee sales are growing 20% a year in the UK alone, while instant coffee sales are falling 1% a year

Work in many government banks, offices and state-owned firms was affected.

Finance insurance
West Bengal and Kerala states were hardest hit by the strike, which was more limited in other parts of the country.

Unions called the walk-out in protest at a Supreme Court ban on the right of government employees to strike because of the disruption it causes.

Trade unions believe government employees are being denied a fundamental right.

“We were left with no choice because the government
didn’t give us a sympathetic hearing,” said Shantha Raju, a leader of the All India Co-ordination Committee of Unions in the Finance Sector.

Calcutta ’shut-down’

The bustling eastern metropolis of Calcutta, the West Bengal capital, was badly affected on Tuesday, with no transport on the streets.

“Hundreds of people were stranded at the city’s finance and insurance school
airport as no transport was available,” an official of the Airports Authority of India told AFP news agency.

We were left with no choice because the government didn’t give us a sympathetic hearing Union leader Shantha Raju

Union leaders in Kerala said the strike there had been total.

Worst-hit were state-run banks and insurance companies.

In the financial capital, Bombay (Mumbai), trading was partially affected.

Vijay Bhambwani, CEO of the investment advisers BSPL Indian.com told the BBC’s World Business Report that the strike had achieved its purpose.

“The strike has paralysed the financial markets to a great degree,” he said.

“There is practically no movement of funds, there is no clearing of cheques and money is not changing hands.”

The strike also affected work in government institutions in the southern city of Bangalore, India’s auto company finance insurance premium united technology centre.

Strike ban

The Supreme Court ruled last year that “no political party or organisation can claim a right to paralyse the economic and industrial activities of a state or the nation or personal finance insurance
the citizens”.

A general strike in India last May cost the economy around $320m

The ruling related to cases arising from a major strike in India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu, as a result of which the state government sacked 176,000 employees.

Most of the employees were reinstated after a Supreme Court intervention but only after providing a written apology and pledging not to take part in strikes in the future.

Strikes in India cost the government and industry millions of dollars each year.

Last May, a general strike against privatisation was estimated by trade unions to have cost the Indian economy $320m.

For the past three years, 300 secondary schools have been teaching personal finance issues such as managing credit.

A report from Brunel University said the scheme had proved to be an aid to financial awareness.

The Personal Finance Education Group (PFEG) wants lessons in all secondary schools, but said new funding was needed to extend the scheme.

Funding

In total, 150,000 secondary school children have received personal finance education on subjects as diverse as budgeting and starting a small business.

At 18 years of age, young people need to be able to resist seemingly tempting credit card offers Professor Linda Thomas, Brunel University

Up until now the scheme has been funded from contributions from the banking and business community.

However, if personal finance teaching is to roll out nationwide schools face having to pick up the bill for lessons.

Alternatively, the government or corporate UK will have to dig deep to fund lessons.

More than 80% of the teachers surveyed in the evaluation of the scheme agreed that personal finance education amongst pupils had improved.

Finance insurance
it is hoped to expand the teaching of personal finance education into primary schools all with the aim of arming school leavers with edition finance hill insurance international management mcgraw risk series
financial knowledge to encouraging saving and the avoidance of debt.

“At 18 years of age, young people need to be able to resist seemingly tempting credit card offers and be able to buy the kinds of financial products - mortgages, insurance, pensions -, and take the kinds of risks, - that suit them,” Professor Linda Thomas, of Brunel University said.

The Financial Services Authority said the company’s treatment of complaints had, in the past, been “biased” against customers.

The insurer is now reviewing all complaints it rejected between January 2000 and 10 February 2003.

Millions of people in the 1980s took out endowments - a type of insurance policy - to finance their mortgages.

The fine is the first to be levied by the FSA for mis-handling complaints about endowment mortgages.

Second chance

The FSA said up to 5,500 people whose complaints were rejected, in fact, may have been genuine and “deserving redress”.

We will not tolerate poor systems which expose consumers to the risk that genuine complaints…are rejected unfairly Andrew Procter, FSA

But their complaints were rejected because the procedures were “finance insurance job
not fair and biased against customers.”

Friends Provident said in a statement that it “regrets what has happened”.

“Once the issue was identified, Friends Provident redesigned its processes for
dealing with mortgage endowment complaints, with full implementation taking
place in February 2003,” it added.

Independent accountants have now been appointed to oversee this review of the complaints which were rejected between January 2000 and 10 February 2003.

Andrew Procter, director of enforcement at the FSA, said: “We will not tolerate poor systems which expose consumers to the risk that genuine complaints, which may deserve compensation, are rejected unfairly.

“Friends Provident and its senior management failed to respond in an effective and timely manner to FSA guidance and to correct problems found in its systems when it had reasonable opportunity to do so,” he added.

The global stock market recovery lifted sales in the City of London and exports grew by 9%, research firm International Financial Services London said.

Insurance was the largest foreign earner, with exports totalling 6.3bn.

The UK enjoyed a surplus in financial services trade with every major EU economy as well as the US and Japan.

Market recovery

2004 was a buoyant year for finance firms in London and the rest of the UK, according to data compiled by International Financial Services.

Net exports of financial services increased to 19.03bn from 17.48bn in 2003 and were 40% higher than in 2000.

The recovery in European and US stock markets boosted the income of investment banks and fund managers while the rise in trade of finance gambling insurance internet pharmacy
financial instruments such as hedge funds continued apace.

Banking-related exports rose in value from 2.8bn to 3.7bn while income from securities dealing rose to 3.6bn.

“A number of different areas have been picking up,” said Duncan McKenzie, director of economics at International Financial Services.

“Equity markets were certainly picking up last year and firms have enjoyed increased commission from this recovery.”

Shipping growth

Car finance insurance personal quote tesco
was the fastest growing contributor to exports, its foreign sales rising by more than 40% to a record 551m.

China’s economic boom has boosted international shipping

Jeremy Penn, chief executive of the Baltic Exchange - which supplies trading insurance agent finance career change
to more than 500 shipbroking firms - said British companies had benefited from the strong increase in freight prices.

About 50% of global freight tanker business is negotiated in London.

“The last couple of years have been good ones for the shipping industry,” he said.

“We have seen very high rates driven by growth in international trade, approach estate estate finance hill in insurance irwin mcgraw principle real real series value
in China’s boom.

“It has become profitable to own vessels of all kinds.”

European capital

The United States remains by some distance the largest export market for UK financial services.

The UK’s surplus with the US narrowed slightly in 2003, the most recent year for which figures are available, but still remained above 5bn.

Its surplus with the EU totalled 4.8bn in 2003, including a 1.1bn positive balance with France and a 895m surplus with Germany.

Mr McKenzie said the figures reflected London’s essential est finance hill in insurance investment irwin mcgraw real series
as Europe’s financial capital.

“London has consolidated its position as the leading international financial centre in Europe,” he said.

“Frankfurt, Paris and Milan are important regional and national centres, but London is the place where most international business in Europe is interacted.”

The Treasury committee said the FSA should copy the policy of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and make its findings public.

Committee chairman John McFall MP has written to FSA chairman Sir Callum McCarthy complaining about its methods.

But the FSA responded by saying it pursued hundreds of complaints every year about misleading adverts.

A spokeswoman explained: “As a regulator we have a formal procedure we have to go through - we can’t just issue a formal censure of a firm.”

ASA procedures

The FSA needs to take a far more robust approach by highlighting poor practice John McFall MP, Treasury committee chairman

The ASA publishes its rulings on its web site and the more interesting ones are regularly reported by newspapers and broadcasters.

In his letter to the FSA, Mr McFall said the financial regulator should adopt this approach.

“The FSA has, at the moment, a seemingly far less transparent system in regard to financial finance household insurance
, with no publication of complaints, and little public record of which companies have broken the rules,” he said.

“This means consumers seem to get a worse deal, with the FSA offering no public scrutiny and little incentive for advertisers to keep to the rules.

“The FSA needs to take a far more robust approach by highlighting poor practice,” he added.

FSA action

But the FSA denied it was asleep on the job.

A spokeswoman pointed out that it had pursued 820 cases since April 2004.

And a small number of the FSA’s enforcement insurance agent finance career change
have been made public - 12 in the last two years.

The FSA fined the Foresters Friendly Society for misleading adverts

In August it fined the Foresters Friendly Society 55,000 for publishing misleading TV adverts and marketing literature.

This year the FSA has been looking at direct mail adverts for products such as pensions and investment trusts and is finance insurance tourist zurich
adverts for sub-prime mortgages and spread betting.

In the past year it has warned about the generally misleading nature of adverts for venture capital trusts, told people to be careful about adverts on the internet, and warned about promotions for pension unlocking, general insurance and critical illness insurance.

The FSA’s Financial Promotions department has a consumer hotline - 08457 300168 - for complaints.

Adverts for credit cards and unsecured loans are dealt with by the Office of Fair Trading.

The firm reported flat first-half sales, and its share of the UK market fell to 10.2% in the first quarter of this year from 11.1% previously.

The negative publicity earlier this year surrounding its talks with the UK regulator over its financial strength hit sales, the firm said.

Standard is aiming to scrap its mutual status and seek a stock market listing.

Estate finance fundamentals hill in insurance investment irwin management mcgraw real series
‘noise’

Earlier this year, Standard Life was in talks with Britain’s regulator over its finances ahead of the introduction of new rules on how to account for case est finance finance hill in in insurance irwin mcgraw real series
made to
finance or insurance or real estate
.

“The consumer has been affected by the noise finance insurance
the life and pensions business but doesn’t appear to have lost faith in the Standard Life brand,” said chief executive Sandy Crombie.

Sales of life and personal pensions were down 13% to 430.7m for the six months to 15 May.

Overall, new business sales were 691m.

Mr Crombie said: “Outside our UK life and pensions business we are seeing strong growth.”

Corporate pension sales rose 14%, while general insurance sales increased 5%.

The company, which is gearing up to sell its shares on the stock market in 2006, plans to hold onto to its international 1035 annuity exchange finance insurance ira transfer
.

However, the future of its Spanish unit is currently under review.