It seems these days there is no way of getting away from the doom and gloom of the market turmoil, even at the breakfast table.
With capital values continuing to fall and those with cash tied up in sinking investments likely to suffer further, the outlook appears to be bleak.
How have you faired throughout the credit crunch and have your investments started to bite?
With the LIBOR rate continuing to rise and market uncertainty set to continue, banks are placing heavy restrictions on lending.
The London Paper paints an interesting picture highlighting the current lack of confidence in the market.
But are banks being over cautious, and are those which have a reliable history of borrowing suffering from this and missing opportunities for shrewd investment?
As the City nursed its losses last week and the FTSE closed below the watershed 5000 mark, all appeared to be rather gloomy. Not so, for a group of City lads celebrating the completion of a deal and racking up an impressive £6909 dinner bill, reports City A.M.
The lads chose to dine at a French restaurant in Marylebone indulging in the following:
6 x dinner 3 course 300.00 6 x cheese 66.00 2 x La Tache drc 88 2800.00 1 x Ch Margaux 1961 1350.00 2 x Krug 85 Mesnil 980.00 2 x Meurs 97 Coche 598.00 6 x Bleu still btl 24.00 6 x Bleu sparl btl 24.00 Service charge 767.00 Grand Total: £6909.75With recent publicity surrounding the use of corporate credit cards, we hope the lads haven't bitten off more than they can chew.
In uncertain times cut backs have to be made and it is not only the meeting room biscuits which face the chop.
The laws of supply and demand are clearly not at work in the case of air fares to real estate summit MIPIM next March. Return flights through BA and Easyjet are currently being advertised at £907 and £640 respectively. In the current markets this is likely to result in those already thinking of cutting back on delegate places doing so, and many opting for the Eurostar journey at a cheaper £200 return.
Is your firm cutting back on its MIPIM attendees, and are you considering travelling by rail to reduce costs?
Development across the capital appears to have come to a halt as uncertainty in the market remains and available funding becomes further restricted. Construction has been halted at British Land's Cheese Grater, Arab Investment's Pinnacle development, and South banks proposed Shard of Glass.
Planning has also been deffered at 3 & 4 King's Arms Yard, EC2, with a decision pushed back to a later date.
With so many large scale developments being delayed, and the City set to have sufficient vacant stock outstripping tenant demand, the following question remains:
Will these iconic London buildings be completed or will some stay as boarded building sites until the market picks up?
Last week the papers were full of doom and gloom surrounding the crisis in the US financial markets. Daily updates on redundancies at Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch have stolen the headlines, and pressures on insurer AIG have begun to show.
Are there others likely to produce similar headlines over the months to come, and if so who is likely to be first on the chopping board?
The recent turbulence in the financial markets has highlighted the levels of leveraging being used by large US and UK banks and talks of mergers, buyouts and bankruptcy have been well publicised as these investments begin to bite. We have also seen mixed views regarding authority/government intervention to bailout those feeling the pressures of the current downturn.
What are your views on banks being rescued by the authorities in order to prevent further closures?
