The Government made a £1 billion paper profit on its 70 per cent stake in Royal Bank of Scotland yesterday on growing optimism that the lender will follow Lloyds today in predicting that the worst is over for the economy. But RBS, the UK’s biggest bank in balance-sheet terms, is likely to adopt a more cautious tone than Lloyds. It will probably say that it has broken even for the six months to June 30, with strong profits in its investment banking business wiped out by losses in the retail and corporate bank. RBS’s shares surged 10 per cent, closing up 4.75p at 53.45p. The Government took a stake worth £20 billion in RBS in October to prevent its collapse. Last night, that holding was worth £21.2 billion.
Government makes £1bn paper profit as market bets on healthy RBS figures - Times Online more good news...
And I still stand by it, BTW ... That within 5 years from now we'll see $200 a barrel oil. If you think that last years oil spike was a once-off that's history now then explain why oil isn't trading at $20 right now - that should be the middle-of-big-recession price, not $60-70.
I totally agree with you ...