Barclays profits down 19% - papers

Barclays profits for the first nine months of the year dropped by almost a fifth following a £6.2bn payout of bad debts charges.

Pre-tax profit to the end of September was £4.542bn, down 19% on last year, reports the BBC.

Rival HSBC says its pre-tax profits for the period are "ahead" of a year ago, though fell short of releasing an exact figure.

Unlike rival RBS, neither Barclays nor HSBC needed direct government support.

Despite a fall in profits for the nine months, Barclays' revenues were up 26% from a year earlier to £23.8bn.

When Barclays' bad debt provisions and other one-off factors are pulled out, pre-tax profits before exceptional items totalled £4.4bn for the nine months, more than double a year earlier.

The bank's pre-tax profit for the three months to 30 September was down 45% to £1.56bn.

Shares in Barclays were down 2.5%, or 8.4 pence, at 334p in early trading.

Shares in HSBC were up 3.5% or 24.5 pence to 719.5p. See story...

Middle-class homeowners face a new raid on their incomes under plans for council tax and capital gains tax rises being pushed by Harriet Harman.

Labour's deputy leader wants the government to bring in new 'soak the rich' measures to narrow income inequalities.

Last night the Tories accused Miss Harman of trying to curry favour with the Left and of positioning herself for a bid for the Labour Party leadership. See story...

People are more optimistic about the economy than at any time for the past 18 months, according to a Populus poll for The Times today.

Its findings come as the best October high street sales for seven years have fuelled hopes that a pre-Christmas surge in spending could confirm the country's emergence from recession.

Sales rose at an annual rate of 3.8% last month, up from 2.8% in September. Overall sales values rose at their fastest rate since April. See story...

Prosecutors were last night awaiting the outcome of their efforts in a Brooklyn courtroom to win the conviction of two former hedge fund managers at Bear Stearns at the end of the first criminal trial directly connected to the meltdown of the world financial system last year reports the Telegraph.

US District Court Frederic Block yesterday took more than 90 minutes to instruct the 12 jurors on the charges in Brooklyn federal court: "There is a lot here to absorb, I understand that," Judge Block told jurors who have heard four weeks of arguments and testimony about the world of hedge funds, repo lending and subprime mortgage-backed securities. Some observers expected jurors to reach verdicts quickly.

The two defendants were accused by the government in June last year of having lied to investors in two funds they managed at Bear Stearns before the bank imploded and was sold at a fire-sale price to JP Morgan Chase. See story...