Hires and small US firms signal firmer recovery June 10, 2014 THE US recovery is looking increasing strong, with two major economic indicators released yesterday reaching the highest level since before the financial crisis. Small US businesses indicated their most bullish sentiment since September 2007 in one of yesterday’s reports. The latest optimism index from the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) hit 96.6 in May, [...]
Greek prices decline further as IMF voices cautious confidence June 10, 2014 GREEK consumer prices fell further still last month, down two per cent from May 2013. The country’s deflationary trend worsened from the 1.3 drop registered in April. Economists had originally predicting a fall of 1.9 per cent, but the pace of the decline in prices has slowed from November’s steeper 2.9 per cent drop. The [...]
Survey casts doubt on pensions advice June 10, 2014 MOST pension customers say they do not trust their retirement provider to be impartial, a survey by consumer advice organisation Which? has found. The group’s poll claimed that 65 per cent of people do not trust advice given by the industry, in a blow to Prime Minister David Cameron’s plan to have pension providers help [...]
Bank bonus anger eases June 10, 2014 BANKERS’ bonuses are back on the up as the sector recovers, reducing workers’ dissatisfaction with pay, according to a survey out today from recruiter Hays. This year, 44 per cent of bankers saw their bonus rise, compared with 21 per cent last year. And the number reporting a cut fell from 36 to 24 per [...]
Hollande snaps up Bank of America’s Boone June 10, 2014 CHIEF European economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Laurence Boone, has been snapped up by French President Francois Hollande to be his new economic adviser after Emmanuel Macron stepped down. Boone was previously an economist at Barclays in Paris.
BSkyB launches new footie channel for Europe to block BT June 10, 2014 BSKYB has unveiled its seventh sports channel, dedicated to European football for next season, but the move got a tepid response from investors. Shares in Britain’s biggest pay-TV operator fell 0.8 per cent yesterday and one analyst said the move would “not drive customer growth or upgrades”. Sky Sports 5, which will be free to [...]
Bottom Line: A new front opens in the football wars June 10, 2014 DING ding, seconds out. Another round in the ongoing fight between BT and BSkyB, and this time Sky is the one landing a hard punch. BT shares fell 2.8 per cent on the pay-TV firm’s offer to bundle unlimited broadband free for two years with its new European football channel. The announcement took some shine [...]
City’s biggest investor BlackRock warns on listings blitz June 10, 2014 One of the City’s key institutional share buyers yesterday said that the flurry of companies seeking a listing in London was lowering the standards of firms coming to market. James Macpherson, a senior equity executive at BlackRock, said pent-up demand to sell private businesses through public markets meant firms were being rushed through the initial [...]
Icap rejects antitrust accusations from EU over yen Libor rigging June 10, 2014 INTERDEALER broker Icap has knocked back claims it breached EU competition rules amid ongoing allegations of Libor rigging. The group was responding to a complaint from the European Commission about its alleged role in yen rate-rigging, which led to fines for several banks last year. “The commission has concerns that Icap may have been involved [...]
Index Ventures eyes up London for £325m fund June 10, 2014 INDEX Ventures, which invested in the recently floated Just Eat and King, will today unveil its seventh early stage fund as the venture capital firm increasingly looks to London for startups with an ambition to become global leaders in their fields. While the new £325m fund would be spread over investments across Europe, the US [...]