Bad news mounts for Bitcoin as Japan plans tax March 7, 2014 The bad new keeps on mounting for the world's most popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin. The Japanese government has said that Bitcoin is not a currency and some transactions using it could be taxed. Chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga, told reporters on Friday: If there are transactions and subsequent gains, it is natural…for the finance ministry to [...]
Boohoo confirms £560m listing next week March 7, 2014 Online fashion website Boohoo has confirmed this morning that it’ll debut on London’s Alternative Investment Market (Aim) market next week, with a market cap of £560m. Shares will be trading from next Friday, with 600m placed at 50p each, raising £300m. The firm’s got plans to spend £50m of what’s raised via the flotation on [...]
What you need to know before the open March 7, 2014 A mixed open for Europe this morning as investors await the US employment report. Consensus is that US hiring increased enough in February to leave the Fed’s tapering plan on track. The S&P 500 saw a record finish again yesterday as weekly jobless claims dropped to a three-month low. The ECB disappointed yesterday, leaving its [...]
Turkey’s prime minister confirms possible Facebook and Youtube ban March 7, 2014 Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the country could ban Facebook and Youtube after local elections on 30 March, because, he claims, it’s being used by his political opponents to discredit him. On a late night TV interview yesterday, he said he’d rather shut the sites down then see them be used against [...]
Asian markets rise as investors await US jobs data March 7, 2014 Asian shares are rising on the back of gains seen on Wall Street yesterday as investors turn their attention to US jobs data to be released later today. A Reuters survey of economists forecasts US non-farm payrolls to have increased by 149,000 in February, outpacing the 113,000 seen in January. Markets remained calm in the [...]
Firms lash out at government over migration March 6, 2014 BUSINESS leaders have accused the government of holding British firms back after a Conservative minister called for tighter immigration controls, despite a new report which contradicts his claims. In a speech yesterday immigration minister James Brokenshire said the government is sticking to its target of cutting net migration to the tens of thousands by 2015, [...]
Russians hit by US travel ban over Ukraine March 6, 2014 RUSSIAN officials accused of orchestrating the invasion of Ukraine face a US travel ban, are set to have their assets frozen and will be stopped from doing business with American firms, under an order signed by President Obama yesterday. The EU froze ousted President Viktor Yanukovych’s assets in Europe, as well as targeting 18 people [...]
Has the father of Bitcoin finally been found? March 6, 2014 THE RECLUSIVE founder of Bitcoin was yesterday revealed as a 64-year-old Japanese-American man living in California, according to Newsweek – but the man himself denied his involvement in the digital currency. “I’m not involved in Bitcoin,” the man called Satoshi Nakamoto – the name used on the original documents that established the cryptocurrency in 2009 – told [...]
UK finance firms to boost GDP by £62bn in six years March 6, 2014 THE UK’S financial services sector has the potential to add £62bn to GDP by 2020, with practically half of the rise in productivity expected to come from London, according to research published this morning. The new report by PwC argues that the industry can add 0.2 percentage points to GDP growth for each of the [...]
Fresh pensions blow to Scottish independence March 6, 2014 TREASURY minister Danny Alexander will today issue a further blow to Scottish independence hopes, this time to pension providers and those with investments in Scottish schemes. In a speech at a pensions conference in Edinburgh the Liberal Democrat minister will warn that if Scotland votes to leave the UK it will have to develop its [...]