Eurozone inflation hits 20-month high August 16, 2010 EUROZONE inflation hit a 20-month high last month, official figures have shown. Annual inflation in the 16-nation eurozone rose to 1.7 per cent in July, up from 1.4 per cent in June and the highest rate since November 2008, the European statistics office Eurostat said. The figure rose as fuel costs for transport climbed along [...]
Anglo Irish Bank bailout “affordable” says governor August 16, 2010 IRELAND’S bailout of Anglo Irish Bank which is partly behind the country’s soaring budget deficit, is “costly but manageable,” Ireland’s Central Bank Governor Patrick Honohan has said. Honohan, who is also the European Central Bank’s rate setter, reiterated the country’s budget deficit would be around 20 per cent of its annual GDP this year despite [...]
Property prices drop as market flooded August 16, 2010 UK property asking prices dropped for the second month in a row as the market was hit by over-supply, according to property website Rightmove. The survey also found that the market had also been subdued in the summer period. Sellers reduced prices by 1.7 per cent during the month to 7 August, leaving the average [...]
Michael Page sees profit rise as job market picks-up August 16, 2010 WHITE collar recruitement specialist Michael Page said first-half profit climbed 42 per cent compared with last year as job flow in almost all markets, especially outside Britain, improved. Michael Page, which finds jobs for people in financial, accounting and legal services, said pre-tax profit was up to £61.4m in the six months to 30 June [...]
Chinese consortium to bid for AIA stake August 16, 2010 A consortium of leading Chinese companies including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China China Life Insurance, plans to bid for a 30 per cent stake in American International Group’s Asian life insurance business, AIA, the 21st Century Business Herald has reported. That would mean an investment of about $10bn (£6bn) based on AIA’s estimated $30bn [...]
Japan’s economic growth falters August 16, 2010 JAPAN’S economic growth slowed to a crawl in the second quarter and analysts see more weakness ahead as the country grapples with deflation and a rise in the yen that threatens an export-driven recovery. Slowing growth in main export destinations such as the United States and China clouds the outlook, while policymakers are trying hard [...]
Cable requests Green showdown meeting August 15, 2010 BUSINESS secretary Vince Cable put himself on a potential collision course with the coalition government yesterday as he pointedly refused to endorse retail tycoon Sir Philip Green’s appointment as a government spending tsar. Cable, who is currently on holiday, reiterated his hard-line stance on tackling tax avoidance and said he would look at setting up [...]
Aviva investors tell RSA to up £5bn offer August 15, 2010 INVESTORS in Aviva have said rival RSA must increase its £5bn offer if it wants to walk away with the insurer’s property and casualty business. Aviva immediately rejected the surprise offer for its general insurance arms in the UK, Ireland and Canada, made in a letter from RSA chairman John Napier last month. There are no [...]
Shock as Milburn joins the coalition August 15, 2010 DEPUTY Prime Minister Nick Clegg risked tipping the coalition into all-out war yesterday when he appointed a third former Labour minister as an adviser to the government. In a shock move ultra-Blairite Alan Milburn was named “social mobility tsar”, in a role that appears to encroach on cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith’s remit. A spokesman [...]
AgBank smashes world IPO record August 15, 2010 A HONG Kong and Shanghai stock market listing of shares in Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank) has become the world’s largest ever initial public offering. AgBank said yesterday it had fully exercised an over-allotment option for the Shanghai portion of the stock market listing, boosting total proceeds from the offer to $22.1bn (£14.2bn). The previous [...]