Second term for Bernanke January 28, 2010 THE US SENATE yesterday approved Ben Bernanke’s nomination to a second four-year term running the world’s most powerful central bank despite deep misgivings over his perceived policy missteps. The Senate voted 70-30 to confirm Bernanke in his post again as chairman of the US Federal Reserve, America’s central bank. However, the Fed chief suffered the [...]
It’s hard not to be gloomy on the UK January 28, 2010 THERE has long been a huge gap in Britain between London and the South East and the rest of the country. The former is powered by private sector growth; the latter depends ever-more on the public sector. The latest figures, calculated by Jörg Radeke of the Centre for Economics and Business Research using Treasury data, [...]
FIRST LADY OF FOOTY IS A HIT WITH HER FANS January 28, 2010 OFF to the majestic surroundings of the Royal Courts of Justice last night for the annual Quoted Company of the Year awards – where the organisers had either pulled out all the stops to secure the services of the evening’s hostess, or had enjoyed a remarkable stroke of good fortune. Happily for the sporting fans [...]
Greece: no bailout needed January 28, 2010 GREECE has asked no country for a bailout and is the victim of speculators intent on attacking a “weak link” in the eurozone, its leader said yesterday as the premium on its debt hit a new high. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, said [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 28, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES VEKSELBERG FACES RECORD FINE IN OERLIKON CASE Swiss authorities are seeking to impose a record SFr120m ($114m) fine on Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg and two Austrian investors for allegedly breaching reporting rules in building stakes in the troubled Oerlikon industrial group. The fine – which was announced on Thursday – was immediately rejected [...]
Amazon enjoys strong Christmas January 28, 2010 Amazon.com blew past Wall Street profit estimates yesterday in its closely watched holiday quarter and forecast revenue for early 2010 that topped Wall Street expectations. The online retailer – which sells everything from books to barbecues while offering a host of services to businesses and Web developers – has been viewed as a winner of [...]
SABMiller gets new Swiss base January 28, 2010 Beer producer SABMiller has snubbed London to base a new global procurement operation in Switzerland. The company already has procurement operations in Africa, Asia and South America but plans to use Zurich as a global base. It already has its European headquarters based in the town of Baar, outside Zurich. Staff for the new operation [...]
Lewis gets his way at M&B as Laffin goes January 28, 2010 THE scene was set for a venomous Mitchells and Butlers board meeting yesterday – and the key players did not deviate from the script. Simon Laffin, the chairman, knew his time at the helm of the pub chain was up. Sympathetic cheers from the swathes of minority shareholders packed into the ICC Birmingham would have [...]
JP Morgan to launch a new global banking unit January 28, 2010 JP MORGAN CHASE plans to launch a global corporate banking unit to sell loans and banking services to multinational corporations. The bank plans to invest $100m (£62m) in the unit, which would have around 300 bankers, in a move that would pit the bank directly against rivals like Citigroup and HSBC. Sources at the bank, [...]
Microsoft sees profits rocket 60 per cent January 28, 2010 MICROSOFT yesterday posted a bigger-than-expected 60 per cent jump in quarterly profit, helped by strong sales of Windows 7, and said it expected business technology spending to recover this year. The world’s biggest software maker said yesterday that net profit came to $6.7bn (£4.2bn), or 74 cents per share, for its fiscal second quarter, versus [...]