Quantitative easing: time for a break August 5, 2009 IT IS A CASE of two steps forwards, one step backwards for the UK economy. Today’s good news was that house prices are stabilising, with a strong survey from the Halifax; we also had a great purchasing managers index for services, suggesting that crucial sector is growing once more. But there is also plenty of worrying [...]
UK housing market shows more signs of stabilisation as prices surge in July August 5, 2009 HOUSE prices in Britain rose 1.1 per cent in July in the latest sign of growing stability in the property market, data from Halifax showed yesterday. The mortgage lender reported that in the three months to July, house prices jumped 0.8 per cent, the first rise on a quarterly basis since October 2007. The rise [...]
ABI joins FSA Osborne row August 5, 2009 TORY shadow chancellor George Osborne is facing mounting opposition over his plans to scrap City watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA), with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) now lobbying against the move. The ABI believes the FSA has shown it can adapt to a new era of regulation, and disagrees with Osborne’s plans to [...]
Taylor Wimpey indicates signs of market recovery August 5, 2009 HOUSEBUILDER Taylor Wimpey added to improving sentiment in the housing market yesterday by saying it saw stability in the UK and United States, although further writedowns dragged its shares lower. The company, which already wrote down the value of its land and work in progress by just over £1bn during 2008, announced a further £527m [...]
CARLSBERG SAYS CHEERS August 5, 2009 DANISH brewer Carlsberg yesterday said its profit in the second quarter rose 10.9 per cent to 1.94 bn Danish kroner (£22m) from 1.75bn in the year-earlier period. Beer sales were also up, 0.5 per cent, to 37.8m hectoliters from 37.6m. The company gained market share in Asia and Eastern Europe. The group confirmed its full-year [...]
News Corp posts 2bn loss August 5, 2009 RUPERT MURDOCH’S News Corporation slumped to a $3.4bn (£2bn) loss for the year to the end of June as a combination of plunging advertising sales, impairment charges and online losses hit the media giant. The business – which owns most of BSkyB, as well as 20th Century Fox, the New York Post, the Sun and [...]
UK is in need of a nuclear boost August 5, 2009 A report commissioned by Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said that the UK needs to more than double the amount of electricity generated by nuclear power, as well as boosting renewables, energy efficiency and gas storage to guarantee energy security. Nuclear power should provide between 35 per cent to 40 per cent of the UK’s [...]
Google set to issue $106.5m August 5, 2009 Google said yesterday it will issue $106.5m (£68m) in stock to acquire On2 Technologies, as the search engine giant looks to shore up its video operations. On2 makes video-compression technology, which allows for the quick transfer of large video files across the Web. The group also has software that helps allows high-definition video playback to [...]
Toyota to make ‘affordable’ car August 5, 2009 The president and chief executive of Toyota, Akio Toyoda said yesterday that the carmaker had plans to build a “fun-to-drive” affordable sports car, to be launched within the next few years. Toyoda said the company is making the move in an effort to inject the enthusiasm from the race track into the vehicles.
Nine-month high for sterling August 5, 2009 The pound jumped against the dollar to a nine-month high of $1.7039, after industrial output recorded a surprise increase. Strong economic data helped Sterling, while the dollar weakened on worse than expected US job losses.