The Scottish nationalists aren’t credible on keeping sterling February 14, 2014 THE gloves are finally off. The London political establishment’s message to Scotland is clear: stay in the UK, or lose the pound. The nationalists are in deep trouble on this question, but as ever the argument is more complex than both sides might imagine.Is the Scottish National Party (SNP) right that it could keep sterling, [...]
This week’s 4 must-see charts February 14, 2014 The gaping chasm between Mark Carney’s messaging and market expectations of future rate hikes, suspicious Chinese statistics, the sudden devaluation of Kazakhstan's tenge, and Janet Yellen's labour market worries. We bring you some of our favourite analyst’s picks of the most important graphs this week, as well as a choice of our own. Jeremy Cook, [...]
Why rosier European growth doesn’t mean it’s plain sailing February 14, 2014 Confidence that recovery in the Eurozone is taking a firmer hold is growing this morning, after a series of better-than-expected numbers from Europe, but today's results don't mean it's suddenly going to be a walk in the park. According to official statistics agency Eurostat, the Eurozone economy grew by 0.3 per cent in the fourth [...]
Booming housebuilding pushes surprise fourth quarter construction increase February 14, 2014 In December of last year, output in the UK construction industry increased two per cent from November, and 6.3 per cent from a year earlier. The high-note end to the year was driven almost entirely by the surging housing market. When seasonally adjusted, the increase was 0.2 per cent over the quarter, flying in the face of [...]
Investors beware: Valentine’s Day markets give no love February 14, 2014 A thorny day for traders. S&P research finds that since 1928 the S&P 500 has closed up on just 40 per cent of Valentine's Days. Similarly, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen on 14 February just 43 per cent of the time. Perhaps investors are more concerned by their plans for the evening. There's [...]
What you need to know before the open – 14/02 February 14, 2014 Europe’s focus is GDP numbers today, with numbers for France and Germany already in. Some better news for France this morning as the country saw growth of 0.3 per cent in the fourth quarter – better than the revised 0.0 per cent (from -0.1 per cent) and above expectations of 0.2 per cent. Investment was [...]
Creating the height of luxury at The Shard February 13, 2014 Laura Ivill speaks to André Fu about his design plans for the world’s top hotels AS I join André Fu at The Berkeley hotel in Knightsbridge, the sunlight is pouring in and he is surrounded by flowers. It is three weeks before his new suite is launched and he is working on the final details [...]
Marriage of the old and the new in St John’s Wood February 13, 2014 Meet the modern townhouse with six floors, a home cinema, a gym, and a spare studio apartment LONDON TOWNHOUSES are the last traditonal homes in this thoroughly modern city. But increasing demand has inspired a developer to see if it could build one that would take the contemporary market by storm. Park View, in St [...]
Focus on Kennington: Undiscovered gem in south London February 13, 2014 IT’S HARD to find an area in this city that hasn’t been re-discovered, re-packaged, and re-sold to the highest bidder in recent years. But one pocket of central London still remains an underrated gem, ripe for development, and increasingly attractive to investors. Kennington, located just south of the river from Westminster, has housed a heady [...]
This may change your mind about who’s going to win the Premier League February 13, 2014 Chelsea may occupy top spot in the Premier League, Manchester City remain the bookmakers’ favourites to win the title in May and Arsenal are hanging in there (somehow), but Liverpool are currently the best team in the division. That’s according to Kickdex, a stats-based index that assigns a value to every team and player in [...]