Asian markets rise but Japanese confidence hits 14-month low February 10, 2014 Asian markets have so far made modest gains after Wall Street kept its cool in the wake of a poorer-than-expected jobs report. However, investors remained cautious owing to significant event risk in the near future. Confidence amongst Japanese households also fell for a second successive month in January, according to figures released by the Cabinet [...]
Our favourite way to forecast the US jobs numbers February 9, 2014 This remains our favourite way to predict the US labour data release. After last month’s non-farm payroll prediction miss, this month we are using a different cat #NFPguesses pic.twitter.com/CwwyVhsYas — Craig Drake (@csdrake) February 7, 2014 Last time this was tried Bob the cat was well off – but that’s because her options were restricted [...]
Amazon has (finally) started delivering goods to the Amazon February 7, 2014 On Friday Amazon started selling its Kindle online across Brazil. This particular product launch has a special resonance for the world's largest online retailer. The Kindle Paperwhite will now be sold in the region of the world where the prestigious online company takes its name – the Amazon. This marks the first time Amazon has [...]
Godiva chocolate shop makes an entrance at St Pancras February 7, 2014 A new temptation has just been added to the food offering of St Pancras: luxury chocolate brand Godiva has opened a new shop in the station. The independent Belgian chocolatier is branching out into the UK. Last month, Godiva’s launched its UK ecommerce site, and this’ll be its 11th opening, with stores already in favourite [...]
Niesr estimates growth of 0.8pc in 3 months to January February 7, 2014 The UK economy grew 0.8 per cent in the three months to January, according to a GDP estimate from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr). Growth in the three months to December slowed to 0.7 per cent. The think tank has said it thinks GDP growth will reach 2.5 per cent this [...]
Barclays cuts banker cash bonus cap to £140,000 February 7, 2014 Barclays is slashing cash bonuses for its investment bankers to £140,000, according to Sky News' Mark Kleinman. Sky has revealed that the cash cap for bonuses has been cut to £140,000 from the £185,000 seen last year. Barclays is planning to hand out roughly double as much to its employees as it will through shareholder [...]
What you need to know before the US open – 07/02 February 7, 2014 When US markets open, investors will be responding to some disappointing data just in: only 113,000 people were hired in January, after expectations that 185,000 jobs would be added to non farm payrolls. This morning, stock futures were up slightly on the hope that the numbers would be strong. The S&P 500 was up 0.51 [...]
Weak US jobs data: Only 113,000 workers hired in January February 7, 2014 A weak number from the US. On a seasonally adjusted basis, 113,000 workers were hired in January. Analysts expected to see 185,000 jobs added this month. We saw some nasty numbers last month, with only 74,000 jobs added so there was a good possibility of a rebound. That number has been revised up – but [...]
German judges refer ECB’s bond-buying programme to European court. Here’s what you need to know February 7, 2014 European markets are muted and the euro is down 0.2 per cent against the dollar on the news that a German court has rejected the European Central Bank’s (ECB) bond-buying programme and pass it on to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Why’s this happened? Germany’s constitutional court thinks the bank’s outright monetary transactions (OMT) [...]
Our favourite way to forecast the US jobs numbers February 7, 2014 This remains our favourite way to predict the US labour data release. After last month's non-farm payroll prediction miss, this month we are using a different cat #NFPguesses pic.twitter.com/CwwyVhsYas — Craig Drake (@csdrake) February 7, 2014 Last time this was tried Bob the cat was well off – but that's because her options were [...]