US durable goods orders for December are shockingly ugly January 28, 2014 Durable goods orders have fallen off a cliff in December. Down 4.3 per cent in a single month, consensus estimates suggested that orders would rise by 1.8 per cent in that period. Michael Hewson, chief narket analyst at CMC Markets, has suggested that the ugly numbers could be a result of the harsh weather conditions [...]
Did Google Glass just get a lot more wearable? January 28, 2014 Those spectacle wearing folk among you feeling ostracised by the fact that you wouldn’t be able to wear uber-geeky tech toy, Google Glass, because of your prescription needs, can pop the champagne corks now – welcome to the club – Google has created prescription frames which work with Glass technology. And we’re not [...]
Former Deutsche Bank executive found dead at London home January 28, 2014 Former Deutsche Bank executive, William Broeksmit, has passed away at his west London home according to an internal e-mail sent to bank employees. Broeksmit was a key founder of Deutsche's investment bank, and left the company last February. The internal e-mail said that the former banker was "considered by many of his peers to be [...]
4 things you need to know before Apple shares open January 28, 2014 Last night Apple reported first-quarter earnings that were near-on unchanged from a year earlier, as stronger competition dented iPhone and iPad sales. Shares tumbled eight per cent on the news. Investors might not be banking on ground-breaking products, probably expecting more of the same. So – before markets open in the US – what do [...]
Crystal Methodist appointed on psychometric tests January 28, 2014 Disgraced former-Co-op Bank chairman Revered Flowers got the job because he did well in psychometric tests, despite lacking the finance knowledge of his rivals for the job, one of those rivals said today. Rodney Baker-Bates had experience of banking but lost out to Flowers because of the tests – a major review of the bank’s [...]
Lloyds to axe 1,080 jobs January 28, 2014 State-backed bank Lloyds is to cut 1,080 positions across the UK and to outsource another 310 jobs, according to union Unite. The cuts are part of the 15,000 job reductions announced back in June 2011, with the most recent wave seeing major job losses in the Commercial SME & mid-markets business, and Wealth’s private banking [...]
JP Morgan statement on death of man at Canary Wharf office January 28, 2014 JP Morgan has released a brief statement on the news this morning that a man in his 30s has fallen from from the roof of the bank’s Canary Wharf office. "We are reviewing a very sad incident at 25, Bank Street this morning,” the bank said. It is understood that no news on the man’s [...]
Largest Nordic bank goes bearish on Bitcoin January 28, 2014 In a fresh blow for Bitcoin the largest Nordic foreign currency trader SEB has rejected requests from customers to set up accounts to manage Bitcoin. The bank is concerned that software associated with the digital currency may be used to engage in illegal activities. Johan Andersson, chief risk officer at SEB, said in response to [...]
Man dies after fall from JP Morgan roof January 28, 2014 A man has died after falling from the roof of JP Morgan's Canary Wharf office. He was pronounced dead at the scene on Bank Street at just after 8.00am this morning, according to police. A police spokesman said that "we believe we know the identity of the deceased but we await formal identification". "Officers from [...]
India hikes interest rates again. Will Turkey be next? January 28, 2014 As markets jitter from the tumult seen in emerging markets over the last few days, India has made the surprise announcement that it’s raising interest rates in a bid to quell inflation and respond to a vulnerable rupee. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) has raised the benchmark repo rate – the amount at which it [...]