Great Chinese internet wall to be breached by free trade zone September 24, 2013 A planned Shanghai free-trade zone is to see sites banned by the Chinese government, including Facebook and Twitter, made accessible in the city, the South China Morning Post reported today. The Hong Kong newspaper added, citing anonymised government sources, that foreign competition for state-owned service providers for licenses to provide internet in the zone would [...]
Analysts greet Total’s planned investment reduction with scepticism September 24, 2013 Analysts have greeted Total's announcement of a fall in organic capital expenditure with a note of caution. Nomura analyst Theepan Jothilingam said: There will no doubt be some skepticism that capital intensity can be reduced but a headline fall in group capex to $24-25bn [£15-15.6bn] underpins Total as the name that offers in principle the [...]
EBay and Argos launch national trial of Click & Collect for merchants September 24, 2013 Online mega auctioneer EBay and high street retailer Argos have announced the launch of a national trial that will offer Click & Collect for EBay merchants. The UK collection services will be trialled at 150 Argos stores for six months. Large merchants will be able to take advantage of the new system, while smaller merchants [...]
Number of mortgages in the UK rise to December 2009 high September 24, 2013 The number of mortgages issued by the BBA was 38.2k in August. The figure was down on expections of 38.6k, following July's 37.2k, but still at a high last seen in December 2009. UK unsecured lending is rising, the BBA have said, although 'There was a fall in total business borrowing levels in August.' Net [...]
German IFO business climate figures come in short of expectations September 24, 2013 Indicators for business in Germany are worse than expected with the IFO business climate coming in at 107.7 for September, up from 107.6 (revised from 107.5) in August and following expectations of 108.2. Despite the decline, the index remains at its highest since April 2012. IFO current assessment came in at 111.4 after expectations of 112.5 and [...]
Premier Foods appoints former finance director of Cathedral City and Clover producer September 24, 2013 Finance director of Cathedral City and Clover producer Dairy Crest moves on to Ambrosia and Mr Kipling. (Release) Premier Foods, who own a number of household food brands, have today announced the appointment of Alastair Murray as executive director and chief financial officer from the end of September. Premier Foods brands include Hovis, Bisto, Lloyd [...]
Before the open: Markets remain muted by uncertainty from Fed and Germany September 24, 2013 Further Fed discussions on last week's news saw US markets close lower again yesterday for the third day. Overnight: #DOW lost 0.3% on Fed uncertainty and the political showdown on Fed budget nears. European markets also fell, Stoxx Europe -0.5% — belldirect (@belldirect) September 23, 2013 In the Eurozone, deliberations on a grand coalition continue [...]
Markets muted after German poll September 23, 2013 But the probable outcome of a CDU/CSU grand coalition with the SPD may bring a long-term shift GERMANY has voted, and despite Angela Merkel’s triumphant showing, a “grand coalition” between her Christian Democrat alliance (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) has emerged as the most likely outcome. Euro-dollar initially rose to $1.3546 in early [...]
CNBC Comment: Why active funds struggle to outperform September 23, 2013 IT’S ONLY 91 days until Christmas and, for the movers and shakers in the fund management industry, we’re close to “squeaky bum time”. This is when we begin to see who has delivered the goods, and who has to start lining up their excuses for another year of underperformance. Yet unlike in the Premiership title [...]
Daily FX: Analyst picks September 23, 2013 QUANTITATIVE STRATEGIST DAVID RODRIGUEZ My pick: Long dollar-yen Expertise: System trading Average time frame of trades: 2 to 10 weeks The dollar fell sharply against the Japanese yen and broader counterparts on the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) “no taper” call. But the fact that dollar-yen quickly recovered is telling. The pair remains in a [...]