Berlusconi’s firm to pay £450m for damages from Mondadori purchase September 17, 2013 Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's holding firm – Fininvest – has been ordered to pay damages of €540m (£453m) as a result of the purchase of publisher Mondadori. Fininvest holdings include football club A.C. Milan, insurance and banking company Mediolanum, and Italian film production company Medusa. The ruling by Italy's top appeals court follows [...]
Barroso on Europe and recovery September 17, 2013 This morning, Jose Barroso, president of the European Commission, spoke following a meeting with the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama. His statement is detailed below. Barroso started off by saying that the verdict on Europe's performance will be given by European voters at the next European Elections. THE CRISIS Barroso: returned to the trigger [...]
US housing market confidence drop sees end to four months of improvement September 17, 2013 The US housing market has seen builder confidence drop for the first time in four months, according to new figures from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). Revisions saw last months' headline figure drop from 59 to 58, and September's disappointed too. Coming in at 58, that's below economist [...]
Microsoft announces 22 per cent quarterly dividend hike with pledge to return cash to shareholders September 17, 2013 Technology giant Microsoft has upped its quarterly dividend with the announcement of a $40bn share repurchase. That repurchase is an old commitment, but the dividend increase is new. Microsoft Corp. announced on Tuesday that its board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, reflecting a 5 cent or 22 percent increase over [...]
US inflation pressures ease in August with Fed unlikely to postpone tapering September 17, 2013 The US consumer price index (CPI) has climbed just 0.1 per cent month-on-month following predictions to stay flat at 0.2 per cent. The year-on-year figure for August is 1.5 per cent, down from 1.6 per cent inflation in the year to July. A breakdown of components, month-on-month: Food: 0.1 per cent Housing: 0.1 per cent [...]
US treasury secretary Lew says Obama won’t negotiate on debt ceiling September 17, 2013 US treasury secretary Jack Lew has said that President Barack Obama will not negotiate over the debt ceiling, and that delaying an increase to the last minute is a "very dangerous" option. Lew said that social security, medicare and contract payments are at risk, with a danger of a depleting cash balance at the Treasury.
Think tank recommends independent Scotland buys its freedom with debt for oil swap September 17, 2013 A research team at think tank NIESR has recommended some out of the box thinking for an independent Scotland to deal with what would be mountainous fiscal imbalances. An oil for debt swap – where the oil revenues would pass over to the UK in exchange for a large write down of the debt that [...]
Gather round for the Hudl – Tesco’s tablet launch event on the horizon September 17, 2013 On Monday 23 September, Tesco is holding a press event, with speculation that it's the unveiling of a new tablet, the Hudl. The Hudl arrives on the market with a rumoured price tag of £99, taking on Amazon's Kindle Fire and Google's Nexus, and the tagline 'We've got something to show you.' Analysts anticipate a 16GB, [...]
Higginson still in the running for RBS branches despite reports of bid rejection September 17, 2013 Reports that Andy Higginson's bid for RBS branches had been rejected have been denied by his consortium W&G Investments. A spokesperson said: We remain in constructive discussions with RBS about our bid. Our proposal remains the only true offer for Williams and Glyns, and offers full and certain value to RBS and its shareholders, whilst [...]
House prices rise with London leading the way September 17, 2013 The Office for National Statistics has reported that house prices rose 0.3 per cent month-on-month in July, following increases of 0.4 per cent for both June and May. London's house prices are strong – up 9.7 per cent year-on-year in July – which has inflated the annual rate of increase to 3.3 per cent in [...]