Apple stock rebounds as Chinese stocks of new iPhones sell out September 17, 2013 Apple's Chinese website shows all pre orders of their 5C and 5S devices have sold out (a translation of their Chinese site here), but there's still no word on what total pre orders are at. That's unusual from Apple. Typically, they'll announce pre order numbers shortly after they launch. Those pre orders begun shortly after [...]
Clegg announces free school meals for children in first three years of school September 17, 2013 Nick Clegg will tomorrow announce that all children in their first three years of education will receive free school meals, covering around 1.5m a year. Lib Dems believe that free meals provide an even greater academic boost than enforced literacy hours by enabling children who may not get enough food from home to concentrate during [...]
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, [...]