US GDP revisions see massive boost to 2.5 per cent August 29, 2013 US second quarter GDP has been revised up from 1.7 per cent on an annualised basis to a massive 2.5 per cent. Economists had been forecasting revisions to 2.2 per cent. Positive momentum came from a smaller trade gap and more inventories. The good news is confusing equities investors, who don't want the economy to [...]
UK government says it is legally justified to take unilateral action against Syria without UN backing August 29, 2013 The UK government has said that unilateral attacks on specific Syrian targets would be “legally justifiable” without the backing of the United Nations (release). The UK government is currently seeking a resulution of the UN Security Council under Chapter VII of the Charter of the UN, which would condemn the use of chemical weapons by [...]
Regulator welcomes end of Amazon’s “price parity” rule August 29, 2013 The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has welcomed a decision by online giant Amazon to end its price parity policy (release). Amazon's policy had prohibited sellers on its platform from offering the same goods elsewhere at lower cost. Here's how Amazon describe it: Price parity generally means that the price of each product you list [...]
German inflation misses estimates August 29, 2013 German inflation rose by more/less than expected in August, according to data from the Statistiches Bundesamt Deutschland. The consumer price index (CPI) rose by 1.5 per cent in the year to August, following a 1.9 per cent annual increase the month before. Analysts had expected to see a rise of 1.7 per cent. On a [...]
Greek teaching union plans legal action against troika-induced austerity measures August 29, 2013 Greek teaching union OLME has said it is planning to take legal action against the government’s plan to put thousands of teachers into a mobility scheme in which they would be given reduced pay ahead of being transferred to another post or dismissal. Implementing the mobility scheme is one of the key conditions for Greece [...]
European Central Bank plans to double number of women in management positions by 2019 August 29, 2013 The European Central Bank wants to double the number of women holding management positions by 2019, executive board member Jorg Asmussen has told German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. At present, women hold 17 per cent of middle management roles and 14 per cent of upper management positions – the ECB wants to double this to a [...]
Co-op bank won’t be healed for at least four years August 29, 2013 Niall Booker, chief executive of the Co-operative Bank has said that the bank will take at least four years to get into decent shape. That's if the bank is able to heal at all. Booker said that the process is going to take some time, pointing at state-backed Lloyds and RBS banks were returning them [...]
Greek finance minister: It is “premature” to speculate about a third bailout August 29, 2013 Greek finance minister Yannis Stournaras has said it is “premature” to speculate about the necessity or details of a third bailout for Greece, echoing comments made earlier by EU commissioner Olli Rehn. Speaking to the Guardian, Stournaras said: It's very early now to talk about an economic support package. For the next full year we [...]
Syrian parliament invokes strange Shakespearean allegory in letter to UK MPs August 29, 2013 (Salanio and Salarino encounter Shylock) The Syrian parliament appears to have dropped a reference to Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" in a letter to UK MPs. In the second paragraph of a document obtained by Sky News, Mohammad Jihad al-Laham, speaker of the people's assembly of Syria, writes: We write to you as fathers and [...]
Indian trade minister suggests monetising gold to offset current account deficit August 29, 2013 Indian minister for commerce and industry Anand Sharma has said the country’s central bank should look into the possibility of monetising its gold to counter the huge current account deficit hitting the rupee hard. It’s not clear whether he was referring to the 557.7 tonnes of gold held in the Reserve Bank of India, or [...]