Indian rupee hits record low amid slowdown fears August 19, 2013 The Indian rupee fell to a record low today as investors pulled money out of the country amid fears of a slowdown in growth. The currency fell by around 1.7 per cent from the previous close to a low of 62.70 against the dollar. The rupee has fallen by nearly 16 per cent since May [...]
Cuadrilla’s message to anti-fracking protesters August 19, 2013 Energy company Cuadrilla, which has found itself at the centre of an anti-shale gas protest against fracking in Balcombe, has reacted to the highly-publicised protests at its headquarters in Lichfield, Staffordshire. Protesters broke into our Lichfield office, harassed our staff and chained themselves to filing cabinets. The police are on site dealing with this. We [...]
Tesco fined in strawberry mis-selling scandal August 19, 2013 Tesco has been fined £300,000 by Birmingham Crown Court after admitting it mis-sold strawberries to the British public in a half-price deal. The supermarket admitted four counts of engaging in an unfair commercial practise over strawberry prices in 2011. The case concerns the Tesco store on Coventry Road, Sheldon, and was widened to Tesco stores [...]
German Bundesbank expects economy to return to normal this year August 19, 2013 The German central bank has said the global economy is likely to continue on its upward trend in the third quarter of the year, although growth will be constrained by structural growth problems and tightened monetary policy in several emerging market economies and expectations that the US Federal Reserve may tighten policy sooner than expected [...]
Germany recognises Bitcoin as a taxable currency August 19, 2013 Germany has become the first country to take an official stance on the use of online currency Bitcoin, recognising it as legitimate for legal and tax purposes. Berlin acknowledged Bitcoin as a “currency unit” and “private money”, according to German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the online edition of the "New Osnabrück newspaper", citing a [...]
Investors confident central banks can wind down QE smoothly August 19, 2013 Expectations around the timing of central banks’ exit from quantitative easing and progress on a banking zone in the Eurozone are primary drivers of European investor activity, a survey by ratings agency Fitch has found. Nearly three quarters of investors are confident that central banks can tighten policies smoothly, although two thirds think concerns about [...]
Financial firms up salaries to prevent exodus ahead of bonus cap August 19, 2013 Nearly two thirds of financial services firms have upped employee salaries to stop a mass exodus as a result of the EU bonus cap, according to a survey by recruiter Robert Half. Some 65 per cent of the 100 chief financial officers and chief operation officers surveyed have increased salaries by an average of 20 [...]
Spanish prime minister may reshuffle government soon August 19, 2013 Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy may reshuffle his government in the coming months, El Confidencial has reported. The news site cites government sources close to the prime minister saying that Rajoy may use a reshuffle to regain the political initiative after being hit by the "slush fund" scandal. It is alleged that Rajoy and other [...]
Why HS2 won’t cost £80bn August 19, 2013 The Institute for Economic Affairs has a report out this morning on the High Speed 2 (HS2) railway that claims the real cost of the project will be "more than £80bn" – around double the government's current estimate. But even if you think HS2 is a costly white elephant, don't be taken in by these [...]
Statoil sells off oil fields to help meet capital expenditure targets August 19, 2013 Norway’s Statoil has sold off stakes in a number of key oil fields to Austria’s OMV for at least $2.65bn (£1.7bn). The value of the deal could increase by a further $500m to cover additional investments. This will help Statoil meet its capital expenditure target for the year, which it increased by $1bn to $19bn [...]