BP will defend against fines of £18.9m over alleged market manipulation August 5, 2013 BP has denied allegations made by US regulators of natural gas market manipulation, and has said that it will "vigorously defend against" them. US regulators – the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) – are currently investigating several BP entitites. The FERC bases its allegations on a recorded two-minute [...]
BMW pulls the plug on 140,000 cars in China August 5, 2013 BMW’s joint venture in China has recalled 143,215 cars after it emerged defective plugs in the electric power steering system could prove hazardous, the country’s quality watchdog has said. China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine announced that BMW Brilliance will be recalling some of the 5-series cars made between 2009 and 2012. [...]
US services growth is faster than expected in July August 5, 2013 The US services sector is expanding more quickly, according to the ISM non-manufacturing purchasing manager's index. It rose from 52.2 to 56.0 in July, ahead of economist forecasts of a rise to 53.0. That's still well behind the growth that Markit reported for the UK this morning, where services PMI is at a 2006 high [...]
French oil giant Total to relocate corporate treasury department to London August 5, 2013 French oil and gas giant Total has said it is planning to move its corporate treasury department to London to boost its image and get closer to analysts. A spokesman told Reuters the move would help it “get closer to… the oil trading and financial centre of Europe to allow the group to improve its [...]
UK output is growing at its fastest pace since records began August 5, 2013 (Source: Markit) Following very strong service sector figures this morning, economic activity is now growing at its fastest pace since records began in 1998. Markit's survey data – the purchasing manager's index – is at a high of 59.48 for all sectors. Any number above 50 implies an expansion. Employment expansion also climbed in July [...]
PM’s official spokesman says Clegg can go where he wants despite Gibraltar crisis August 5, 2013 Despite concerns from the Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) the Prime Minister's official spokesman has said that "the choice of holiday destination for the Deputy Prime Minister is up to him." Following a dispute about fishing rights with Spain, the FCO has announced that it will "continue to use all necessary measures to safeguard British sovereignty" [...]
Domino’s goes cold as more directors sell off stakes amid weakened profits August 5, 2013 Shares in Domino’s Pizza have lost 7.5 per cent on the news two prominent directors and company shareholders sold shares in the company late last Friday. Nigel Wray, non-executive director and once a holder of just under 30 per cent of the company, has sold his remaining three per cent stake for 570p per share, [...]
China reviewing one child policy amid demographic timebomb and slowing growth August 5, 2013 China’s Family Planning Commission is studying proposals to lift the ban on a second child – if either parent is an only child. The country’s official news agency Xinhua reported that the new rules are expected to come into force early next year and may be extended to cover all families by 2015. Under current [...]
IHS Global Insight hikes GDP forecast after strong data August 5, 2013 Following the strong services data released earlier, IHS Global Insight has bumped up its growth forecast for 2013 to 1.3 per cent (from 1.1 per cent) as it now anticipates 0.7 per cent growth in the third quarter. This would mark the first time that the economy has had two successive quarters of growth exceeding [...]
Barclays appoints banks to £5.8bn rights issue syndicate August 5, 2013 Barclays has announced the appointment of additional underwrites and joint bookrunners for a rights issue intended to raise £5.8bn (release). It's a long list, and will probably mean some hefty fees for Barclays to pay: BN AMRO Bank N.V., Banco Santander S.A., BNP Paribas, ING Bank N.V., J.P. Morgan Securities plc (which conducts its UK [...]