Travel nightmare before Christmas as Waterloo & City Line goes down December 22, 2015 The Waterloo & City Line has reopened after being brought down just as rush hour was kicking off. The whole line was suspended at around 7:30am this morning. Transport for London cited "a signalling problem in the Waterloo area", but gave no estimate for when the line would be back up and running. https://twitter.com/wlooandcityline/status/679201130941927424 Commuters coming [...]
Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully returns its Falcon 9 rocket after sending it to space in breakthrough for reusable rockets December 22, 2015 Activist billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX has sent its Falcon 9 rocket into space and back again – an important breakthrough for reusable rockets in space exploration. The first stage of the Falcon 9 gently touched down at Cape Canaveral 10 minutes after lift-off, to employees’ cheers. This was SpaceX’s first flight since June, when one of its rockets exploded [...]
Koovs revenues soar but losses widen December 22, 2015 Revenues at Waheed Alli's Indian etailer Koovs have rocketed in the six months to 30 September – but losses have widened as the firm expands. The figures Sales at the London-listed fashion business soared 144 per cent to INR199.2m (£2m), up from INR81.7m last year. But losses widened to INR570.6m, up from INR359.5m last year. The company said [...]
Spain’s national elections change the country’s political scene: lessons learnt from the Greek experience? December 22, 2015 Modest winners and losers is the mixed verdict of the Spanish elections, indicating a coalition government. So has the result anything to do with lessons learnt from Spain's debt-crisis-bedfellows, the Greeks? Spain and Greece are true Mediterranean economies, highly dependent on agriculture and tourism. Classed as two of Eurozone’s original PIIGS, they both implemented ferocious public [...]
Best of the Brokers for 22 December 2015 December 22, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com BOOHOO.COM As the end of 2015 approaches, fast-fashion retailer Boohoo will be celebrating its first full year as a listed company, or perhaps taking some time for reflection following a profit warning in January. In its first coverage of the company, Shore Capital [...]
ITV and miners gain but FTSE finishes down – London Report December 22, 2015 LOSSES from Associated British Foods and Smith & Nephew during yesterday’s trading dragged the FTSE 100 index down, as ITV, Glencore, and Antofagasta surged. The UK’s top blue-chip index closed 0.29 per cent down at 6,034 points. ITV led the pack after it emerged Comcast’s NBCUniversal was reportedly bidding to takeover the home of Downton [...]
Hell of a year: What rocked markets in 2015 – From Grexit to the commodity crash via a China meltdown and the VW scandal December 22, 2015 2015 was a truly turbulent year for investors, from Grexit and the China stock market crash, to commodities falling to record lows, volatility spiking, bond markets making losses across the board, the most uncertain UK election in a generation rankling investors, the US Federal Reserve's first rate rise in 9 years… the list goes on. [...]
VW: Will it go from Naughty to Nice in 2016? – CNBC Comment December 22, 2015 Volkswagen’s Supervisory Board has taken bold steps in the final weeks of 2015 to put the diesel cheating scandal to rest. But with three days to go before Christmas, I expect Santa has made his list, is checking it twice, and is sending a sleigh full of coal to the carmaker’s Wolfsburg headquarters. That’s because [...]
The New Year Resolutions all City workers should make December 22, 2015 If it's not in there already, here’s a date for your diary next year: on 7 March 2016, the Senior Managers Regime (SMR) will be introduced. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) says that it is not looking for “heads on sticks” – but the new rules coming into force will undoubtedly make it easier for [...]
UK consumer confidence ends 2015 on a high December 22, 2015 UK consumer confidence rose in December, rounding off a strong year for shoppers. The monthly consumer confidence index published today by market researchers GfK hit a score of two this month from one in November. Between 2008 and 2014, the index spent most of its time in negative territory. “This is the first time since [...]