FTSE 100 slides despite BG rise on Shell deal – London Report April 8, 2015 OIL AND gas stocks dominated trade in a falling UK stock market yesterday, driven by a £47bn bid by Royal Dutch Shell for energy firm BG Group. Shares in BG jumped 26.6 per cent to hit their highest level since September when the stock was tracking a falling oil price. The two listings for Royal [...]
Fed minutes and mergers spark late rally – New York Report April 8, 2015 US STOCKS ended a volatile session yesterday with modest gains after minutes from a Federal Reserve meeting indicated that the central bank remained on track for a interest rate hike this year. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 27.09 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 17,902.51, the S&P 500 gained 5.57 points, or 0.27 per [...]
How to ensure your meetings are productive April 8, 2015 You can’t end them for good, but they need not be a waste of time. How long do you spend in meetings each year? Do you, like many, think they’re a total waste of time? A group of partners from Bain & Company studied the time budgets of 17 corporations and found that, on average, [...]
Britain’s 20 most attractive employers are … John Lewis, BMW, British Airways April 8, 2015 We spend the vast majority of our waking lives at work. And yet so many of us grumble about where we work, spend our lives worrying about job security and sometimes end up dedicating our evenings and weekends to getting the job done too. So it might be worth taking note of a new survey [...]
Federal Reserve minutes: Policymakers divided on timing of rate hike April 8, 2015 The Fed finally lost its "patience" last month, a move initially thought to imply short-term rates would rise in June, but then fed chair Janet Yellen tempered expectations by saying this "doesn't mean we are going to be impatient". And now we know why. Minutes released today show a marked divergence among officials on whether they [...]
Do aliens exist? The first traces of extraterrestrial life will be found within 10 years, says top Nasa scientist April 8, 2015 Aliens will be discovered within 10 years, and this is no joke – it is an actual prediction made by a real (and important) scientist at Nasa, the US space agency pouring its life and soul into hunting down extraterrestrial life. "I think we're going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth within a [...]
Three reasons new car sales had their best month since 1999 April 8, 2015 Car dealerships across the country have been partying like it's 1999. They sold 492,774 new cars last month, which represents a six per cent increase from the same time last year, data released today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers has shown. It was the best March on record, as well as the best monthly performance since [...]
General Election 2015: Is the Green Party’s boyband video the most bonkers election broadcast ever? Here are five of the best April 8, 2015 The Green party has launched its new Party Election Broadcast. It has David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg, and Nigel Farage depicted as a rather bizarre boy band, singing a power ballad about austerity. No. Really…. Incredibly, the Green video may not actually be the most bonkers election broadcast a party has ever [...]
Lord Ashcroft marginals poll: Ukip vote share drops 10 points in Conservative held seats April 8, 2015 Tory peer Lord Ashcroft's latest poll from the marginal constituencies shows a mixed picture for the two main parties and heralds bad news for Ukip. This week, all 10 results come from Conservative held seats where Labour is the principle opponent. According to the poll, which is a snapshot of public opinion not a prediction, [...]