Argentina to lift controls and allow dollar purchases after peso crash January 24, 2014 A crackdown on illegal currency exchanges saw the peso collapse by around 12.5 per cent yesterday, to around $0.125. Now the Argentinian government is to lift currency controls, and allow dollar purchases from 27 January after the currency hit an "acceptable" level. Yesterday Johns Hopkins professor Steve Hanke, former adviser to Argentine economy minister Domingo [...]
Hornby loses steam as model train maker de-couples from main supplier January 24, 2014 The model railway engine maker Hornby has reported another distinctly unimpressive set of results, warning that "supply chain issues" mean it expects sales for its financial year to be below current market expectations and down on last year’s total. Speaking at Davos this morning, Prime Minister David Cameron said that Hornby will be moving some of [...]
Nokia receives welcome relief as SocGen upgrades to “buy” January 24, 2014 Troubled communications firm Nokia received some welcome news this morning as French bank Societe Generale upgraded the company's shares from "hold" to "buy." The bank explained that Nokia had revised up its guidance for intellectual property licence fees from €500m (£410m) to €600m (£594m) annually on the back of higher fees to be received by [...]
JP Morgan’s giving Jamie Dimon a pay rise January 24, 2014 Something of a volte face for investment bank JP Morgan – its board has voted to raise chief executive Jamie Dimon’s annual compensation for 2013, according to reports from The New York Times. Last year his pay was halved following the so-called London Whale trading fiasco. The highly contentious decision to up it was met [...]
Supportive monetary policy has worked, says Osborne January 24, 2014 George Osborne thinks supportive monetary policy has done its job and data has shown that it works. Speaking on The Future of Monetary Policy panel at Davos, the chancellor said that the success of monetary policy "confounds" its opponents who said that other things were needed. Osborne described the UK's recovery as income generated, not [...]
What you need to know before the open – 24/01 January 24, 2014 Yesterday, with disappointing economic data from China and a raft of lacklustre earnings reports over the week, markets finally made a marked move downwards. earnings concerns & Chinese data takes Street of Dreams lower – DOW -1%, S&p 500 -0.86%, NASDAQ -0.57% – DOW has lost 2% this month & S&P 1% — David [...]
Privatised Royal Mail sees parcel business boom January 24, 2014 Recently privatised Royal Mail Group has reported a boost in like-for-like revenue of two per cent in its trading update for the nine months ended 29 December 2013. Parcel revenue grew strongly, up eight per cent on a like-for-like basis. Addressed letter volumes fell by five per cent on a like-for-like basis, in line with [...]
Carney: We won’t hike rates (yet) January 23, 2014 GOVERNOR Mark Carney fought off suggestions that the Bank of England should hike interest rates yesterday, as his flagship scheme for monetary policy came under threat after only six months. There is “no immediate need to increase interest rates,” Carney said last night, speaking on the BBC’s Newsnight programme. The Bank governor also tried to [...]
Argentina in crisis as peso suffers biggest fall since 2002 January 23, 2014 THE ARGENTINE peso crumbled yesterday, plunging at the steepest rate in over a decade. Against the dollar, the peso collapsed by 12.5 per cent, dropping to around $0.126. The currency has not plunged so far in a single day since Argentina defaulted on its debt in early 2002. The dramatic drop comes after the government announced a [...]
Wrong kind of concrete brings Victoria line to a rush hour halt January 23, 2014 THE LONDON Underground’s Victoria line was plunged into disarray yesterday, after a bizarre incident in which a signal room was flooded with wet concrete. Services were completely stalled between Warren Street and Brixton during one of the busiest times of the day, putting nearly half of the line out of action, with severe delays on [...]