Guidance is in tatters, the City warns Carney January 22, 2014 THE BANK of England’s forward guidance, brought in last summer, has failed already according to City analysts, many of whom expect governor Mark Carney to move the goalposts in a bid to keep the policy alive. “Forward guidance is effectively dead,” said James Ashley of RBC Capital Markets yesterday, adding that the Bank must decide [...]
Netflix users now total 44m January 22, 2014 INTERNET streaming site Netflix has released promising fourth quarter results, showing increased membership, smaller losses in the international market and good overall growth. The site ended 2013 with over 44m members and aims to have 48m by the end of the first quarter of this year. The main focus for the firm in 2014 will [...]
Ebay rebuffs Icahn on Paypal January 22, 2014 EBAY has made the case to keep PayPal as part of the parent brand, rather than spin it off into a separate company. Activist investor Carl Icahn called for the company to allow PayPal to become its own entity, nominating two of his employees on the eBay board of directors to take the plan forward. [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 23 January 2014 January 22, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Microsoft to shield users’ data Microsoft will allow foreign customers to have their personal data stored on servers outside the US, breaking ranks with other big technology groups that until now have shown a united front in response to the American surveillance scandal. Just Eat gears up for £900m IPO London’s start-up cluster [...]
No days off for junior staff at Morgan Stanley January 22, 2014 INTERNS and junior staff should not be made to take weekend days off, Morgan Stanley’s chief executive James Gorman said yesterday, breaking ranks with other investment banks. The boss said it is not practical to have fixed days off, instead saying the welfare of staff is down to “common sense” from their managers. “These folks get [...]
Fidelity enters fund platform price war with lower charges January 22, 2014 INVESTOR group Fidelity yesterday made a bold entrance into the fund price war by undercutting rival Hargreaves Lansdown. The UK fund company, which was originally spun out of US-based group Fidelity Investments, said it would charge customers a tariff of 0.35 per cent to use its fund supermarket, lower than the 0.45 per cent charge [...]
Fastest internet connection ever recorded in UK January 22, 2014 THE FASTEST ever broadband speed has been achieved during a test in London by BT and Alcatel-Lucent. The joint team said speeds of 1.4 terabits per second were achieved during the test on a 255 mile link between the BT tower in central London and Ipswich – enough to send 44 uncompressed HD films in [...]
Jenkins warns global economy still at risk January 22, 2014 BARCLAYS chief executive Antony Jenkins yesterday warned global markets would remain at risk of a repeat of the global financial crisis until the end of the decade. “It’s very difficult to argue that the financial system is not safer than it was in 2008, but the question is how much safer is it,” he said [...]
Walkie Talkie owner to submit plans to fix ray January 22, 2014 PROPERTY giant Land Securities said yesterday that it is close to submitting plans to solve the Walkie Talkie’s ultra-bright reflective rays that dazzled passers-by and melted parts of nearby cars last summer. Chief executive Rob Noel said it will submit a planning application to fix “the solar glare issue” to the City of London next [...]
Analyst Views: Has Land Securities’ update changed your outlook for the group? January 22, 2014 ALISON WATSON | LIBERUM This is a solid statement. Management reports further pre-letting progress within its development pipeline, a rise in central London occupational demand and positive trends in its retail portfolio. Whilst this supports our expectation of a gradual recovery in the retail market, we forecast a return to only benign growth. KEITH CRAWFORD [...]