Before the open – 27/08 August 27, 2013 Markets are expected lower on Syrian turmoil and poor US data yesterday. US Secretary of State John Kerry described events in Syria as "a moral obscenity" and said that "by any standard, it is inexcusable and — despite the excuses and equivocations that some have manufactured — it is undeniable." The US saw durable goods [...]
Britons hit by £2bn tax bill for holiday season August 27, 2013 Taking a break has cost British holiday goers £2bn in tax last year, according to research by the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA). That's a £500m increase on the same estimate in 2008. The TPA's research found that a family of six travelling to Spain would see an average tax bill of £187, while a trip to [...]
Antofagasta sees profits fall by over 37 per cent as commodities slump August 27, 2013 Miner Antofagasta has announced pre tax profits of just $981.0m (£629.9m) in the six months ended June, a 37.3 per cent decline on the same period last year (release). While copper and gold production were both up, at 8.4 per cent and 19.7 per cent respectively, revenues fell by a hefty 12.1 per cent as [...]
Labour threatens to redesign HS2 link August 26, 2013 LABOUR would delay construction of the London leg of the High Speed 2 (HS2) railway in order to redesign the route through the capital, shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle has told City A.M. Eagle said the government’s current proposal to link HS2 to the High Speed 1 (HS1) line using existing tracks through north London [...]
Greek minister pushes €10bn bailout with no conditions August 26, 2013 YANNIS Stournaras, Greece’s finance minister, has suggested a €10bn (£8.6bn) price tag for the country’s third bailout, rebuffing further austerity measures. Stournaras spoke to Greek newspaper Proto Thema at the weekend, saying: “We are not talking about a new bailout but a support package without new terms. Until 2016 the targets – our obligations – [...]
Cameron cuts holiday and may recall MPs over Syria August 26, 2013 PRIME Minister David Cameron has cut short his holiday to chair a meeting of the UK’s National Security Committee on how to respond to an alleged chemical attack in Syria. He is also set to make a decision today on whether to call back other MPs early to discuss the atrocity. A Downing Street spokesman [...]
Q and A: What is happening in Syria and what can the UK do to help? August 26, 2013 Q What is happening in Syria? A Hundreds of people are reported to have been killed in a suspected chemical weapons attack last Wednesday, just outside Damascus – the capital of Syria. Q What has Syria said? A Almost five days after the alleged attacks, Syria has bowed to pressure and agreed to allow a [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 27 August 2013 August 26, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES MPs step up campaign to break up RBS MPs are stepping up their campaign for a break-up of Royal Bank of Scotland amid suspicions in Westminster that RBS and Treasury officials will try to scupper a good bank-bad bank split. In a letter in today’s Financial Times, the influential Parliamentary Commission on Banking [...]
BATS merger sends Nasdaq into third place August 26, 2013 EXCHANGE operators BATS Global Markets and Direct Edge confirmed their plans to merge yesterday, in the latest threat to the dominance of the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq. BATS, a relative newcomer to the trading business, said its tie-up with Direct Edge will create an operator with a track record in creating “a [...]
Deutsche Boerse’s Eurex halts trading as data worries mount August 26, 2013 EUROPE’S biggest derivatives exchange Eurex Exchange was forced to halt trading yesterday after a computer glitch corrupted data for traders. The platform, owned by market giant Deutsche Boerse, was brought to a halt between 7:20am and 8:20am London time after its newly released T7 system malfunctioned and stamped the wrong time on deals made by [...]