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 [...]
Tel Aviv stock blunder wipes 99.9 per cent off Israel Corp August 26, 2013 THE TEL Aviv Stock Exchange, Israel’s major stock market, stopped trading on Sunday after a typing error caused shares in top listed firm Israel Corporation to crash 99.88 per cent. The mistake, thought to have been caused when a trading clerk accidentally typed in the wrong company to sell shares in, caused the exchange’s top [...]
Recovery dents certainty on UK interest rates August 26, 2013 MARK Carney’s plans to keep interest rates low for another three years took another blow today as new figures showed the UK’s dominant services sector grew at its fastest rate for six years in the three months to August. Service sector business activity is at its highest level since 2007, the Confederation of British Industry [...]
Charlie Bean insists easy money is here to stay for years to come August 26, 2013 TOP BANK of England officials this weekend insisted firms should have the confidence to borrow because rates will stay at rock bottom for years, despite market scepticism. Deputy governor Charlie Bean said he wants to send a “clear signal” rates will not rise in the near future despite the improving economy. “What we’re trying to [...]
Durable goods orders suggest meagre investment from firms August 26, 2013 DURABLE goods orders in the US fell through the floor in July, dropping by 7.3 per cent from June, with transport, computers and electrical equipment all seeing declines. The figures for long-lasting manufactured items announced yesterday were much worse than expected. Analysts had projected a three per cent fall, but the drop was the most [...]
Gove attacks Miliband’s union tendency August 26, 2013 Michael Gove will today use a speech to brand Labour leader Ed Miliband as “uncertain, irresolute, weak” in his dealings with trade unions. The Tory education secretary will insist Labour has sunk back to its “pre-Blair position of living in the unions’ shadow”.