UK sees signs of rebalancing as second quarter growth is revised up August 23, 2013 UK growth has been revised upwards from 0.6 per cent to 0.7 per cent in the second quarter, as the Office for National Statistics releases its second GDP estimate. The increase "can be attributed to small upwards revisions across a number of the main industrial groupings", with manufacturing output revised up at 0.7 per cent [...]
Second quarter growth was higher than thought at 0.7 per cent August 23, 2013 UK GDP growth has been confirmed at 0.7 per cent for the second quarter, beating economist estimates and an increase on the previous estimate of 0.6 per cent. It's not all good news though – as government spending is also up by 0.9 per cent. This second estimate of GDP growth by the Office for [...]
Before the open – 23/08 August 23, 2013 The FTSE is expected to open slightly up after avoiding a fourth consecutive day of losses yesterday. Kit Juckes, Societe Generale on today's session: There's a bit of TGIF feel to all this: The overnight session is quieter, with equity markets and EM currencies bouncing, nominally on the back of yesterday’s crop of stronger economic [...]
Regulator finds six carpet and furniture retailers misleading consumers with false price cuts August 23, 2013 The Office of Fair trading has found that six high street carpet and furniture retailers are misleading customers by artificially inflating prices to promote sales and price cuts. The OFT found systematic examples of reference pricing amongst, where the price is artificially inflated, within the industry. During the period that the OFT monitored these six [...]
German finance minister Schaeuble repeats warning that Greece will need fresh rescue August 23, 2013 German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has repeated his warning that the Greek economy will need another aid program, and that this won't involve a further haircut. Previously Schaeuble said that the initial haircut was "unique" and there is speculation that this third bailout will be much smaller than those before. The minister said that it [...]
New York markets paralysed August 22, 2013 TRADING in more than 3,000 US firms was suspended for over three hours yesterday, as a mysterious technical issue brought the Nasdaq stock exchange to a halt. The unprecedented suspension just after midday left investors unable to trade popular tech shares such as Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft. Nasdaq blamed a problem with distributing share price [...]
Business leaders praise increase in students taking traditional GCSE subjects August 22, 2013 BUSINESS groups yesterday praised the increased number of students taking GCSEs in traditional subjects – but warned Britain is still lagging far behind when it comes to technology skills. More than 600,000 teenagers received their results yesterday, with figures showing continued growth in the number of entries for science subjects. There was also a sharp rise [...]
Football awaits record breaking transfer August 22, 2013 REAL Madrid appear to be on the verge of smashing their own world transfer record by paying up to £94m for Tottenham and Wales star Gareth Bale. The Spanish giants set the existing record when they signed Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United four years ago, for a fee of £80m. Bale joined Spurs from Southampton in [...]
Germany’s factories lead Eurozone back to growth August 22, 2013 HOPES grew yesterday that the Eurozone economy could at last be getting back on the right track as private sector activity increased at its fastest pace for two years, according to an influential market survey. And markets across the continent rose, hinting at improved confidence among investors. German manufacturing activity led the expansion – output [...]
Euro ministers split on fresh Greek bailout August 22, 2013 JEROEN Dijsselbloem, current president of the Eurogroup, added himself to the list of figures admitting that Greece will need another bailout programme when the existing one runs out in 2014. The current head of the Eurozone’s finance ministers was quoted in his native Dutch media, saying: “The problems in Greece won’t be solved in 2014, [...]