New car sales down 4.2pc December 6, 2011 New car sales fell by 4.2 per cent on the year in November to 134,027 units, although registrations may now beat an earlier forecast for this year, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said on Tuesday. The SMMT said car registrations in the year to date were down 4.5 percent on the year at [...]
Panel urges legal action in damning Olympus report December 6, 2011 An independent panel has issued a damning report on a $1.7bn (£1.08bn) accounting scandal at Japan’s disgraced Olympus, urging legal action against the executives responsible for the cover-up and the replacement of other board members who knew. The six-man panel of experts found no link with organised crime, however, an outcome that may help the [...]
Eurozone GDP growth stalls in third quarter December 6, 2011 Economic growth across the Eurozone remained stalled in the third quarter of the year at the same level seen since April, the region’s statistics agency has said. GDP Growth was steady at 0.2 per cent, as in the second quarter, Eurostat said. On a year-on-year basis, growth was 1.4 per cent compared with the third [...]
HTC sales fall 30 per cent in a month December 6, 2011 Sales of Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC have dropped 30 per cent in November from a month before, as the world’s No.4 smartphone brand struggled to compete against bigger rivals Apple and Samsung. HTC says its consolidated sales for November fell to T$30.94bn (£654m) from T$38.48bn a year ago and T$44.11bn in October 2011. “It shows [...]
Downgrade bombshell puts brakes on FTSE gains December 6, 2011 The brakes were slammed on the recovery in European markets this morning after ratings agency Standard and Poor’s warned 15 Eurozone countries – including Germany – that they were teetering on the edge of a downgrade. Asian stocks and the euro fell after S&P piled pressure on a plan to solve the region’s debt crisis [...]
BoE says bank profitability targets too tough December 6, 2011 British banks’ targets for shareholder returns are too high, and do not reflect the regulatory changes aimed at making banking a lower-risk, lower-return business, the Bank of England said. In a record of their November 23 Financial Policy Committee meeting published on Tuesday, policymakers reiterated that the euro zone debt crisis posed the biggest threat [...]
RATING AGENCY DROPS EUROZONE BOMBSHELL December 6, 2011 RATINGS agency Standard & Poors (S&P) wrecked a mood of growing optimism about the Eurozone debt crisis last night by warning that 15 of the region’s 17 countries face credit downgrades if politicians do not get a grip. Less than a month after the EU threatened a crackdown on ratings agencies, S&P blasted Brussels’ “defensive [...]
Merkozy deal on spending December 6, 2011 PROFLIGATE governments will be punished by other euro states under tough new rules unveiled by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday. But the Eurozone’s bailout fund will not have the power to negotiate haircuts with private-sector bondholders and overspending states will not be hauled in front of the EU courts, previous [...]
At a glance: The latest euro rescue plan December 6, 2011 ● Enforced balanced budgets Governments will be forced to keep budget deficits below three per cent of GDP each year. Real fiscal restraint may give ECB boss Mario Draghi the confidence to loosen policy and to start printing money, presumably the deal’s secret objective. ● “Automatic” punishments Previously, budgetary offenders were only punished if a [...]
S&P was right to warn the Eurozone December 6, 2011 THERE was anger at Standard and Poor’s, the rating agency, last night, focusing on the timing of its decision to put fifteen Eurozone countries on negative watch. I disagree: for once, the agency demonstrated bravery uncharacteristic of the times we live in. I’m no defender of the rating agencies, who performed appallingly during the bubble [...]