Third quarter US GDP beats expectations, bolstering rate rise hopes October 28, 2016 Uncle Sam surprised the markets this afternoon by announcing that the US economy was growing at a faster rate than expected. US gross domestic product (GDP) grew at 2.9 per cent over the last 12 months, the fastest rate for two years. A consensus of analysts polled by Reuters expected growth of 2.5 per cent. Read [...]
Zac Goldsmith’s on track to win the Richmond by-election, says first poll of the campaign October 28, 2016 The Richmond by-election looks like it's swinging in Zac Goldsmith's favour at the moment. According to a new BMG poll for the Evening Standard, support for the former Richmond Park MP is holding strong after Goldsmith resigned over the government's decision to give Heathrow expansion the go-ahead. He currently has 56 per cent of the vote, [...]
Alibaba wants a chief cuteness officer (no dogs allowed) October 28, 2016 Forget the days of shelling out money to get Kim Kardashian to promote your products. Alibaba has come up with the idea of recruiting for a "chief maimeng officer" (that translates as "selling its cuteness") to help sell its products and promote its bumper sale on Singles' Day next month. The Chinese e-commerce giant is hoping the successful [...]
RBS shares tumble after another “noisy” loss-making quarter October 28, 2016 The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) reported an attributable loss of £469m for the third quarter of 2016 after being hit with nearly £900m of litigation and restructuring costs. Shares jumped five per cent in morning trading before falling back – it was 1.6 per cent lower, at 193.3p, in lunchtime trading [stockChart code="RBS" date="2016-10-28 09:21"] [...]
Former Co-operative Bank boss admits misconduct October 28, 2016 A former boss of the Co-operative Bank has admitted misconduct and agreed to pay out £20,000 to the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). Barry Tootell, the chief financial officer and chief executive of the Co-Operative Bank between 2009 and 2013, was accused of not exercising due skill, care and diligence in managing the firm for which he [...]
The House of Lords is investigating the pros and cons of driverless cars October 28, 2016 Anyone feeling edgy about the progress of driverless cars and their imminent arrival on UK roads can rest easy (sort of). Next week the House of Lords will get cracking on its inquiry into autonomous vehicles and their future on UK roads. The science and technology committee will meet on Tuesday 1 November and hear evidence [...]
Persistent headaches: Five problems facing RBS chief exec Ross McEwan October 28, 2016 Ross McEwan may have been pleasantly surprised as he peaked through his fingers to see what had happened to the Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) share price this morning. Read more: RBS shares jump up and down to the noise of loss-making quarter Unfortunately for the chief exec of RBS, an initial jump of five per cent wobbled [...]
Your iPhone should change automatically when the clocks go back for UK 2016 Greenwich Mean Time – but here’s what to do if it doesn’t work October 28, 2016 This Sunday morning, everyone in the UK will get an extra hour in bed. At 2am, the clocks are due to go back an hour, as the country transitions from Daylight Saving Time (DST) to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). For many of us, this comes with fears of alarms going off an hour early (or [...]
Business secretary Greg Clark says “no chequebook” was involved in keeping Nissan in the UK October 28, 2016 All that fuzzy goodwill over Nissan announcing it was building not one, but two new models in Sunderland after months of uncertainty has faded pretty fast. Not for everyone, of course, but the comment that Nissan chief executive made saying he had received "support and assurances" from the government gave rise to some scepticism. Ministers [...]