Emerging markets can give us all Christmas cheer December 19, 2010 WITH temperatures dropping to -15C and snow making it impossible to get to shops to fill those all important stockings, it’s hard to partake in this year’s Christmas cheer. It’s even harder to be jolly after a year that promised the beginnings of great things, which never came. But hope is the mantra for the [...]
Euro worries push banks down, leave FTSE flat December 15, 2010 THE FTSE tipped up to 5897 briefly this afternoon but sank again to close flat at 5882, dogged by Eurozone worries and poor performances by the banks. Barclays was the top FTSE100 faller, down 3.7 per cent as worries resurfaced over European sovereign debt, caused by Moody’s announcement that it was reviewing Spain’s credit rating, [...]
Obama’s tax deal passed in the Senate December 15, 2010 THE US bill to extend expiring tax cuts for millions of Americans and stimulate the sluggish US economy has passed a Senate vote by 81 to 19. The plan extends for two years all Bush-era individual tax rates, prevents a spike in taxes on capital gains and dividends and renews long-term jobless insurance, while providing [...]
UK tax breaks under review December 14, 2010 TAX breaks that encourage house “flipping” when selling could be ruled out as part of a government review. The Office of Tax Simplification has evaluated 13 tax reliefs in a provisional exercise to understand how to either scrap or simplify the UK’s 1,042 tax breaks. Capital gains tax relief on private homes “remains as valid [...]
Japanese tax received coolly December 14, 2010 Japan’s plan to boost its ailing economy by cutting corporate taxes got a guarded welcome from business yesterday, but is unlikely to help restore the fortunes of unpopular Prime Minister Naoto Kan. Kan gave orders on Monday for a five percentage point cut in the tax rate from the year starting next April, despite the [...]
London misses rates ballot December 14, 2010 RETAILERS across the UK will be balloted on whether they want to pay extra on their business rates to help bankroll local projects – but London has missed out because a rate has already been imposed. The government – under pressure from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) – has made it a legal requirement for rate-setting local [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 12, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES CREDIT SUISSE TO ISSUE COCOS EARLY Credit Suisse’s chief executive said he hoped to begin issuing billions of dollars in contingent-capital bonds in the next year to help shore up the bank’s financial strength well ahead of new Swiss regulations. Brady Dougan also defended Credit Suisse’s decision to award one-off payments to about [...]
AT A GLANCE: FINANCE BILL December 9, 2010 PENSIONS – The existing effective obligation for members of a defined contribution pension scheme to purchase an annuity by age 75 is to be abolished, creating an increased flexibility. – In order to ensure that increased flexibility doesn’t lead to pension funds being exhausted with the recipients being forced to fall back on support from [...]
Fall in mining shares takes its toll as FTSE 100 closes lower December 8, 2010 WEAKNESS in heavyweight miners dragged the leading share index lower yesterday, although firmer banks, energy issues and some takeover speculation helped limit the falls. At the close, the FTSE 100 was down 13.92 points or 0.2 per cent at 5,794.53, having hit a three-week high on Tuesday. “It has been a choppy trading session today [...]
Public sector must do more with less December 7, 2010 AN intriguing book has just dropped onto my desk (and no, I’m not referring to Gordon Brown’s massive self-justificatory opus, which I shall ignore for as long as possible). Called More with Less, it summarises the findings of one of the largest independent studies into public sector performance in the UK to date, conducted by [...]