FORTY YEARS ON AND WE SEEM TO HAVE LEARNED VERY FEW LESSONS May 24, 2010 WHEN you are older than God, as I am, I think you tend to become rather blasé as yet another political or financial crisis unfolds. I was 23 and working as an impecunious bank clerk at Hill Samuel (now part of Lloyds Banking Group, for the youth among you) when I was exposed to my [...]
S&P 500 boosted by lift for bankers April 6, 2010 THE S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose modestly yesterday as the banking sector got a lift from positive analyst comments, while minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting eased concern over rising rates. The minutes suggested the central bank could keep interest rates at ultra-low levels longer than investors have anticipated if the economy worsens. Lower [...]
MEP says hedgie directive will block funding for start-up firms February 7, 2010 EU plans to tighten regulation of hedge funds and private equity firms will starve Google and Amazon-style start-ups of funding, a Conservative MEP has warned. Syed Kamall said proposals to restrict European investors from putting money into Asian or American funds under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers directive could result in retaliatory measures, where overseas [...]
FELIX DENNIS OFFERS UP A LESSON IN THE WAYS TO GET RICH QUICK March 9, 2010 WHOOMPH. On The Capitalist’s desk lands a blood-red copy of the latest money-getting guide from eccentric publishing magnate Felix Dennis, “88: The Narrow Road”. Many readers will be familiar with the book’s predecessor, “How to Get Rich”, which flew off the shelves after its release a couple of years ago. Dennis – who, as co-editor [...]
Amazon acquires Zappos.com July 22, 2009 The world’s top online retailer Amazon has sealed an $807m (£490m) deal to buy fashion retailer Zappos.com, it said yesterday. Amazon will hand over 10m shares for Zappos.com, which specialises in the sale of clothes and footwear. The company will also give Zappos.com employees $40m in cash and stock as part of the deal.
APPLE PLANS E-BOOK VENTURE January 18, 2010 PUBLISHER HarperCollins is said to be in talks with Apple over making electronic books available on its new tablet device – dubbed the iSlate – which is set to be launched by Steve Jobs on 27 January. News Corp’s HarperCollins is expected to set the price of the e-books, with Apple taking a percentage of [...]
Transparent privacy policy gets clouded February 25, 2010 GOOGLE has got itself in hot water in recent days because of a data protection slip up with its new social network, Buzz. Users were able to see other members’ email addresses – and the addresses of their “followers”– without notification or the need to grant people access to this information. The company is now [...]
BANK OF ENGLAND BOFFIN KNOCKS THE SPOTS OFF THE COMPETITION March 31, 2010 WHEN it comes to pepping up weighty speeches with witty references to popular culture, the boffins from the Bank of England aren’t exactly known for being trailblazers. But Andrew Haldane, the Bank’s executive director for financial stability, tore his peers’ stuffy image to shreds in a speech in Hong Kong this week by managing to [...]
Markets likely to fall as uncertainty prevails January 31, 2010 European stock markets are headed for a major tumble this morning, as a sell-off on US markets gathered steam on Friday evening. GFT is forecasting the UK’s FTSE 100 to open down a hefty 90 points from Friday’s close, around 5,212. The German DAX is expected to open down 105 points at 5,590 and the French CAC 40 [...]
Warm up this winter with a chic hip flask January 26, 2010 MAYBE it’s because of the rough year and a half we’ve just been through, or maybe it’s because fashion designers have a sixth sense and predicted this would be a particularly icy winter. Whatever it is, hip flasks have become such a must-have fashion accessory that Dunhill’s models sported them on the catwalk at last [...]