Warren Buffett’s second “huge mistake”? IBM shares slide 7.5 per cent in pre-market trading as it admits fall in profits October 20, 2014 It has only been a few days since Warren Buffett admitted buying nearly four per cent of Tesco was a "huge mistake", but now another one of the legendary investor's big gambles is looking shaky. IBM said sales fell four per cent to $22.4bn (£13.9bn) in the three months to the end of September – [...]
Ukip Calypso: Nigel Farage inspires his own political protest song October 20, 2014 Think political protest songs and you're sure to conjure up an image of Bob Dylan blowin' in the wind or maybe John and Yoko imagining a world without war – but what about Nigel Farage arriving at Number 10? The Ukip leader today tweeted a link to a song called the Ukip Calypso, urging [...]
George Osborne braced for bad news on deficit reduction – London Report October 19, 2014 Public finance figures due out tomorrow are likely to be a blow to chancellor George Osborne, with tax receipts lowered by very low earnings growth. Economists predict that Osborne is now unlikely to meet fiscal targets for the year, despite improved economic activity, stronger house prices and an improved labour market. Howard Archer, of IHS [...]
Ebola travel bans: Obama says blocking flights from west Africa could make the outbreak worse October 18, 2014 US President Barack Obama has said that blocking flights from west Africa to stem the spread of Ebola could actually make the situation worse. Lawmakers have been placing pressure on him to block all flights from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone – the three countries suffering most at the hands of the epidemic – [...]
Tesco share price continues to fall as Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reduces exposure to troubled supermarket October 16, 2014 Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has reduced its exposure to Tesco, as the troubled supermarket's share price tumbled further. Until yesterday the legendary investor had around a four per cent holding, the fourth largest stake in the grocer, but has sold more than 245 million shares, cutting that down to less than three per cent. [...]
McEwan reveals Hester’s war with Treasury in reign at RBS October 15, 2014 RBS CHIEF Ross McEwan has shed more light on the bank’s troubled relationship with the Treasury, in a Q&A session with investors. The boss, who took the job a year ago, revealed he had to immediately “make peace” with the politicians. Predecessor Stephen Hester was ousted after disagreeing with the Treasury on the cuts to RBS’ investment [...]
Gates is picky but still praises Piketty October 15, 2014 MICROSOFT founder Bill Gates has drawn attention to what he considers some “important flaws” in Thomas Piketty’s best-selling book, Capital in the 21st Century. In a review of the French economist’s controversial book on his blog, Gates said while he agreed with several points the author had raised, he emphasised that Piketty was wrong to [...]
German prices below target as Merkel rules out fiscal stimulus October 15, 2014 INFLATION in Germany remained steady in September, but was still undershooting the European Central Bank’s target. Prices rose by 0.8 per cent year-on-year in September, according to figures released by Germany’s Federal Statistics Office yesterday. The year-on-year figure has been the same for the three months, marking a brief pause in a longer term trend [...]
Bill Gates: Thomas Piketty “does not give a full picture of how wealth is created” October 15, 2014 One of the world's richest men has given his analysis on the best-selling treatise on equality, Capital in the 21st Century, written by French economist Thomas Piketty. Billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates said in a blog post that he agreed with several points highlighted in the controversial book. Among these were that high levels of inequality [...]
Police called in to property fair Mipim over #BlockBoris protests October 15, 2014 Police were called in to the first day of property conference Mipim UK, after campaigners sought to disrupt London mayor Boris Johnson's opening address today with their #BlockBoris protests. Although the major made it to the podium for his speech at 10am this morning, this afternoon has seen the conference brought to a virtual [...]