Directors join row over Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct bonus July 1, 2014 British directors yesterday slammed Sports Direct’s plans to hand founder Mike Ashley a multimillion-pound share bonus, which this morning is facing a crunch shareholder vote. The Institute of Directors’ rare attack on Sports Direct criticised “weak governance” from the company’s board over the pay plans. But the retailer last night remained confident of passing the [...]
JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon has throat cancer July 1, 2014 Chief executive of JP Morgan Jamie Dimon has curable throat cancer, according to reports in the US late last night. “The cancer was caught quickly, and my condition is curable,” Dimon told investors and staff in a note, explaining that he will now face eight weeks of radiation and chemotherapy treatment to tackle the disease. [...]
Mark Carney’s first year: Bank governor enjoys roaring recovery – but he can’t take credit July 1, 2014 Mark Carney has had a spectacularly good first 365 days at Threadneedle Street. Since he's arrived at the Bank of England the UK economy has busted analyst growth expectations. Unemployment has fallen faster than almost anyone had predicted, and inflation is now back below the Bank's two per cent target. Judged by cold hard results, [...]
CNBC Comment: Why Draghi can’t relax this summer June 30, 2014 WHO’D be a central banker? As soon as you restore bond and equity markets to calm or even optimism, investors start fretting about something else. Most major Western economies have returned to economic growth, and countries that were causing sleepless nights just a couple of years ago, like Spain and Ireland, appear to be market [...]
Cameron “can do business with Juncker” following EU defeat June 30, 2014 Prime Minister David Cameron has said that he can do business with Jean-Claude Juncker, the newly appointed President of the European Commission. In the run up to last week's election at the European Council meeting, David Cameron had been against the appointment of the ex-Luxembourg Prime Minister, expressing concern that his desire for a closer [...]
Higher core Eurozone inflation may allow ECB to “wait and see” June 30, 2014 Inflation in the euro area has held steady in June, static at an annual rate of 0.5 per cent, according to data released by Eurostat. Fears over the disinflationary climate in the Eurozone prompted the European Central Bank (ECB) to take action this month, with president Mario Draghi delivering a package of measures aimed at [...]
Barclays’ Antony Jenkins must show dealmakers some love June 30, 2014 On the day that Barclays felt the full brunt of allegations about its so-called “dark pools” from a New York attorney general, its corporate finance arm in Europe was reporting a significant success. The London Stock Exchange (LSE) announced a merger deal and with it a near £1bn rights issue, solely underwritten by Barclays. This [...]
Bank of England’s new interest rate norm not the same as the old – Mark Carney June 27, 2014 Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, today suggested that interest rates may be heading for a "new normal" of 2.5 per cent, rather than the historical five per cent. Carney was decidedly vague regarding when this norm might be reached, suggesting 2017 as a possible date. He stressed that a mid-term norm [...]
European leaders nominate Jean-Claude Juncker as new Commission President June 27, 2014 EU leaders agreed to nominate Jean-Claude Juncker as the new European Commission President today, despite a last ditch effort from Prime Minister David Cameron to reverse the decision. Cameron launched an impassioned plea for leaders to reconsider the selection, calling it a "sad moment" for Europe and expressing his disappointment that it had come to [...]
Obama requests $500m to arm Syrian rebels June 27, 2014 Obama has asked congress for $500m to arm and train “moderate” Syrian rebels, in an attempt to bolster defence against Bashar al-Assad's forces, the White House has said. If approved, they hope that the aid will also help to counter militant groups such as Isis, which has captured much of the northern part of Iraq, [...]