Hawkish Mark Carney sends pound to five-year peak against US dollar June 16, 2014 The pound pushed above $1.70 during trading yesterday, hitting this level for the first time in five years, following Bank of England governor Mark Carney’s hawkish comments last week. On Thursday night, Carney told diners at Mansion House that the Bank’s first post-crisis rate hike could come “sooner than markets currently expect”, a clear departure [...]
Mark Carney – Prepare for a rise in interest rates June 12, 2014 Bank of England governor Mark Carney shocked markets last night by revealing that interest rates might be hiked this year – a stark turnaround from his usual position of talking down the possibility. Addressing an audience of City grandees at the annual Mansion House dinner, the 49-year-old Canadian said the Bank could start to bring [...]
David Cameron: Jean-Claude Juncker election is power grab June 12, 2014 David Cameron has penned a stinging attack on Jean-Claude Juncker’s bid for the presidency of the European Commission, accusing the former Luxembourg leader of attempting “a power grab through the back door”. In an article, which appears in newspapers across the EU this morning, the Prime Minister makes clear that Juncker’s case for election, and [...]
Ships ahoy for Mark Carney at Mansion House Banquet for Bankers June 12, 2014 Mark Carney’s adventurous side came out at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet for Bankers last night in Mansion House. The governor of the Bank of England executed a perfect dive into the white waters of nautical analogies, bravely choosing a canoe as his vessel of choice (so very Canadian). “Rather than appeal to the stately Duchess [...]
Pictures: The Boris Johnson-themed Japanese restaurant at County Hall June 11, 2014 London’s blonde-mopped mayor has had many a tribute to him in the capital; there’s Boris Bikes, there’s the oft-pedalled but as yet inexistant Boris Airport and now we’ve got the Boris restaurant. You might not have put Boris and Japanese cuisine together normally, but County Hall’s Izakaya Boris has. There’s a plastic [...]
Boris and Giuliani do their math June 10, 2014 THE mayor of London and former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani put their heads together at Tower 42 yesterday, where they both met with the winners of London Count on Us primary school maths challenge. Ten-year-old pupil Azeezat Yusuff of Kender Primary School, in Lewisham, had thrashed Boris in a battle of the brains [...]
Warren Buffett was spending $15bn on renewable energy. He’s now upped that to $30bn June 10, 2014 Yesterday, it momentarily slipped Warren Buffett’s mind how much money Berkshire Hathaway is shelling out on wind and solar power in the US – $15bn (£8.9bn). Speaking at the Edison Electric Institute’s annual convention in Las Vegas, the guru investor turned to deputy Greg Abel for a reminder of the figure, before coming back with, [...]
Richard Branson leads $25m investment round in FX group TransferWise June 9, 2014 RICHARD Branson has led a $25m (£15m) investment round in London-based money transfer business TransferWise, the company will reveal today. TransferWise is an international money transfer platform, using peer-to-peer technology to cut the exchange fees charged by banks and brokers. “Financial services such as foreign exchange have been ripe for disruption for decades and it’s [...]
Sports Direct investors attack new bonus plan for Mike Ashley June 9, 2014 Sports Direct shareholders lashed out yesterday, claiming they had not been consulted on the latest proposal for a bonus share scheme that seeks to reward its founder Mike Ashley. The retailer has set out plans for a share programme that would reward Ashley alongside Sports Direct’s 3,000 employees, after shareholders rejected two earlier attempts to [...]
Why Britain’s battle against Jean-Claude Juncker may not be worth it June 9, 2014 WHEN Prime Ministers pick EU battles, they have to choose carefully. Like it or not, the UK’s historically unenthusiastic approach to EU integration – an understandable one at that – leaves it open to accusations of holding the rest of Europe over a barrel whenever the government appears to drag its feet. In the current [...]