Mahan ensures McIlroy misses out on world No1 February 26, 2012 NORTHERN IRELAND’S Rory McIlroy squandered the opportunity to head golf’s world rankings for the first time after he was beaten 2&1 by America’s Hunter Mahan in the final off the Accenture Match Play Championship Arizona. Earlier in the day the US Open champion had battled back from three down against England’s Lee Westwood to book [...]
England learn spin lessons February 26, 2012 Coach Andy Flower believes England have wised up to Pakistan’s spin threat as they prepare for today’s decisive and tour-closing final Twenty20 match. He said: “We learned some lessons from the Test series, specifically on how to play the spin.”
Saints dent Irish play-off hopes February 26, 2012 London Irish hopes of a play-off spot suffered a hammer blow yesterday when they were beaten 30-23 by four-try Northampton. Ben Nutley touched down late on to earn victory for the Saints, who climbed to third in the Premiership, and leave the Exiles eighth, 10 points adrift of the top four.
Stoke end home league win wait February 26, 2012 Headers from Matthew Upson and Peter Crouch earned Stoke a 2-0 win over Swansea – their first home Premier League victory for two and a half months. The result lifted the Potters to 12th, three points ahead of 14th-placed Swansea.
Italy bond yields fall February 24, 2012 Vulnerable debtor Italy sold the top planned amount of bonds at a 4.5bn euro (£3.8bn) auction on Friday and the yield on a two-year zero coupon bond fell to its lowest since May, boosting market sentiment ahead of a more demanding debt sale next week. Analysts said the prospect of the European Central Bank offering [...]
FTSE buoyed by energy stocks February 24, 2012 Upbeat economic data across the Atlantic and strong energy stocks helped to keep the FTSE 100 on track today despite relative weakness in Europe. US blue chips added 0.4 per cent overnight after weekly jobless data showed the US labour market remained on the mend, with the Dow approaching levels not seen since before the [...]
UK GDP drop confirmed February 24, 2012 Britain’s economy shrank in the fourth quarter of last year despite higher consumer spending and strong export growth as businesses slashed investment, official data showed on Friday. The Office for National Statistics confirmed earlier estimates that the economy shrank by 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter, growing by 0.7 per cent on the year – a slight downward [...]
William Hill targets international expansion February 24, 2012 Britain’s biggest bookmaker William Hill said it would look to expand internationally to take advantage of countries legalising gambling as it reported full-year earnings which were marginally ahead of previous guidance. The company, which has over 2,370 betting shops and takes over one million bets a day, said operating profit for the year to December [...]
Lloyds reports £3.5bn loss February 24, 2012 Lloyds said 2012 revenue would fall and pushed back a key financial target as the part state-owned British bank joined rival Royal Bank of Scotland in posting a hefty loss for 2011. Lloyds reported an annual loss of £3.54bn, having made a profit of £281m in 2010. “We expect the external environment to remain challenging [...]
BANK ECONOMIST OPEN TO MORE QE February 23, 2012 ECONOMIC uncertainty could see the Bank of England boost its quantitative easing programme even further, its director for markets has revealed. In today’s exclusive interview with City A.M., Paul Fisher, a member of the monetary policy committee, said he was open-minded on the possibility of voting for more easing later in the spring. “The outlook [...]
