Q&A: HOW DAMAGES COULD UNFOLD June 15, 2010 Q. WHO COULD BE SUBJECT TO PENALTIES? A. The US Justice Department has launched both a criminal and civil investigation into the oil spill but officials have not identified the targets. However, the likely companies that will be the focus of the investigation include BP, Transocean, which operated the drill rig, Cameron International, which provided [...]
Tesco growth falters on low food inflation June 15, 2010 TESCO, the UK’s biggest supermarket, yesterday said stalling levels of food price inflation had put the brakes on its sales growth for the first quarter of the year. Like-for-like sales in the UK, adjusted for VAT, inched up just 0.1 per cent over the three months to the end of May, excluding sales of petrol. [...]
Tesco chief Leahy to retire June 15, 2010 THOSE with an innate fear of homogeneity may break into a cold sweat at the mention of Tesco, but there is no question that the supermarket is a robust business play. Faced with a decidedly tricky first quarter – roaring petrol prices eating a hole in shoppers’ pockets; depressed food inflation; a raft of potholes [...]
UK inflation retreats from a record high June 15, 2010 FALLING food and petrol prices dampened inflationary pressures last month and caused the consumer prices index (CPI) to retreat from its 17-month April high to an annual rate of 3.4 per cent in May. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that the largest downward contribution to the change in the CPI annual rate came [...]
Unions vow to fight pension reform plans June 15, 2010 TWO OF the UK’s largest unions have lashed out at the government’s plans to review public sector pensions, accusing ministers of “peddling myths” and “scaremongering”. Trade unions Unison and Unite have each spoken out against Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s plans to focus on public sector pensions, which he has called “gold plated” and argued [...]
Swiss politicians edge closer to US tax amnesty June 15, 2010 A SWISS tax deal with the United States, crucial to the future of bank UBS, moved closer to legislative sign-off yesterday after the lower house of parliament backed the deal. Swiss politicians, however, continued to play parliamentary ping-pong with the tax treaty which is expected to draw a line under a legal case that threatened [...]
Spain’s debt costs rise June 15, 2010 SPAIN’S financing costs jumped at a T-bill auction yesterday but demand was solid as a newspaper reported a government move to reassure investors over the strength of Spanish banks. The Treasury issued just over €5bn in 12-month and 18-month bills. Average yields jumped more than 70 basis points from May’s auction in a sign of [...]
European Commission asks for fresh austerity plan details June 15, 2010 SPAIN’S and Portugal’s fiscal tightening plans this year and next are appropriately ambitious but both countries should spell out in more detail austerity steps planned for 2011, the European Commission said yesterday. Apart from Spain and Portugal, in focus because of some financial market concerns about their ability to service debt, the European Union’s executive [...]
Greek bonds face a 5pc penalty when used as security at ECB June 15, 2010 GREEK government bonds will attract an extra five per cent penalty when banks use them as security for European Central Bank funds, an ECB spokesman said yesterday after Moody’s cut the country’s debt to junk status. The extra “haircut” means commercial banks will receive less money in exchange for Greek bonds than they would if [...]
IMF set for crunch talks June 15, 2010 The head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, will travel to Spain this Friday for talks on the economy with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. “He is in Europe this week, and is taking this opportunity to discuss global economic developments with the Prime Minister, and to consult with him on developments in [...]
