Return of the ash cloud? The Icelandic met office has outlined three scenarios for the Bárðarbunga volcano August 28, 2014 Grumbling Icelandic volcano Bárðarbunga has had the airline industry on tenterhooks since mid-August as it continues to hint at a possible eruption. Now it looks like it might be getting ready to blow, after "cauldrons" of water began to appear on the ice sheet above it. The volcano, pronounced "Bowr-tha-boon-ga", is below the 500m-thick Vatnajökull [...]
German bonds hit record low as tensions between Ukraine and Russia simmer August 28, 2014 Investors piled into "safe haven" assets this morning, pushing the German 10-year bond yields to a record low after Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko cancelled a trip to Turkey citing "Russian troop deployments". In a televised statement, Poroshenko said his "place is in Ukraine", adding that he was calling a meeting of the security council "due [...]
Lending to small businesses under Funding for Lending falls £435m August 28, 2014 Net lending to small businesses under the Funding for Lending scheme, the government's attempt to persuade banks to lend to businesses cheaply, fell £435m in the three months to the end of June, figures from the Bank of England have shown. Although the net lending figure does not show a total – instead, it shows [...]
European confidence falls as German unemployment rises August 28, 2014 Confidence in the Eurozone has fallen to an eight-month low, according to figures published by the European Commission this morning. According to the survey, economic sentiment in Europe fell in August to 100.6 on its index, down from 102.1 in July, while consumer sentiment fell to -10.0, from -8.4. The fall "resulted from deterioration in [...]
European bond yields fall further after Draghi’s hints at quantitative easing August 27, 2014 European bond yields fell again on Wednesday, as the knock-on effect from a speech by European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi continued to quell investors' fears over muted growth. Germany's 10-year yield fell to 0.9 per cent in London (and a record 0.91 per cent in New York), while Spanish 10-year yields fell to [...]
The Honest Co: How is this organic baby product startup worth almost $1bn? August 27, 2014 It turns out not even Wall Street is immune to celebrity culture. The Honest Co., an organic baby product company co-founded by Sin City star Jessica Alba, has just raised $70m (£42m), valuing it at close to $1bn. The series C round came from investors including Wellington Management Company, Institutional Venture Partners, Iconiq Capital, Lightspeed [...]
Alibaba profits almost triple as it approaches IPO August 27, 2014 Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba has almost tripled profits in the three months to the end of June. The company, which is thought to be gearing up to float on the New York Stock Exchange in the next few weeks, filed papers with the US Securities and Exchange Commission showing profits jumped to 12.34bn yuan (£1.2bn), [...]
IMF chief Christine Lagarde under investigation by French court August 27, 2014 International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde has been put under formal investigation on suspicion of "simple negligence" by a French court. Lagarde was questioned for 15 hours on Tuesday by the Court of Justice of the Republic over her involvement in a long-running political fraud case involving controversial French businessman Bernard Tapie, who was awarded [...]
The 12 London streets where house prices are £10m plus August 26, 2014 Figures by Zoopla published on Tuesday show almost 500,000 homeowners in the UK are now property millionaires. According to the figures, the number of streets in Britain where houses are worth over £1m has risen by almost a third since August last year. Not surprisingly, though, London has the most expensive streets – including Kensington Palace [...]
What a whopper: Burger King completes £6.8bn deal with Tim Hortons August 26, 2014 Burger King has agreed to create the world's third-largest fast food restaurant by buying Canadian coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons. Under the deal, Tim Hortons shareholders will receive C$65.50 in cash and 0.8025 shares of the merged company for each share they own. That values the Canadian company at about C$12.5bn (£6.8bn). Shares closed [...]
