Ukraine fatally weakened by failure to embrace real capitalism April 14, 2014 IN the dreadful communist days, Ukraine and Poland used to be equally poor. The former was part of the Soviet Union, and Poland was one of the USSR’s satellite nations, belonging to the Warsaw pact. In 1990, both countries had roughly the same GDP per capita – their economies were eerily similar. A quarter of [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 15 April 2014 April 14, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Sports Direct to sell online using credit Sports Direct, the sportswear retailer controlled by Mike Ashley, is poised to begin selling on credit via its website, as it seeks to emulate the model successfully used by fashion chain Next. Dave Forsey, chief executive of Sports Direct, said the company would begin offering credit [...]
US stocks enjoy healthy boost from retail sales April 14, 2014 US STOCKS closed up last night as healthy retail sales data for March boosted confidence in the world’s largest economy. Regaining some ground lost last week when technology shares were hit particularly hard, the Nasdaq rose 0.6 per cent to close at 4,022.69. The Dow Jones was up 0.91 per cent and the S&P 500 [...]
Glencore uses Bambas cash to snap up Caracal April 14, 2014 GLENCORE Xstrata yesterday swooped for Chad-focused oil company Caracal Energy, offering $1.3bn (£780m) to beat off a rival bid from Canada’s TransGlobe Energy. London-listed Caracal had agreed to a $1.08bn merger with the Canadian oil explorer last month, but the FTSE 100 miner trader trumped the deal with a £5.50 per share offer, representing a [...]
Barclays hires Crawford Gillies to head up its remuneration panel April 14, 2014 BARCLAYS is set to hire City heavyweight Crawford Gillies to chair the board’s remuneration committee in a move that could defuse a simmering row over bankers’ pay. The appointment of Gillies as a non-executive director is likely to be announced today, according to a Sky News report. Gillies, who is already a director for Standard [...]
Retailers hope for strong Easter after bad March April 14, 2014 UK RETAIL sales fell in March as cash-strapped shoppers cut back again on spending on areas including food and furniture, industry figures reveal today. Total retail sales in March were down 0.3 per cent compared with the same month of 2013, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG have calculated. And like-for-like sales – comparing shopping [...]
Bottom Line: Glory days of fixed income are at an end April 14, 2014 BOND traders at banks have had it easy for decades – a rising market makes it pretty simple to make money. On core instruments like US Treasuries, yields have been falling and prices rising steadily for years. That came to an extreme in the financial crisis when terrified investors flooded into super-safe bonds instead of [...]
Citi surprises market with rise in profits April 14, 2014 CITIGROUP’S shares soared yesterday as the bank reported a surprise rise in profits for the first quarter of the year. Profits rose four per cent on the year to $3.9bn (£2.3bn), despite revenues dipping one per cent to $20.1bn. Much of the gap was made up by cost cutting – operating expenses fell one per cent [...]
Three ex-ICAP staff in court to face fraud allegations over Libor April 14, 2014 A TRIO of former workers at interdealer broker ICAP are due in court today over claims they were involved in efforts to manipulate key interest rate benchmark Libor. Daniel Martin Wilkinson, Darrell Paul Read and Colin John Goodman face allegations of conspiracy to defraud. They are scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court at 10am. The Serious Fraud [...]
Unite union says Co-op needs to reform to thrive April 14, 2014 TRADITIONALISTS at the Co-operative were under fire from workers yesterday, as Unite the Union backed major reforms to the mutual’s governance structure. The business has stood still while rival firms have modernised, the union said in a letter, leaving the Co-op vulnerable. Lord Myners is leading a review of the Co-op’s historic democratic structure. He [...]
