Economists tell Carney to hike interest rates in 2014 April 2, 2014 THE BRITISH economy is in danger of overheating if interest rates are not increased this year, which could lead to a new boom and bust cycle, economists warned yesterday. The UK’s rapid recovery has pushed down unemployment so rapidly that there is little spare capacity left, according to Legal and General’s James Carrick. If nothing [...]
The lessons that big business must learn from the EU debates April 2, 2014 WHAT a disaster for Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats. They were slaughtered by Nigel Farage in yesterday’s TV debate on the EU and other matters, with a YouGov poll showing that the public thought the Ukip leader won it by 68 per cent to 27 per cent. Whether or not one agrees with them, [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 03 April 2014 April 2, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Greek government’s video turmoil The Greek government was plunged into chaos on Wednesday after the release of a video showing the prime minister’s chief of staff having a politically embarrassing conversation with a senior member of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party. Takis Baltakos, cabinet secretary and one of premier Antonis Samaras’s closest aides, [...]
Lawyers accuse FCA of breaking its own rules April 2, 2014 LAWYERS advising a top FTSE 100 insurer have advised that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) did break its own market abuse rules when it briefed a journalist on an investigation into insurance products last week. A review is now underway into the claims. The chancellor George Osborne is said to be concerned that the City watchdog [...]
Annuities sales set to plummet April 2, 2014 RATINGS agency Moody’s has adjusted its outlook on the annuities industry from stable to negative and warned that sales of the insurance products could fall by as much as 75 per cent in the wake of changes announced by the chancellor in his recent Budget. Moody’s downgraded the outlook for six of the major industry [...]
Stock markets hit record high April 2, 2014 BOTH the S&P 500 and the FTSE All World index hit record highs yesterday, signalling strong growth across global developed markets. The S&P 500 index closed at a record high of 1,890.90 and the FTSE All World hit 272.82, the highest level since the financial crisis hit in 2007. The surge in the S&P was [...]
Seven-year high for construction firms’ optimism April 2, 2014 OPTIMISM within the construction industry surged to its highest level in more than seven years last month, as its rapid pace of expansion continued. The Markit/CIPS Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) edged down slightly to 62.5 in March, barely changed from 62.6 in February, but still well above the 50 mark that denotes growth. The [...]
Vodafone challenges EE with 150 new stores April 2, 2014 VODAFONE is set to go on a high street spending spree, splashing £100m on opening 150 new retail stores over the next 12 months it announced today. Vodafone’s high street presence has lagged behind EE ever since the rival network was created from the merger of T-Mobile and Orange in 2010, leaving the new telecoms [...]
Just Eat taps into huge demand from investors for £1.4bn float April 2, 2014 LONDON’s appetite for highly-valued technology stocks will be fully tested today as conditional trading begins in the shares of Just Eat, the online takeaway food group. Bankers to the share issue, the first on the London Stock Exchange’s high growth segment, closed the books last night and intimated the valuation for the group would be [...]
Sand and smog hang over London April 2, 2014 LONDON was engulfed in heavy smog yesterday after a cloud of sand and dust blown in from the Sahara combined with pollution hanging over the city. Forecasters expect the smog to linger in London today before lifting on Friday.
