In Britain, recessions mean more babies. In the US, births fall February 25, 2014 ATTITUDES to having babies can tell us a lot about a country. In the UK, the recession went hand-in-hand with a baby-boom – and yet in the US it was accompanied by a collapse in the birth rate. In both cases, the trend is now going into reverse, mirroring the recoveries in economic fortunes: in [...]
Lloyds sale may be put on hold February 25, 2014 THE TREASURY could delay the next tranche of share sales in part-nationalised bank Lloyds, following advice from UK Financial Investments. Market volatility and a slower recovery for the bank than had been expected may delay the sale until the autumn, the BBC reported last night. The long-awaited return to full privatisation of the bank has [...]
Credit Suisse hit over tax evasion February 25, 2014 BANKING giant Credit Suisse has been accused of helping its American customers evade taxes, in a US Senate report released yesterday. Senators Carl Levin and John McCain accused the bank of using “cloak-and-dagger schemes” which included setting up a branch in a Swiss airport for over 10,000 US accounts and falsifying visa applications. Credit Suisse [...]
Half of London firms are hiring February 25, 2014 BRITAIN’S booming recovery is encouraging firms to take on more staff, driving down unemployment and further reinforcing the growth spurt, according to a PwC survey yesterday. Fifty-five per cent of London businesses are planning to take on employees compared to 38 per cent across the whole country – almost three times the 13 per cent [...]
Britons taking fewer sickies February 25, 2014 BRITS took an average of just 4.4 days of sick leave in 2013, more than 25 per cent lower than two decades ago, according to new figures from the ONS. A total of 131m sick days were taken across the country last year, down from 178m in 1993. Sickness absence was lowest in London, where an [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 26 February 2014 February 25, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Osborne under pressure to cut taxes George Osborne, chancellor, is under pressure from Tory MPs to use next month’s Budget to announce pre-election tax cuts to offset the prospect of a politically damaging rise in interest rates before polling day. One Tory MP said the idea of the Bank of England raising base [...]
Biggest Bitcoin exchange site turns itself off February 25, 2014 THE LARGEST trading site for the Bitcoin cryptocurrency vanished, along with an alleged $375m-worth of investments. Mt Gox went offline yesterday, less than a month after it blamed “unusual activity” for a decision to suspend withdrawals. The website last night displayed a message telling investors it had shut down “for the time being in order to [...]
JP Morgan cuts jobs and reduces profit target as top exec quits February 25, 2014 THE BIGGEST bank in America, JP Morgan, warned of job cuts and a reduction in profit for 2014 during an investor conference yesterday. Shares in the company were down 1.72 per cent at market close after the news. Around 8,000 jobs are expected to go at the bank, the majority from its mortgage division where 17,000 [...]
Gross uses conga defence to refute claims February 25, 2014 PIMCO boss Bill Gross took to the airwaves yesterday to hit back at reports of tension at the firm. Responding to claims he liked silence on the trading floor, Gross said the reports were “overblown,” adding that he once led a conga line around the Pimco office.
Fed investigates Bank of America February 25, 2014 BANK OF America confirmed yesterday that federal investigators are looking into whether it violated the requirements of a government housing programme, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. In the same filing Bank of America reported it is upping its estimate of litigation-related losses by $1bn to $6.1bn (£3.6bn) in further [...]
