Britain is now being taxed so much that the pips are squeaking February 5, 2014 BRITAIN has become dangerously reliant on a small-number of highly paid and wealthy individuals for its tax receipts. If these people decide to leave the UK, or for some reason suddenly earn or spend less money, the public finances would suffer disproportionately. That is one of the conclusions I draw from a fascinating report published [...]
Markets calm as funds predict return to health February 5, 2014 CITY fund managers yesterday backed struggling emerging markets to return to health, as cooling volatility offered a brief lull after two weeks of turmoil. The MSCI emerging market index was flat, with equities at their cheapest since August. The turmoil began after the Fed began discussing tapering quantitative easing. Fund managers yesterday said the market [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 06 February 2014 February 5, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Super rich in London boost economy London’s super-rich are “major contributors to the UK economy”, spending £4bn a year on goods and services, according to new research that underlines the financial impact of the capital’s wealthiest homeowners.Foreign investment in London property has become a political issue, with overseas buyers blamed for pricing locals [...]
Mercuria in talks with JP Morgan February 5, 2014 Fast-growing trading house Mercuria, led by two former Goldman Sachs executives, has become the front-runner to buy the physical commodities unit of JP Morgan, one of the most powerful oil and metals desks on Wall Street, it was reported last night. JP Morgan decided to sell its multi-billion dollar physical commodities division last year under [...]
Fed president wants faster taper February 5, 2014 The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Charles Plosser, suggested in a speech yesterday that US quantitative easing should be clipped at an even faster pace, and the entire programme could come to an end by the middle of the year, before unemployment reaches the Fed’s 6.5 per cent threshold. He added that [...]
Audit watchdog nears China deal February 5, 2014 The top US audit watchdog said yesterday that he believes the US and China are close to striking a deal that would allow Washington to inspect the audit work of accounting firms in China. “I am also optimistic that we will be able, during 2014, to sign a long-sought agreement,” said Jim Doty, the chairman [...]
London faces second day of strike misery February 5, 2014 A SECOND day of strike action on the Tube is set to bring further travel woe to commuters today, as part of a union dispute with Transport for London that business groups have slammed. Around a third of all Tube services ran yesterday, with eight of the 11 lines operating for most of the day. [...]
French Connection shares spike ahead of bullish trading update February 5, 2014 SHARES in French Connection soared 10 per cent ahead of a hastily brought out trading statement yesterday indicating that full-year losses would be lower than feared. The share price spike prompted one veteran retail analyst Nick Bubb to comment, via Twitter, on the sequence of events, which suggests that news of the better than expected [...]
Massive Aston Martin recall over fake parts February 5, 2014 ASTON Martin is recalling most of its sports cars built since late 2007 after discovering a Chinese sub-supplier was using counterfeit plastic material in a part supplied to the car firm. Aston Martin has recalled 17,590 cars, or three-quarters of the vehicles made in the period.
UK leapfrogs Japan to second place in pension asset rankings February 5, 2014 THE UK now outweighs Japan in terms of its pension fund assets, surging to become the world’s second largest market in 2013. According to research released by Towers Watson yesterday, the UK market reached $3.263 trillion (£2 trillion) last year, while Japan was marginally behind with assets worth $3.236 trillion. Back in 2003, Japan had more than [...]
