Labour’s latest bout of banker-bashing is economically senseless January 15, 2014 BRITISH politics is so depressingly predictable. The cost of living crisis is abating (the gap between pay hikes and inflation is shrinking), there was one poor opinion poll for the Labour party (now reversed) and the economy is continuing to recover – so hey, presto, the Labour party has decided to start banker-bashing once again. [...]
IMF’s Lagarde warns of risk of deflation January 15, 2014 THE HEAD of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, has warned that the economic recovery is still fragile, despite recent optimism about growth. During a speech in Washington, Lagarde said: “If inflation is the genie, then deflation is the ogre that must be fought decisively,” adding that the rising risk of deflation could prove devastating [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 16 January 2014 January 15, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Payday lenders to create database After repeatedly saying that it was impossible to create a database for payday loans the UK’s largest payday lenders are clubbing together to set one up. Wonga, Quick Quid, Mr Lender and ThinkFinance have all signed up to provide information to a real time credit-reporting system run by [...]
Upbeat Bank of America lifted by US recovery January 15, 2014 BANK of America Merrill Lynch (Baml) saw profits rise more than four-fold as the economic recovery slashed its bad debt costs, the bank said yesterday. It made a profit of $3.4bn (£2.1bn) in the final quarter of 2013, up from $732m in the same period of 2012. For the full year it made $11.4bn, up [...]
BP forecasts shale boom will transform the energy market January 15, 2014 GLOBAL energy consumption will rise by 41 per cent by 2035, with 95 per cent of that growth in demand coming from emerging markets, research from oil major BP predicted yesterday. But energy use in developed markets is expected to grow very slowly and will begin to decline in the later years of the forecast [...]
Deutsche and Citi face foreign exchange probe January 15, 2014 DEUTSCHE Bank has suspended several traders in the Americas, while Citi’s offices in Canary Wharf were yesterday visited by US enforcement officers. The probes are part of wider investigations into the foreign exchange markets – regulators believe traders may have attempted to fiddle some benchmarks. The Deutsche Bank staff are thought to have been based in [...]
Burberry shares lift the FTSE as luxury sales beat forecasts January 15, 2014 BURBERRY was the second highest riser on the FTSE yesterday after the luxury retailer revealed better-than-expected sales, driven by Asia Pacific and demand ahead of Chinese New Year. Shares closed 4.7 per cent higher as the 158 year-old firm posted a 14 per cent rise in sales to £528m and a 12 per cent increase [...]
Yahoo exec to leave in shock announcement January 15, 2014 YAHOO’S chief operating officer Henrique de Castro has announced that he will leave the company today, after about a year in the job. Yahoo did not give a reason for the abrupt departure of the high-profile executive that chief executive officer Marissa Mayer poached from Google shortly after she took the helm. At the time [...]
Apple to refund $32.5m of kids’ in-app sprees January 15, 2014 TECHNOLOGY giant Apple will refund around £20m worth of in-app purchases made by children without their parent’s permission, it announced yesterday. Following a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), bosses agreed to refund $32.5m worth of the in-game buys after thousands of complaints came to light. The company will also be forced to [...]
Osborne slams EU status quo in reform speech January 15, 2014 CHANCELLOR George Osborne insisted that the European Union must reform or become an irrelevance yesterday, warning that the UK would not be forced into joining the single currency. Speaking at think tank Open Europe’s conference on EU reform, Osborne said he was glad that the UK had not joined the single currency, insisting that there [...]
