BHP Billiton beats expectations but disappoints with guidance July 22, 2015 Mining giant BHP Billiton smashed through iron ore production guidance in the year ended 30 June, posting output of 233m tonnes against a projected 230m tonnes. Petroleum production climbed by four per cent in the year, up to 256m barrels of oil equivalent, and metallurgical coal output was up 13 per cent to 43m tonnes. [...]
Danske ups its full-year forecast but prepares Belfast bank for sale July 22, 2015 Danske Bank said yesterday that it had raised its full-year forecast after high customer activity and improving macroeconomic conditions helped to drive an increase in first-half profits. Denmark’s largest lender reported in its half-yearly statement that net profit had jumped to 9.4bn Danish crowns (£879m), up 36 per cent from the same period in 2014. [...]
City Moves for 23 July 2015 | Who’s switching jobs July 22, 2015 Knight Frank Stephanie Gray has been appointed senior surveyor in the property consultancy’s capital markets team. She joins from Inglis Howie, where she was a senior surveyor involved in investment acquisitions and disposals across the UK. Neptune Investment Management The fund manager has appointed Joshua Ausden as head of client investment strategy. He joins in [...]
Best of the Brokers for 23 July 2015 July 22, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com AO WORLD Canaccord Genuity downgraded the household appliance retailer from a “hold” to a “sell” recommendation following a “disappointing” first quarter update. The broker said it had cut growth rates and forecasts due to “increasing concerns on the prospects for the UK business”. [...]
FTSE decreases after miners fall down a hole – London Report July 22, 2015 BRITAIN’S top share index yesterday dropped to its lowest level in more than a week after a poorly received earnings report from Apple hit tech stocks and weaker metals prices and an update from BHP Billiton dragged down miners. The FTSE 100 index closed 1.5 per cent weaker at 6,667.34 points after falling earlier to [...]
Tech stocks hit to the core on Apple results – New York Report July 22, 2015 WALL STREET declined for a second straight session yesterday as the tech sector fell on disappointing results from giants including Apple. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 68.25 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 17,851.04, and the S&P 500 lost 5.06 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 2,114.15. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 36.35 points, or [...]
The end of China’s migrant miracle could see global asset prices plunge July 22, 2015 China’s meteoric economic transformation has brought billions of workers out of poverty and into the global labour market. But recent discussion has raised the possibility that China’s “migrant miracle” (fuelled by the influx of people from the countryside to work in the cities) could now be over as the so-called “Lewis point” is reached – [...]
The EU risks damaging consumer interests in its push against Google dominance July 22, 2015 Jean Tirole won last year’s Nobel prize for economics for his work on a new type of market – and one that has grown with the meteoric rise of the internet. So-called two-sided markets arise when a company brings together suppliers and consumers. Google is a classic example: it provides browsers with web pages, and [...]
Are interest rates about to rise? Don’t bank on it yet July 22, 2015 Bank of England governor Mark Carney has set the cat among the pigeons with his recent comments on interest rate rises. From the media response, one could infer that a rate rise is just around the corner and a done deal. My response is hold on, not so fast. For the first time since the [...]
As Blair warns Labour has rediscovered losing, are its 2020 election chances slipping away? July 22, 2015 Patrick Diamond, lecturer in public policy at Queen Mary, University of London, says Yes Labour is at grave risk of throwing the 2020 election away. To win in five years, it has to understand why it suffered a devastating defeat on 7 May. The reasons are obvious: the public did not believe that Ed Miliband [...]