Post-breakup Scotland would rely on Bank, says City analyst January 8, 2013 EVEN if Scotland left the UK, the Bank of England would remain guarantor of the Scottish financial system, Capital Economics predicted yesterday. First Minister Alex Salmond plans to keep Scotland on pound sterling even if the country left the union, meaning that it would be likely to negotiate a deal maintaining the Bank’s backstop position, the [...]
UK public still expects above target inflation January 8, 2013 THE UK public is still expecting inflation to come in well above target over the year ahead, according to a poll from YouGov out yesterday. Prices are expected to increase 2.7 per cent over 2013, the YouGov poll for December revealed, slightly down from the 2.8 per cent expectation the public held in November but still significantly [...]
Insurers say extreme weather and slump are a vicious circle January 8, 2013 THE PROLONGED economic downturn is eating into the capacity of countries to deal with extreme weather and environmental problems, which is in turn adding to business malaise, according to a report out yesterday. Difficult times in the world economy have driven money and attention away from abating climate change, and counteracting its harmful effects, the World [...]
Ofcom crackdown on surge in nuisance calls January 8, 2013 NUISANCE silent phone calls received by homes and businesses almost doubled last year according to figure published yesterday, prompting regulator Ofcom to promise tougher action to stamp out the practice. Silent and abandoned phone calls are associated with automatic diallers used in call centres punching in numbers at random. The calls are silent when they [...]
City Moves for 9 January 2013 | Who’s switching jobs January 8, 2013 Carmignac Gestion Anne Bellavoine has been appointed head of marketing at the asset management firm. She joins from Societe Generale, where she was most recently relationship manager for financial institutions. Bellavoine has over 25 years’ experience in the industry, and was additionally global head of equity sales at Societe Generale and chairwoman of SG Securities. [...]
Best of the Brokers January 8, 2013 TUI TRAVEL Morgan Stanley yesterday downgraded the travel company from “equal weight” to “underweight” with a target price of 250p, expecting seasonal losses to be higher due to an accounting change and poor cash flow. However, the analyst still sees Tui Travel as a “well-managed business, with strong market shares in European tour operating” that [...]
FTSE slips over bearish expectation for Chinese data and US corporates January 8, 2013 BRITAIN’S blue chip shares slipped yesterday, hampered by profit taking on mining stocks ahead of economic data from China, and as the US corporate earnings season came into focus. Miners shed 0.7 per cent as investors, gearing up for data out of top metals consumer China in the next two weeks, including fourth-quarter GDP, moved [...]
Results season start drags on cliff euphoria January 8, 2013 US stocks fell yesterday, retreating from last week’s rally on the “fiscal cliff” deal in Washington, as companies started to report results for the fourth quarter. After a 4.3 per cent jump in the two sessions around the close of the fiscal cliff negotiations, the S&P has declined a bit, with investors finding few catalysts [...]
Further efficiencies are critical to making London’s railways thrive January 8, 2013 COMMUTERS finally have some welcome news. Just a week after inflation-busting fare increases came into effect, rail industry leaders have announced Britain’s biggest investment in infrastructure since the Victorian era. Look around any train or station serving London in the morning peak and the case for improvements is overwhelming. Many are packed or overcrowded. Londoners [...]
The simplest ideas can offer the deepest insights into how markets work January 8, 2013 TRAGEDY struck at a mid-week game played during the holiday season in Football League Division Two. The pies ran out in the home supporters’ bar. The incident may seem trivial to those not involved, but it illustrates some important themes in economics, which have even gained their inventors the Nobel Prize. It turns out that [...]
