Know your Fire from your Vox with our guide to the ultimate e-readers November 30, 2011 People said e-books would never catch on. For some reason, this was quite often backed up by the argument that e-readers don’t smell like real books. But – and this is no slight on the aroma of the works of Mark Twain – these people were wrong. Retailers are rubbing their hands at the prospect [...]
China cuts capital requirements November 30, 2011 China’s central bank has cut the reserve requirement ratio for its commercial lenders for the first time in nearly three years to ease credit strains and shore up an economy running at its weakest pace since 2009. The move comes amid increasing concern among policymakers worldwide that the global economy is on a slippery slope [...]
Banks hit by S&P downgrade November 30, 2011 The FTSE was dragged down this morning as Standard and Poor’s downgraded 15 banks including Barclays and HSBC while miners were hit by lower copper prices. The S&P cut, on banks mostly in Europe and the United States, hit the sector which has already taken a battering from the Eurozone debt crisis. Meanwhile Eurozone ministers [...]
Glencore pulls out of $475m Peru mine deal November 30, 2011 Commodity trader and miner Glencore has pulled out of its planned $475m (£305m) acquisition of the owner of Peru’s Mina Justa copper project, citing the seller’s failure to satisfy necessary conditions. Glencore, the world’s largest diversified commodity trader, had announced in July it planned to buy a 70 per cent interest in Marcobre – owner [...]
Eurozone inflation remains at 3pc November 30, 2011 Inflation in the 17-nation euro area remained at three per cent for the third consecutive month in November, according to a first estimate, suggesting the European Central Bank may have to consider delaying a further interest rate cut. The European Union’s statistics office Eurostat said in a statement that consumer prices rose by three per [...]
Rolls-Royce wins $650m Brazil contracts November 30, 2011 British engineering group Rolls-Royce has been awarded contracts worth up to $650m (£418m) by Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras to support its production activities offshore Brazil. Rolls, which has businesses in the aerospace, defence, marine, energy and nuclear sectors, on Wednesday said it would supply Petrobras with 32 gas turbine power generation packages, including waste-heat [...]
Piraeus Bank posts loss November 30, 2011 Piraeus Bank posted a nine-month loss after a jump in bad debt provisions and Greece’s fourth-largest lender said it still planned to sell its Egyptian operations even though Standard Chartered has pulled out of talks on a deal. The bank will begin discussions with other potential buyers for its Piraeus Bank Egypt following Standard Chartered’s [...]
Osborne misses a great opportunity November 30, 2011 AS ever, it was Lewis Carroll who put it best in Alice Through the Looking Glass: “The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday – but never jam today.” Even that could be too optimistic: reading between the lines of yesterday’s mini-Budget, it is clear that the UK is out of money to an even [...]
Boom and bust-up for villain Nasri November 29, 2011 City midfielder involved in tunnel incident with former team-mate Frimpong after helping seal semi-final spot ARSENAL 0 vs MANCHESTER CITY 1 ARSENAL midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong and former Gunner Samir Nasri were involved in a stormy verbal bust-up in the players’ tunnel after Manchester City dumped the north Londoners out of the Carling Cup. A clinical [...]
Chelsea need an anxiety cure, admits Villas-Boas November 29, 2011 CHELSEA 0 vs LIVERPOOL 2 UNDER-FIRE Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas admits there’s no quick remedy to his side’s alarming slump which gathered unwanted momentum following last night’s Carling Cup defeat against Liverpool Second half goals from Maxi Rodriguez and Martin Kelly inflicted on Chelsea a third defeat in their last four games at Stamford Bridge, [...]
