France cuts growth forecasts September 26, 2011 Official estimates for France’s GDP growth in the three years to 2015 have been cut. The government now anticipates growth of two per cent, rather than 2.5 per year. Growth for 2011 and 2012 is expected to come in at 1.75 per cent. Analysts at Barclays Capital believe the figures still “remain on the optimistic [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 26, 2011 Linklaters David Cheyne will stay on at the law firm as a consultant in an active client-facing role, after his term as senior partner comes to an end on 30 September. Cheyne joined Linklaters in 1972 and became a partner in 1980. He was global head of the firm’s corporate department from 2000 to 2005, [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS September 26, 2011 RECKITT BENCKISER ING rates the consumer goods group “buy” with a target price of £40.55. The broker sees Reckitt as one of its top picks in the fast moving consumer goods sector, with expected growth in developing markets set to more than make up for stagnant performance in Europe. ING also notes that the firm [...]
Banks rally on hope of action to fix the Eurozone debt crisis September 26, 2011 AFTER a tumultuous session, strong financials hauled Britain’s top shares into positive territory yesterday as investors, spurred by hopes for decisive action to deal with the Eurozone debt crisis, sought out bargains in the beaten-down sector. The UK benchmark ended up 22.56 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 5,089.37, having vacillated sharply between positive and [...]
Plans for Greece lift US sentiment September 26, 2011 US stocks rose yesterday as sentiment swung toward hope European officials would find a way to cut Greece’s debt and shore up European banks. Shares rallied to session highs in the afternoon after a report said a plan to leverage money from the European Financial Stability Facility was in the works. Investors were reluctant to [...]
Prophets and loss: why forecasts fail September 26, 2011 “IN 1984, the Economist asked sixteen people to make ten-year forecasts of economic growth rates, exchange rates, oil prices, and other staples of economic prognostication. Four of the test subjects were former finance ministers, four were chairmen of multinational companies, four were economics students at Oxford University, and four were London dustmen. A decade later, [...]
To understand the future of oil, ask the right question September 26, 2011 “WHY CAN’T WE predict the price of oil? That’s the wrong question. What we should ask is, in a non-linear world, why would we think oil prices can be predicted. Practically since the dawn of the oil industry in the nineteenth century, experts have been forecasting the price of oil. They’ve been wrong ever since. [...]
Defending wholesalers September 26, 2011 Wholesalers are the middlemen that oil the wheels of commerce – integral for national and international economic coordination, and crucial for the growing wealth of nations. Particularly maligned when supplies are disrupted, wholesale businesses are also vital to the recalculation necessary to deal with change. ECONOMIC COORDINATION Complex economic coordination is a wonder of human [...]
WORKING WITH INSURERS CAN CUT OUT FRAUD September 26, 2011 UK CLAIMS FRAUD & INVESTIGATIONS MANAGER, ZURICH INSURANCE DAY in day out, we hear about the impact of fraud on the personal insurance market. The industry-led Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) was formed to work on this area specifically and their hard work, alongside insurers has really helped to bring the issue to the forefront of [...]
The euro rollercoaster isn’t over: The new plan to save it is a complete non-starter September 26, 2011 THERE was quite a bit of excitement in the media and financial markets over the weekend. The hot news was that Eurozone leaders, on the sidelines of the G20 summit, forged a new grand scheme to save the embattled euro. The plan, we were told by some, would be announced “within days”. Alas, details are [...]
