Weak pound fuels London sales boost January 18, 2010 SHOP sales in the capital soared over Christmas as tourists and Londoners embarked on spending sprees. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) reported that in London sales jumped 12 per cent in December – the best performance since it started publishing the figures in 2002. Visitors from Europe, China and the Middle East hit the shops, [...]
Confidence among businesses falls January 18, 2010 BUSINESS confidence fell to its lowest level in eight months at the end of 2009, according to the latest survey from Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets. Of the companies questioned in December, only 52 per cent declared themselves more upbeat than a year ago, with 19 per cent claiming to be more pessimistic about the current [...]
IMF chief warns on risk of double-dip recession January 18, 2010 THE head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned yesterday that the global economy remains at risk of suffering a double-dip recession. Dominique Strauss-Kahn said countries should not ditch stimulus packages that have triggered growth through governments’ pumping of money into economies. Most economies are pulling out of recession but he has raised concerns that [...]
German economy growing but consumer spending on the slide January 18, 2010 FOREIGN demand kept Germany’s economy growing in the fourth quarter but consumer spending on cars and retail purchases has tailed off, the Bundesbank said yesterday. A dispute among government coalition partners over whether the country can afford billions of euros in planned tax cuts was calmed yesterday. Government members agreed to stop arguing in public [...]
ECONOMIST VIEWS: IS THE CHIEF OF THE IMF RIGHT TO WARN AGAINST DROPPING THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL STIMULUS PACKAGES? January 18, 2010 ALAN CLARKE | BNP PARIBAS I have a lot of sympathy with what the head of the IMF has said. I am in favour of at least keeping in place quantitative easing or increasing it. The measures brought in have acted to stimulate the economy and household disposable income has remained relatively high despite the [...]
Tories try to encourage ex-City workers to teach January 18, 2010 THE Conservatives yesterday announced plans to encourage former City workers to become teachers by letting them qualify without going on a retraining course. Tory leader David Cameron also said he would raise educational standards by making teaching a “brazenly elitist” profession with higher qualification requirements. Outlining his education manifesto alongside shadow schools secretary Michael Gove, [...]
Myners refuses to rule out US-style levy on the banks January 18, 2010 CITY Minister Lord Myners yesterday warned that a US-style levy on banks could still be slapped on the UK. But just hours later, the Prime Minister’s spokesman appeared to rule out such a move. US president Barack Obama is hitting Wall Street banks with a 0.15 per cent charge on liabilities in a bid to [...]
REVENUES ARE CRUCIAL TO US EARNINGS January 18, 2010 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT LAST year finished on a high note for global equity markets and this euphoria carried through into the first week of 2010. But after having shot out of their starting blocks, equities have clipped the first hurdle as the fourth quarter earnings season kicked off in the US. Aluminium giant Alcoa [...]
Merged and acquired firms do better than competitors January 18, 2010 FIRMS that carried out mergers and acquisitions last year outperformed the market by more than three percentage points, despite the commonly held view that buyouts often destroy value. According to professional-services firm Towers Watson and City University London’s Cass Business School, acquirers outperformed the MSCI World Index by an average 3.2 per cent in 2009, [...]
France lifts 2010 forecast for GDP January 18, 2010 THE French government has lifted its forecast for gross domestic product growth in 2010, almost doubling it to 1.4 per cent from 0.75 per cent previously, economy minister Christine Lagarde said yesterday. The new figures will be included in a budget update to be released tomorrow, which should also point to a slightly better-than-expected deficit [...]
