Runaway inflation makes Mark Carney’s flexible target largely redundant February 11, 2013 AT THE Treasury Select Committee last week, the incoming Bank of England governor Mark Carney re-iterated his desire for a more “flexible” inflation targeting regime for the UK. The Bank of England’s current remit is to keep consumer price index inflation at 2 per cent, within a band of 1 percentage point each way. But [...]
Pope Benedict saw why the capitalist system is virtuous February 11, 2013 THOSE who study Pope Benedict, who announced his retirement yesterday, have been impressed by his humanity and by his understanding of human nature. Statements he has made on the economy, written in his own hand, reflect that. The Pope, for example, did not see the problems that led to the financial crisis as solvable by [...]
The Debate: Has the reaction to the discovery of horse meat in beef products been proportionate? February 11, 2013 YES Mary Creagh The scandal of horse meat in beef burgers, lasagnes and other “beef” products has grown and grown. And it may not be a simple labelling error. We could be looking at criminal adulteration of food on an industrial scale. If checks cannot identify what is going into our food, we cannot be [...]
Letters to the editor February 11, 2013 Inheritance tax [Re: Stealth hike in inheritance tax not the answer to care crisis] It is hugely disappointing that the promised increase in the inheritance tax threshold to £1m seems to have been abandoned. Inheritance tax is particularly pernicious, and it destroys the country’s capital stock for use in current government consumption spending. An inheritance [...]
Bank ringfences will solve little February 11, 2013 Chief Market Strategist, Cantor Index I AM enormously proud to have survived 50 years in the City of London. Over the last week, however, there has been little news involving banks to be remotely glad about. We heard some “mea-culpa” testimony to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards from Lloyds Banking Group’s chief executive Antonio [...]
Oil prices ride a wave of recent global optimism February 11, 2013 FOR a long time, oil prices have been dominated by supply shocks, as one major oil producer after another has gone through a period of unrest. But while the Middle Eastern oil producers are still a long way from an oasis of calm, it is now expected demand-side improvements, rather than supply worries, that are [...]
The Tipster | Wooing investors in Rio February 11, 2013 THE honeymoon is over for Rio Tinto’s newly-appointed chief executive Sam Walsh. Investors seem to be out of love with the mining giant, which reports earnings on Thursday. Since 2009, Rio has traded at a 30 per cent discount to its net present value, according to some analysts. But details of a cost-cutting plan could [...]
Obama’s path to popular prosperity February 11, 2013 The US immigration debate has implications for financial markets BARACK Obama, in his State of the Union address tonight, is expected to lay out an ambitious agenda for his final term in office. For now, staving off a growth-killing sequester or government shutdown next month is the main preoccupation of markets. But over the longer [...]
Analyst picks for 12 February 2013 February 11, 2013 CURRENCY STRATEGIST CHRIS VECCHIO My pick: Short Aussie-dollar and sterling-dollar Expertise: Fundamental and technical analysis Average time frame of trades: A few hours to a few days Amid weaker economic data coming out of Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions, both the Aussie and sterling have weakened, and the dollar has gained strength. US treasury yields [...]
The new Mini might be the best yet February 11, 2013 BACK WHEN most cars could still be relied upon to regularly break down, racing and rally car constructor John Cooper invented the original pocket rocket. He race-tuned the astonishing BMC Mini to create the Mini Cooper. It earned iconic status by dominating saloon car and rally racing in the 1960s. It won the Monte Carlo [...]
