Swiss unemployment edges up December 6, 2012 The Swiss unemployment rate rose to a non-seasonally adjusted 3.1 per cent in November from 2.9 per cent in the previous month, official data showed yesterday. Meanwhile, Swiss consumer prices fell 0.4 per cent from a year ago compared to a drop of 0.2 per cent in October, and were 0.3 per cent lower compared [...]
RSM Tenon parts ways with PwC December 6, 2012 RSM Tenon has officially ditched PwC as its auditor, after nearly two thirds of shareholders voted down the firm’s reappointment. RSM Tenon has already started looking for a new auditor, after it discovered a black hole in its books in January that sparked a profit warning and a change in management. The accountancy regulator is [...]
Who’s switching jobs December 6, 2012 Robin Simon The law firm has appointed Darren Hannison partner and head of its reinsurance practice. He joins from Plexus Law. Hannison has over 19 years’ experience in the insurance and reinsurance sector, and has also served as an assistant general counsel at AIG in New York. Deloitte Angus Wildblood has been appointed analytics partner [...]
Best of the Brokers December 6, 2012 SCHRODERS Canaccord reiterated its “sell” rating and 1,320p target for the asset manager. The broker struggles to justify the share price, with current trading at 16 times 2012 earnings, and it expects return on equity to fall. SAGE Charles Stanley maintains its “accumulate” rating for the software company, after better-than expected results. However, the growth [...]
FTSE strikes two month high amid weak trading yet lags euro stocks December 6, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index hit a two-month high yesterday, fuelled by risk-sensitive stocks, but lagged European peers as wary investors met resistance around previous year highs. At the close, the FTSE 100 was up 9.34 points at 5,901.42. The index’s 0.2 per cent rise lagged the German DAX and the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300, up 1.1 [...]
Wall St ticks up as Apple stock climbs higher December 6, 2012 US stocks closed modestly higher yesterday, a day ahead of the key monthly jobs report, as a rebound in shares of Apple helped boost technology shares. Traders were reluctant to bet heavily a day before the Friday release of the November employment report. Just 5.62bn shares changed hands on US exchanges. Investors are also keeping [...]
Shale gas is a good idea – but it is too soon to count on it to save us December 6, 2012 THE government’s gas strategy document, published alongside the Autumn Statement this week, rightly said that gas should play “a major role in our electricity mix” for decades to come. George Osborne was also right to focus on how to make private investment in new gas-fired power stations work without subsidies. But uncertainty is still a [...]
Black Swan author challenges the belief that pressure is bad for the economy December 6, 2012 BANKS should be more like cats than washing machines. So suggests Nassim Taleb, ex-trader and controversial author of The Black Swan, who has a new book out in time for Christmas. What he means is that living things – cats, economists, bankers – display a property that even our best-designed machinery lacks: a quality that [...]
America’s bullying on foreign tax will penalise UK firms December 6, 2012 NEXT week, the Treasury will publish draft legislation detailing how Britain’s financial sector will be forced to implement a punitive piece of US tax legislation. Although hailed this week by George Osborne as a weapon in the fight against tax avoidance, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) has severe implications for hundreds of British firms. [...]
Was the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee right to reject further stimulus? December 6, 2012 YES David Kern The Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) decision to keep quantitative easing (QE) at £375bn was the correct one. Opinion has shifted in recent months against adding to QE. But the MPC remains divided on the subject, and an increase cannot be ruled out if the economy weakens further in early 2013. Such a [...]
