Construction continues to suffer January 20, 2011 The small to medium-sized enterprise construction sector is to set to begin a fourth year of falling workloads and a third of companies are expecting to cut their staffing levels this year, according to the latest state of trade survey from trade body the Federation of Master Builders released today.
Bank of Italy warns on deficit January 20, 2011 Italy’s central bank – the Bank of Italy – yesterday forecast a below-target budget deficit for 2010. Bank of Italy expects real GDP to have expanded one per cent last year and then looks for it to grow 0.9 per cent in 2011 and 1.1 per cent in 2012. The Bank of Italy’s bulletin shows [...]
Signs of improvement for Japan January 20, 2011 The Reuters Tankan index yesterday indicated improving economic conditions in Japan with an increase in its manufacturing index to +11 in January from +7 in December, and improved for a second consecutive month in its non-manufacturing index, to -2 from -12, suggesting sentiment is no longer weighed down by the concentration of reactionary effects linked [...]
Turkey surprises with rate cut January 20, 2011 Turkey’s central bank unexpectedly cut its one week repo policy rate by 25 basis points to 6.25 per cent yesterday, taking another step in potentially risky monetary policy designed to stem speculative inflows into the country’s financial system and cap the appreciation of the lira – and thus moderate the bourgeoning current account deficit. Overnight [...]
FTSE mining and auto stocks hit by China tightening fears January 20, 2011 BRITAIN’S top share index sank to its lowest closing level in more than five weeks yesterday, weighed down by mining stocks on concerns over potential further monetary tightening by China and its impact on demand. The FTSE 100 closed down 108.79 points, or 1.8 per cent, at 5,867.91, its lowest close since December 13. Miners [...]
AB Foods set to hike prices as costs surge January 20, 2011 AB Foods warned yesterday that the spiralling price of wheat, cotton, and other commodities means that shoppers could face price hikes on basic shopping basket goods. The firm, which has brands including twinings Tea, Kingsmill bread and Silver Spoon sugar, said customers had already seen some rises and more were looming. Cost increases have also [...]
Lacklustre earnings send Wall St lower January 20, 2011 US stocks fell yesteray as lacklustre tech and materials earnings failed to live up to heightened expectations, threatening to short-circuit a seven-week run. Declines were milder than on Wednesday, when a sharp drop pulled the market off two-year highs. Morgan Stanley posted stronger-than-expected revenue to help the banking sector rise modestly, and rose 4.6 per [...]
Enterprise sales hit by snow January 20, 2011 ENTERPRISE Inns said snow kept drinkers at home in December wiping up to £2m off its first-quarter profit. The group, which has around 6,800 pubs across Britain, said a cold snap of snow and ice leading up to Christmas caused a loss of earnings for many of its pub landlords. Net income at pubs where [...]
Ahold sees rise in Dutch customers as US suffers January 20, 2011 STRONG growth in the Netherlands and central Europe helped Dutch grocer Ahold overcome tough trading conditions in its main US market and post a fourth-quarter sales rise in line with expectations. Ahold, which runs Dutch market leader Albert Heijn but makes about 60 per cent of its sales in the United States, said yesterday shoppers [...]
Strong Christmas drives second profit upgrade in two months at Laura Ashley January 20, 2011 FASHION and homewares retailer Laura Ashley issued its second profit upgrade in two months yesterday. The company said it was confident that full-year profits would be better than City forecasts. It said a strong performance over Christmas and early January means that the results will be “significantly higher than earlier expectations”. Analysts on average were [...]
