Wolfson back in the black October 30, 2012 ■ British chipmaker Wolfson Microelectronics delivered its first profitable quarter since the end of 2010 as its technology was used in Samsung’s popular Galaxy SIII smartphone and Microsoft’s Surface tablet. The company yesterday reported an underlying operating profit of $3.4m (£2.1m) against a $0.7m loss a year ago and a $1.3m loss in the last [...]
Debt-ravaged Eurozone suffers poor month on the high street October 30, 2012 RETAILING in the Eurozone’s second and third biggest economies slipped to even sharper decline in October, business survey data showed yesterday, though resilient Germany dragged the bloc’s average up significantly. The retail purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the Eurozone as a whole collapsed from 47.1 in September to 45.3 this month, Markit said yesterday, where [...]
Spain squeezed by deepening recession and surging inflation October 30, 2012 SPAIN slipped yet deeper into depression, data revealed yesterday, while inflation picked up, raising the spectre of so-called stagflation. Spanish GDP shrunk 0.3 per cent in the third quarter, according to data from official statistics office Ine, the fifth successive quarter without expansion, adding to pressure on Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to request a full [...]
CBI says retail sales bounced back in October October 30, 2012 UK RETAILERS reported a rapidly improving sales climate in October, according to data out yesterday, driving hopes for continued expansion. Thirty percentage points more retailers saw improving than worsening sales in October, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), up from a net balance of six per cent in September and well above firm [...]
Think-tank says taxpayers are handing over £113m to unions October 30, 2012 TAXPAYERS are forking out to subsidise trade unions as the state pays public sector workers to perform union duties, a think-tank claimed this morning. The total hours public employees spent on union duties amounted to the equivalent of 3,041 full time workers – two and a half times more workers than HM Treasury – the [...]
German labour market rising but pace slows October 30, 2012 EMPLOYMENT continued to increase in Germany during September, figures out yesterday showed, but the federal statistics office Destatis warned that momentum was slipping out of labour market improvements. Employment climbed 324,000 in the year to last month, hitting 41.8m, Destatis said, while unemployment fell 48,000 to 2.2m. However the statistics office said that yearly employment [...]
Bank of Japan fights deflation battle with novel easing policy October 30, 2012 THE BANK of Japan yesterday hit markets with another bout of quantitative easing (QE), easing policy for two consecutive months for the first time in eight years. The Bank added 11 trillion yen (£86bn) to its main asset purchase programme, which also includes lending provisions, but they did not stop at traditional QE, and also [...]
Case-Shiller index says house prices growing across the US October 30, 2012 US HOME prices continued to rebound in August, data suggested yesterday, adding to the zig-zag recovery from the depths of the credit crunch. Average prices edged up 0.9 per cent in the month, according to both the 10- and 20-city composite Case-Shiller home price indices. This monthly increase capped off a 1.3 per cent rise [...]
Spread betters host celebrity charity traders October 30, 2012 SPREAD betting firm City Index has engaged the services of former footballers Bob Wilson and Gareth Southgate this month. Messrs Wilson and Southgate are battling it out to win the firm’s Celebrity Trader Challenge, a new monthly initiative to raise money for charity. Each month City Index will be giving a celeb trader £2,500 in [...]
Boris goes Bond for Poppy Day as he speeds down The Thames October 30, 2012 THE Capitalist, and presumably most of London, simply cannot escape Mayor Boris Johnson these days. Fresh from his appearance at the NFL game at Wembley Stadium on Sunday evening, Boris was cruising down the River Thames on a Royal Navy RIB yesterday morning. Pointing his trigger finger at onlookers, Bozza arrived at Canary Wharf in [...]
