Construction output growth falls in Eurozone October 20, 2011 CONSTRUCTION output growth suffered a major drop in August, data from Eurostat revealed yesterday. Eurozone construction production grew by 0.2 per cent in the month, according to initial estimates. The expansion represents a decline in growth from July’s 1.8 per cent increase in output. Across the whole EU, output did not grow at all in [...]
EC set to bolster infrastructure October 20, 2011 INFRASTRUCTURE spending across Europe could receive a €50bn (£43.6bn) boost from 2014 to 2020, if a European Commission (EC) proposal announced yesterday works as planned. The money will be spent on transport, digital communications and energy projects. A pilot phase in 2012 and 2013 will see €230m spent. A total of €32bn will go to [...]
Summit hope plummets on bailout rows October 20, 2011 FRENCH president Nicolas Sarkozy flew to Germany last night for crisis talks ahead of this weekend’s summit, which aims to address the Eurozone’s woes. He wants the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) to become a bank, tapping the European Central Bank (ECB) for funds to help governments. Germany and the ECB oppose the suggestion, leading [...]
Initial approval given for more Greek austerity October 20, 2011 A GENERAL strike failed to dissuade Greece’s socialist party from voting through new austerity measures last night, though more votes are required today to make the bill law. Around 100,000 protestors and strikers (pictured, left) gathered to oppose the measures. However, all 154 of the ruling socialist PASOK party’s deputies voted in favour of the [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE YOU CONFIDENT THE EURO WILL SURVIVE? October 20, 2011 CHRIS GAZE | VERINT “No, I think the Euro has too many fundamental flaws and is too complex to survive. It was doomed to begin with and I would like to see it go.” PAUL SMITH | INCEPTA “Yes. As a group of countries we trade together, our economies are interdependent and it provides collective [...]
Eurozone wrangling sucks life out of markets October 20, 2011 European markets saw confidence ebb away this morning as continuing wrangling over the Eurozone bailout fund took its toll. Optimism had been growing that the weekend meeting of European Union leaders in Brussels would come up with a substantial plan for dealing with the debt crisis, primarily through ramping up the bloc’s bailout mechanism, the [...]
Unity on QE2 as MPC mulls £100bn spree October 20, 2011 THE BANK of England’s new phase of quantitative easing (QE2) could rise to £100bn in purchases, minutes to its October meeting revealed. All nine members voted for a £75bn rise in the asset purchase programme, believing a recession in the Eurozone to be likely, which would damage the UK’s economic growth prospects. The outlook for the [...]
Employment growth falls as demand recovery stalls October 20, 2011 GROWTH slowed in consumer spending, manufacturing and investment over the last month according to the Bank of England’s agents’ summary of business conditions, out yesterday. The official survey measures the state of the economy across the country and informs the monetary policy committee (MPC) in making its interest rate decisions. Consumer demand growth is sluggish [...]
PwC: job losses keep deficit plan on schedule October 20, 2011 GEORGE Osborne’s spending plans are keeping closely to schedule because of the unexpectedly rapid cuts in public sector jobs, according to a PwC report out today. This time last year the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast 400,000 state jobs would be lost by 2015-16. But local authorities anticipated this before the 2010 election, and began [...]
Bank offices raided over Euribor probe October 20, 2011 BANK offices in London and Europe were raided yesterday in a shock move by European authorities investigating whether the institutions fixed the region’s Euribor interbank lending rate. RBS and Deutsche Bank were among the major banks raided, according to informed sources, as offices in London and Paris were targeted by European Commission competition investigators. The [...]
