Thatcher changed the City forever but Big Bang isn’t the whole story June 3, 2013 THERE is a myth gaining traction that Margaret Thatcher’s deregulation of the City through the Big Bang in 1986 ultimately led to the crash of 2008. This is part of the reductionist approach of much of the left-leaning commentariat. The reasoning seems to go: something terrible happened in 2008; Thatcher was terrible; therefore the actions [...]
Why shale gas could be the saviour of Britain’s environmental targets May 31, 2013 THE debate around shale gas has been dominated by the economic benefits of production and the perceived risks of hydraulic fracturing. But we shouldn’t lose sight of the wider environmental picture. Developing shale gas in this country can benefit the natural world in several ways. First, it can reduce carbon emissions by replacing gas imports. [...]
Dragon’s cloud computing firm lists with Soros among investors May 24, 2013 A CLOUD computing company founded by a star of TV show Dragon’s Den will become the latest technology firm to tap London’s markets for funding this morning. Outsourcery, which counts the newest Dragon Piers Linney as its co-chief executive, will float on Aim, London’s junior market, this morning with a valuation of £35m. The company, [...]
Cheap money is fuelling the stock market’s dramatic bounce May 10, 2013 FOR the first time ever, the Dow Jones has closed above 15,000, in a major boost for investors everywhere. Remarkably, the index was at 14,000 just 66 days ago and is now up by 129 per cent since the 2009 trough, in a striking demonstration of the speed and scale of the bounce-back. With the [...]
Remortgage fall prompts calls to extend funding for lending May 9, 2013 REMORTGAGE lender LMS called for an extension to the funding for lending scheme (FLS) yesterday after February showed a deep drop in remortgage lending. Households drew £2.6bn of equity out of their houses in February, LMS figures showed, down 11.3 per cent compared to January, falling faster than overall mortgage lending. The number of loans fell even [...]
How positive start-up innovation is making full-time work redundant May 3, 2013 ASK a business owner 20 years ago how big their company was and, like the pharaohs, he or she would soon tell you how many people they employed. Full-time staff numbers denoted personal achievement and the business’s (and owner’s) social value. Today, precisely the opposite is true. In volatile markets and desperate to avoid fixed [...]
Beat the market with wisdom of the crowd May 3, 2013 Annabel Palmer talks with founder of online trading community eToro about how social media is changing the way people trade, and what to expect from City A.M.’s 2013 Active Trader Conference Q How is social media changing the way people trade? A Recent research we carried out with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has shown [...]
£200k bar bill trader Alex Hope charged over FX scheme May 2, 2013 ALEX Hope, the 24-year-old trader who gained notoriety after running up a £200,000 bar bill at a Liverpool nightclub, was yesterday charged in relation to an unauthorised £5m investment scheme. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has accused Hope and his business associate Raj Von Badlo of a total of ten offences relating to a scheme that purported [...]
British public is slowly becoming more fiscally conservative May 2, 2013 MEMO to the political class: your electorate doesn’t believe you are spending their money wisely. The data is striking: 78 per cent of the public agree that “politicians are too reckless about how they spend taxpayers’ money”; just 12 per cent disagree, according to a poll by ComRes for the 4th Agenda. The vast majority [...]
Italian PM calls for new steps to hike growth May 2, 2013 ITALY’S new Prime Minister yesterday vowed to emphasise growth as well as austerity in a new effort to relieve some of the pain facing the struggling country. Enrico Letta is likely to abandon a sales tax rise planned for the summer, scrap Mario Monti’s housing tax and shake up the welfare system. Parliamentarians approved the [...]
