US markets up on McDonald’s and tech stock December 10, 2012 US stocks edged higher yesterday Monday, helped by gains in McDonald’s after the fast-food giant posted strong sales results, and a move up in technology shares. Technology stocks were the S&P 500’s best-performing sector as Hewlett-Packard climbed 2.9 per cent to $14.20 on rumours that activist investor Carl Icahn is building a stake in the [...]
The poorest will suffer if we ignore the real evidence on payday loans December 10, 2012 THE non-stop tide of new regulation from the government continues. It now appears to be preparing to accept an amendment to the Financial Services Bill, which will allow the Financial Conduct Authority to cap interest rates on payday loans. A recent intervention by the incoming archbishop of Canterbury (who is strongly in favour of the [...]
Immunising entrepreneurs from the market won’t plug the funding gap December 10, 2012 VINCE Cable’s business bank intends to invest £1bn in small to medium-sized enterprises. In 2011, Project Merlin sought to facilitate a further £76bn in loans. But with all the talk of national investment banks, it is important to consider some economic semantics. There seems an almost universal acceptance that entrepreneurs are being starved of credit, [...]
Monti steps aside for Berlusconi to wreak euro havoc December 10, 2012 MARIO Monti’s announcement that he will step down as Italian Prime Minister, as soon as the budget law for 2013-15 is adopted, caught many off guard. But things had got to a point where Monti had little choice – he had effectively lost his majority in parliament after Silvio Berlusconi’s party withdrew its support. What [...]
Should the news that jobs are being moved to other UK financial centres worry the City? December 10, 2012 YES Douglas McWilliams Investment banks are planning to move 3,000 jobs from the City of London to other regional centres, which will be mixed news for the City. Past success in London has sustained high salaries and property costs, making moves to other UK centres economically viable. This is historic – property costs are likely to [...]
Rapid responses December 10, 2012 Classroom politics [Re: Lessons from Finland: How we can reform maths teaching in schools, yesterday] While I respect professor Burghes’s work, I disagree with his opinion. The greatest threat to maths education in Britain is not poor teachers or a rigid curriculum. It is the huge scale of recent political involvement in how children are taught. Standards [...]
Central banks inflate a new asset price bubble December 10, 2012 THE Bank of International Settlements (BIS) has warned that global asset prices are rising to levels not seen since before the 2008 crisis. This is despite the ongoing European sovereign debt crisis and the inability of the US to control its government spending and address its deficit woes. It comes at the same time as [...]
FTSE looks set to drop as global trends accelerate December 10, 2012 IT’S pretty much the same routine every December. The Christmas decorations go up, office parties are in full swing and market analysts are asked to pontificate on where they think the FTSE will finish at the end of next year. The problem is that the FTSE 100 is such a broad-based index that it can [...]
Concrete Returns? December 10, 2012 CONCRETE returns are expected from Travis Perkins when it updates shareholders tomorrow. The builders merchant recently joined forces with Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd to supply materials for 6,300 new homes. Shares are just off their five-year highs, and a positive update may encourage traders to dig in and lift prices to a level not seen since [...]
Brace yourself for Euro recession December 10, 2012 YOU may as well enjoy the Christmas party season because I don’t see much festive spirit lasting into January. We knew things weren’t going to look pretty in Europe next year, but last week it was confirmed. Twice – just to make sure we’re convinced. At his last European Central Bank (ECB) meeting of the [...]
