Apple’s iPad mini fails to impress investors October 23, 2012 APPLE yesterday unveiled the much-anticipated iPad mini in a bid to protect its lead in the tablet market against threats from Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. The company also announced an updated, fourth-generation iPad just seven months after the previous version was unveiled, along with a host of updates to its computer lineup. However, Wall Street [...]
Easy money cannot last forever, warns Bank of England chief King October 23, 2012 LOW INTEREST rates and money printing may fail to help the UK in the long run, as the loose policies act to postpone a very necessary readjustment of the economy, Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King said last night. He told a business audience in Cardiff that his record low interest rates might have [...]
Why Mervyn King’s defence of the politics of QE fell short October 23, 2012 MY biggest worry about quantitative easing (QE) is that it has blurred the distinction between monetary and fiscal policy. The Bank of England is financing a substantial share of the government’s expenditure – and the majority of its budget deficit – by buying gilts using freshly-minted money. There was a time when the monetisation of [...]
Incomes are 13pc below pre-crisis high, ONS says October 23, 2012 PEOPLE in the UK are even worse off than the economy’s slump in GDP suggests, according to official data published yesterday that aims to measure our economic wellbeing. Net national income (NNI) per person – an alternative measure to GDP – has crashed by 13.2 per cent since its peak in early 2008, the Office [...]
What the other papers say this morning October 23, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Bidders say rail flaws spotted in 2011 The Department for Transport was alerted to errors in the bid documentation for the West Coast main line franchise as long ago as May of last year, suggesting there were problems from the outset with the handling of the tender scrapped by the government earlier this [...]
Firms cheer delay to EU’s board quotas October 23, 2012 LAW FIRMS and industry bodies yesterday welcomed the decision to delay a vote on the EU’s plan to force firms to give 40 per cent of board seats to women. Viviane Reding, EU commissioner for justice, citizenship and fundamental rights, was scheduled to officially launch the initiative today, but her peers on the Commission decided [...]
UBS prepares to axe jobs in savings push October 23, 2012 UBS is planning a round of job cuts that could see thousands of people kicked out of its investment banking arm as it struggles to deal with a downturn in business, it was reported last night. The Swiss bank’s top management has been locked in negotiations and will begin to notify staff of the job [...]
City to gain as 10 states push for finance tax October 23, 2012 GERMANY, France and eight other EU countries took a step closer to implementing their own financial transactions tax (FTT) yesterday as the European Commission approved the plans. That means London could gain if transactions, and the jobs that come with them, move to the City. The EC wants the tax on transactions – like share, [...]
Quilter merging with Cheviot to form investment powerhouse October 23, 2012 QUILTER & Co, the investment manager owned by Bridgepoint, is gearing up to merge with smaller rival Cheviot to form one of Britain’s biggest firms in the sector. The companies are believed to be in the final stages of talks and hope to announce the deal in the next week or two. Quilter, which has almost [...]
UK may never make profit on RBS and Lloyds October 23, 2012 HUGE pressures from regulation and slow growth mean the government may have to wait until 2020 to have evan a chance of recovering the bank bailout costs, UK Financial Investments warned yesterday. The head of the body that manages the shareholdings in Lloyds and RBS told MPs it aims to maximise value for the taxpayer, [...]
