John Lewis continues to win market share August 26, 2011 John Lewis bucked the general gloom in the retail sector with another rise in weekly sales as it continued to win market share from rivals. The employee-owned business, which has been outperforming competitors for over a year, said on Friday sales at its department stores increased 2.6 per cent to £53.4m in the week to [...]
Halo effect: Sage of Omah invests $5bn in buffeted Bank of America August 25, 2011 BILLIONAIRE investor Warren Buffett rode to the rescue of America’s biggest lender yesterday with a $5bn (£3bn) investment in the beleaguered Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA). Buffett’s investment provides a much-needed vote of confidence in BofA, which has seen its share price halve this year as it has fought to convince investors it had [...]
EU states extend ban on shorting August 25, 2011 FOUR European Union states yesterday extended their short-selling bans until at least the end of next month. Spain and Italy will persist with the measure until 30 September, while French and Belgian bans will continue until further notice. The German DAX fell as much as five per cent at one stage, on rumours of both a short [...]
Gaddafi still free in Libya August 25, 2011 HEAVY fighting continued between Libyan rebels and regime loyalists across Tripoli last night as the hunt for Muammar Gaddafi went on without success. Two days after his compound was overrun, rebels focused their attention on a tower block believed to be holding the still-defiant Libyan leader while others moved house to house to try to [...]
Tensions rising again in the markets August 25, 2011 WHEREVER one looks, there is danger in the air. Global equities are down 10.2 per cent in August and 11.3 per cent in the year to date. European and UK shares are down 13 and 10.4 per cent respectively in August, and 16.8 per cent and 11.5 per cent so far this year, Evolution Securities [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 25, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BREVAN HOWARD CAPITALISES ON TURMOIL Brevan Howard, the world’s largest macro hedge fund, has made close to $1.5bn over the past three weeks on the back of turmoil in the global markets. In a month in which equity markets worldwide have seen declines of more than 10 per cent, the gain comes as [...]
Weale talks down QE2 August 25, 2011 FURTHER quantitative easing would boost economic output, one of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee erstwhile hawks said yesterday. Yet Martin Weale — who voted for higher rates for most of this year, before reversing his decision in August — also said the time had not yet come for more easing, dubbed QE2. “I do not [...]
CBS Outdoor in Tube dispute August 25, 2011 Billboard provider CBS Outdoor threatened to walk away from a £1bn contract with London Underground yesterday over the spiralling costs of installing digital screens across the Tube network. CBS gave notice that it would terminate its contract, which covers 33,000 poster sites and 88,000 panels in Tube carriages, unless it could agree new terms with [...]
Pandora Media sees profit rise August 25, 2011 Online music company Pandora Media posted better-than-expected quarterly revenues and profits yesterday in its maiden results as a public company. Just two months after joining the public market, Pandora said sales more than doubled to $67m (£41m) and its underlying profit was $0.20 per share. Shares in Pandora, which sells advertising for mobile phones and [...]
Goldman cuts salaries for some bankers August 25, 2011 GOLDMAN Sachs cut the salaries of a large number of its London-based bankers yesterday, ending a two-year period of higher pay begun in 2009 in response to tough new bonus rules. Goldman invoked a clause in the bankers’ contracts to cut their base salaries after two years at a higher rate that was seen as [...]
