US stocks flat as bellwether cuts forecasts September 18, 2012 US stocks ended flat to slightly lower yesterday after bellwether FedEx cut its profit forecast and investors pulled back after last week’s rally on central bank stimulus. Falling oil prices weighed on the market for a second day, with the S&P 500 energy index, down 0.7 per cent, the day’s biggest decliner among the S&P’s [...]
A humanities education is the best preparation for a life of leadership September 18, 2012 THERE will always be a need for higher education to produce the experts essential to advanced economies. Scientists, engineers, doctors and lawyers are indispensable, and universities will always train them because there will always be the resources for training them. However, there is a curious blindness to the equally great need in our complex societies [...]
The iPhone5 may be boosting GDP by even more than JP Morgan predict September 18, 2012 APPLE’S iPhone5 has already smashed sales records. More than 2m online orders were placed on the first day that consumers could make purchases over the web. So it’s little wonder that JP Morgan has estimated that iPhone5 sales could add as much as 0.5 per cent to American GDP. These numbers have attracted criticism. After [...]
Ten golden rules of investing September 18, 2012 Unless you need your money back soon, you should think long term and avoid getting caught up in the daily noise of markets. This is for two reasons. First, it makes sense to align your own investment time horizon with that of the companies in which you invest. You’ll find that all good companies – [...]
As doubts grow about a BAE-EADS merger, could it prove a danger to national interests? September 18, 2012 YES Ben Wallace As things stand, the UK government is going to be asked to approve a deal that sees the majority of Britain’s defence industrial base being taken over by a company half-owned by the German, French and Spanish states, with a headquarters in France, and a German chief executive. All the big defence [...]
Rapid Responses September 18, 2012 Occupy a year on [Re: One year after the start of Occupy Wall Street, has the movement had any positive impact?, yesterday] Sam Bowman is correct that the Occupy Movement asked the right questions about the close relationship between big business and governments. But its answers weren’t always asinine. There was a strong free market [...]
Twenty-four carat case for gold September 18, 2012 AS WARREN Buffett famously said: “You can’t eat gold.” But US dollars are not particularly nutritious either and neither are pounds sterling. However, the amount of food you can buy with your gold is steadily increasing, and has been for the last decade; whereas what you can buy with a wallet full of fiat currency [...]
Central bankers finally deliver September 18, 2012 MUCH has happened since Lehman collapsed four years ago: three rounds of easing from the Fed, four from the Bank of England, five Eurozone bailouts, two waves of bond purchase programmes and two rounds of long-term refinancing operations from the European Central Bank (ECB). The result is that G7 policy rates are at or near [...]
Accounting for a disruptive future September 18, 2012 Professionals should consider the broader shifts in businesses THE future is unwritten,” said the late, great punk prophet Joe Strummer. But this message could equally have come from a business futurologist. Whatever the source, every business in every sector has a responsibility to start planning the opening chapters for their future development and growth. Finance [...]
This Cee’d is a dad-car with bite September 18, 2012 Fatherhood is far from dull, except when it comes to motoring. First, you have to get a car with at least four seats, rather than two. Then, your primary considerations are how much stuff it can carry and how economical it is. Perhaps the Volvo 240 epitomised this best: the squarest car of all time, [...]
