Cautious Hungary maintains rate October 25, 2011 The central bank of Hungary left its interest rates unchanged at six per cent yesterday. The monetary board has kept rates at six per cent since the end of January this year. The bank released a cautious statement, warning of economic risks to Hungary.
Business morale down in Belgium October 25, 2011 Business confidence in Belgium has continued to tumble, according to data released yesterday. Registering a seventh straight month of decline, the National Bank of Belgium’s confidence index dropped one point to -10.4. “A breaching of the -10 level is generally consistent with a contraction in economic activity,” commented BNP Paribas in a note.
UK inflation expectations ease October 25, 2011 Inflation expectations have edged down to 3.4 per cent for the coming year, despite the consumer price index (CPI) spiking to 5.2 per cent in September. A YouGov survey also showed a decline in medium term (five to 10 year) expectations, to 3.4 per cent also.
ARM boss Warren East plans to take over the world – one chip at a time October 25, 2011 Afew years ago a friend of mine tipped a little-known chip designer called ARM Holdings. He said it was going to be the next big thing. A year later, after its shares had shot up, he cursed his luck for not taking his own advice. But he prudently decided not to invest while it was [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS October 25, 2011 ELECTROCOMPONENTS UBS rates the electrical component distributor as “neutral” with a target price of 205p, ahead of a first half report on 14 November. With sales growth of 11 per cent year-on-year already reported, the broker expects profit before tax and amortisation to rise 19 per cent to £59.9m, and earning per share up 18 [...]
Merkel helps send FTSE into retreat October 25, 2011 MINERS and banks retreated as Britain’s FTSE 100 fell yesterday after comments from the German chancellor led to concerns over how far European leaders would go to solve the region’s debt crisis. Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany opposes a phrase in a draft conclusion for today’s EU summit that calls for the European Central Bank [...]
US rally broken by cancelled euro summit October 25, 2011 US stocks fell yesterday on doubts European leaders can agree on a plan to end the Eurozone debt crisis, while major corporations disappointed investors with their outlooks. Though EU and Eurozone leaders still planned to hold a summit today, markets were spooked by news that a meeting by Eurozone finance ministers was cancelled. The news [...]
At last, a sign of good news in the economic data – the UK’s trade deficit is falling October 25, 2011 AMID the gloom that permeates most economic and financial commentary at the moment, a rather more positive development has become apparent over the past few weeks, but has received scant attention. When revised data were released for the second quarter of 2011, on 5 October, most analysis concentrated on the recent deceleration in the economy. [...]
It is a myth that there is no way to quit the euro October 25, 2011 IN 2010, the economist Barry Eichengreen wrote: “The decision to join the euro area is effectively irreversible.” That’s certainly the view of Europe’s politicians, busy again today with their latest plan to save the euro intact. They seem to think that any exit from the euro would bring chaos, not only to the exiting country [...]
Hooray for a decline in university applications October 25, 2011 UNIVERSITY applications are 12 per cent down on last year. Some are blaming the government’s lifting of the fee cap from £3,375 to £9,000 a year. Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, the trade union for lecturers, claims that this shows the increase to have been a “disaster from the start”. [...]
