Activist investor Icahn to push Apple’s Cook on share buyback program September 26, 2013 Activist investor Carl Icahn and Apple CEO Tim Cook are expected to meet on Monday, according to reports from CNBC. Icahn is expected to push the tech boss on further acceleration of the company's share buyback programme. Icahn reportedly has a $2bn stake in Apple (although that doesn't put him in Apple's top 10 stockholders). [...]
Disappointing US data – Second quarter GDP not revised up September 26, 2013 Disappointing US data out this afternoon. Second quarter GDP has not been revised from 2.5 per cent to 2.6 per cent. That defies what analysts had been expecting. Remember, those are annualised figures (not quarterly) – so don't compare them against the UK's second quarter GDP growth of 0.7 per cent (confirmed in a second [...]
H&M shares rise nearly seven per cent as profits surge September 26, 2013 Hennes & Mauritz have seen their shares rise by nearly seven per cent after the company saw net income grow to £428m during the three months ending August 31. Gross margins for the company have increased 58.8 per cent of sales as compared to the previous year 58.2 per cent. This recent success will come [...]
EU regulation may delay lifesaving devices by five years September 26, 2013 The European Parliament's committee for environment health and food safety has voted for stricter regulation controlling the process of approving medical devices. The directive includes tougher conformity assessment bodies, a new system of labelling medical devices and a new body called the 'Assessment Committee for Medical Devices' to examine potentially high risk devices. The new [...]
Goldman Sachs hikes UK growth forecasts September 26, 2013 Goldman Sachs has upped its growth projections for the UK from its February forecast. The UK is now forecast to grow 2.3 per cent in 2014 up from two per cent, 2.5 per cent in 2015 up from 2.3 per cent and 2.7 per cent in 2016 up from the 2.6 per cent. They forecasts [...]
Second quarter GDP confirmed – but revisions see annual growth lower September 26, 2013 UK GDP revisions see growth unchanged at 0.7 per cent in the second quarter, inline with analyst estimates which expected no change from the preliminary reading. Revisions have seen GDP to the second quarter drop from 1.5 per cent to 1.3 per cent however. Growth in the first quarter has been revised up from 0.3 [...]
LSE sees equity trading rise by five per cent as derivatives drop September 26, 2013 The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has reported UK Equity value trading up five per cent in the five months ending 31st August 2013, as compared to the same period last year (release). Derivatives trading was dramatically down by 31 per cent from last year. Equity capital raised amounted to to £9.3bn with a total [...]
Italian retail sales decline continues – and it’s worse than expected September 26, 2013 Italian retail sales are weak for July, down 0.3 per cent in one month. Analysts had been expecting a contraction of just 0.1 per cent after a 0.2 per cent fall in the month before. Food goods sales fell by 0.1 per cent, with non food goods dropping by 0.3 per cent. Italian retail sales [...]
US government shutdown could cause tapering confusion September 26, 2013 US Federal Reserve calculations over the beginning of tapering – a scaling back of its asset purchases program – could be hampered by fiscal squabbles over the Federal debt ceiling. Fed chairman Ben Bernanke has already referred to the lack of clarity as a hindrance on monetary policy decisions: The extent of restrictive fiscal policies [...]
Fed’s Lacker warns that forward guidance on rates may depress growth September 26, 2013 The Federal Reserve's Jeffrey Lacker has said that forward guidance may threaten economic growth – as central banks assure markets that rates will stay low, this may itself dampen expectations of future growth. In practice, he says that separating forward guidance on rates from asset purchases has proven difficult. Credibility requires consistency, over time, between [...]
