£70m project will see Kier replace nine of London’s oldest fire stations August 7, 2013 Construction company Kier has announced that a £70m project to revamp London's fire stations will go ahead. The Blue 3 consortium including Kier and DIF Infrastructure II will replace nine stations with £52m of government funding (release). Stations at Purley, Dockhead, Old Kent Road, Mitcham, Dagenham, Leytonstone, Plaistow, Orpington and Shadwell will replace the current [...]
Before the open – 07/08 August 7, 2013 London's leading index, the FTSE, is expected to open down following US and Asian markets. Morning all. It's been a while! #FTSE called 18-20 lower this morning. Carney front and centre I guess. — FuturesTechs Updates (@FuturesTechs) August 7, 2013 Morning ftse -16, Dow -40, Dax -42, S&P1692.5, Nikkei -500, H/s -120, crude 105.25 Gold [...]
TUI Travel moves closer to profit as bookings fall August 7, 2013 Holiday company TUI travel has seen its losses moderate in the nine months to 30 June, as pre-tax losses drop from £454m to £369m (release). Bookings declined in Germany and France during the period, by five per cent and 22 per cent respectively. These drags saw total mainstream bookings fall by two per cent. Peter [...]
Fed’s Lockhart says he wouldn’t rule out tapering in October August 6, 2013 The Fed's Dennis Lockhart has said that he wouldn't rule out tapering at the the October Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. While analyst speculation has rested on tapering beginning in September or December, this upsets things somewhat. Rumours about tapering – or a reduction in the rate at which the Fed expands the monetary [...]
Ratings agency says Help to Buy will push up house prices August 6, 2013 Ratings agency Fitch has said that chancellor George Osborne's mortgage backing scheme Help to Buy will "probably push up house prices" (release). The policy is also unlikely to help with very low housing supply, Fitch says that the "impact on the number of new homes built is less clear". House builders stand to benefit, but [...]
IMF’s youngest ever chief economist Raghuram Rajan appointed as governor of India’s central bank August 6, 2013 Raghuram Rajan has been named as the latest governor at the Reserve Bank of India. He presently works as the chief economic adviser to the Indian government and was hotly tipped for the role. Rajan is also a successful academic, as a professor of finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He [...]
Italian decline moderates as length of recession breaks record August 6, 2013 Second quarter Italian GDP has come in slightly better than expected, as the pace of contraction slows. But the recession has broken new records, as Italy has seen GDP fall for eight quarters. Italian output shrunk by 0.2 per cent in the second quarter, down from a fall of 0.6 previous in the first. Economists [...]
Car sales forecasts up as volumes rise for 17th consecutive month August 6, 2013 Car sales were up 12.7 per cent to 162,228 units in July, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). The SMMT has hiked it forecast for 2013 car registrations to 2.216m units, up 8.4 per cent from last year. July's best sellers were the Ford Fiesta (9,089 units), the Ford Focus (7,229) [...]
Esure shares dive on low maiden dividend August 6, 2013 Shares in online insurer Esure have taken a dive of around six per cent after announcing a low interim dividend of 2.5p in today's half yearly report (release). The firm saw pre-tax profits up 15.2 per cent to £56.9m in the six months ended 30 June. Peter Wood, chairman of Esure, commented: Our first interim [...]
What to expect from tomorrow’s Bank of England Inflation Report August 6, 2013 Tomorrow sees Mark Carney's first Inflation Report as governor of the Bank of England, which should come with an additional statement on the central bank's plans for forward guidance. Berenberg chief economist Rob Wood gives his assessment of what we might expect: Here comes guidance The BoE will make an announcement on guidance alongside the [...]
