Eurozone outlook worsens as retail struggles February 27, 2013 Data from Markit Economics today showed that yet again there has been no expansion in Eurozone retail this February (release). Our economics reporter Ben Southwood comments: The state of the retail sector worsened further, data from Markit showed, with the currency bloc’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 44.5 in February, from 45.9 in [...]
Fed governor Bernanke testifies to the House Committee February 27, 2013 Watch live on C-SPAN3. Questions are not known beforehand, so answers can affect the markets. It is worth watching the dollar alongside this session.
Ikea pulls sausages from stores as horsegate continues February 27, 2013 Ikea is pulling its wiener sausages from sale in France, Spain, UK, Ireland & Portugal. The sausages are produced by Dafgaard, the same Swedish suppler as its meatballs. Dafgaard is contesting the results of tests conducted on the meatballs by Czech Republic officials. "Out of 320 tests performed in the last three weeks, none contain [...]
FTSE Group and Canada TMX confirm combined fixed index deal February 27, 2013 In a press release on Canada TMX's website (release) the Canadian group confirmed that it would be working with FTSE Group in a deal that will see TMX receive £72.2m. They will combine their fixed income index businesses in a new joint venture. FTSE TMX Debt Capital Markets will be the third largest fixed income exchange [...]
Euro slips as Grillo blasts rival February 27, 2013 As Beppe Grillo says that rival Pier Bersani is a "a dead man talking" and is making "indecent proposals" to his Five Star Movement the euro slips against the dollar: (Source: Yahoo! Finance) The political deadlock looks likely to continue, and we may see the rally in Italian markets this morning wane following these remarks.
US durable goods crash February 27, 2013 Falling beyond an expected 4.8 per cent decline, US durable goods orders have plunged by 5.2 per cent in January from a 4.6 per cent rise in December. Lower defence and aircraft numbers were responsible for the reduction. Defence capital spending fell by 69.5 per cent, the most since July 2000. Durable goods ex-transport rose 1.9 [...]
Italy’s joker won’t help any politician February 27, 2013 Third placed in the Italian elections, Beppe Grillo has just snubbed Pier Bersani of the centre-left coalition by ruling out a coalition or a vote of confidence for Bersani. Grillo has said that his movement will not vote in favour of any politician. It is unclear as to whether this would mean that Grillo might [...]
Barclays bonuses cut by £450m February 27, 2013 Sky News reports that Barclays will be reducing its staff bonus pool by £450m. This comes as a result of the Libor-rigging scandal, and is in excess of the £291m fines imposed by US and UK regulators. Barclays will still award £1.8bn in bonuses to staff. This has not yet been confirmed by Barclays. The [...]
Aer Lingus deal blocked by EU February 27, 2013 The European Commission has blocked Ryanair's £600m deal to acquire Aer Lingus citing competition concerns. "The Commission's decision protects more than 11 million Irish and European passengers who travel each year to and from Dublin, Cork, Knock and Shannon. For them, the acquisition of Aer Lingus by Ryanair would have most likely led to [...]
Did the UK’s double-dip happen? February 27, 2013 Sky's Ed Conway has looked more closely at the ONS' re-estimate of GDP for the first quarter of 2012. The present estimate shows a contraction of only -0.083 per cent. Ed notes that re-estimates are common practice: The ONS continuously updates its estimates of economic growth in previous years as new, more comprehensive data flows in. [...]
