Taxpayers’ Alliance campaign calls time on excessive beer duty February 26, 2013 Today the TaxPayers' Alliance calls on chancellor George Osborne to reduce the UK's punishing beer duty with their new campaign, Mash Beer Tax. Their website notes that: High taxes make your drinks more expensive, with tax often constituting a third of the price of a pint. In the last 4 years, 5,800 pubs have [...]
Italian regulators consider short selling ban February 26, 2013 Italy's regulator says considering short selling ban.(you know when things are going pear-shaped when they blame speculators). — Steve Collins (@TradeDesk_Steve) February 26, 2013 Italian regulators have implemented temporary short selling bans before, and to do so again could make matters worse. Fidessa's Dr Christian Voigt has written for us before on the misguided thinking [...]
Trading in Credit Suisse and UBS halted February 26, 2013 Trading in Credit Suisse and UBS was halted for 15 minutes as markets continue to panic. Shares in Italian banks halted before they've even opened. — Jamie McGeever (@ReutersJamie) February 26, 2013 Seeing as FTSE MIB was up nearly 4% at one point yesterday, we're talking about a nearly 9% swing in the stock market [...]
European markets slide on open February 26, 2013 As markets open for the first time since Italy's political gridlock has become apparent, numbers are red across the board: FTSE MIB -5 per centFTSE 100 -1.4 per centIBEX -3.4 per centDAX -2.1 per centCAC -2.5 per cent BERLUSCONI SAYS MARKET ARE BIT CRAZY — Steve Collins (@TradeDesk_Steve) February 26, 2013
Italian shares set to plummet February 26, 2013 This was the grim picture as the FTSE MIB closed yesterday: (Source: Yahoo! Finance) Allister Heath wrote on Italy's election woes in his column today: Italy has spoken. Few in the City like what they are hearing, but they should listen carefully. Bond yields, which had fallen when it was thought the centre-left was cruising [...]
Osborne faces Commons rating humiliation February 25, 2013 During an urgent question on the government's economic policy George Osborne was asked whether he agreed with himself that the UK downgrade is "humiliating". While he rightly pointed out that markets didn't react to the downgrade, that doesn't absolve him of responsibility for the economic conditions that led to it. Despite having set the AAA [...]
Berlusconi projected to seize Senate win February 25, 2013 Senate projections are in: Rai: Berlusconi 31 per cent, Bersani 29.5 per cent, Grillo 25.1 per cent, Monti 9.6 per cent Sky: Berlusconi 31 per cent, Bersani 29.7 per cent, Grillo 26 per cent, Monti 8.2 per cent The euro heads back down against the dollar: (Source: Yahoo! Finance) The [...]
Italian markets positive as voting closes February 25, 2013 Voting has closed in Italy, and Sky has released instant polls (not exit polls) that show the centre-left clearly in the lead as we predicted earlier: Bersani 34.5 per centBerlusconi 29 per centGrillo 19 per centMonti 9.5 per cent While the outcome is not yet certain and will largely depend on voting in Lombardy, markets [...]
Berlusconi set for defeat in Italian elections February 25, 2013 There are reports of a low turnout in Silvio Berlusconi's key areas as voter numbers fall by 8% in the north west and 9.6% in the south and the islands. Berlusconi also lagged in recently leaked polls. A victory for the centre-left Democratic party is looking likely. While voting for both the Senate and lower [...]
Osborne’s AAA obsession February 25, 2013 The folks over at LabourList have produced a nice summary of the comments Osborne has made on maintaining AAA as an objective of Coalition policy. There are a few gems, but this comment from August 2009 illustrates just how attached Osborne was to the top-grade rating: “I have argued it with my opponents in difficult [...]
