Brazil fans hate Argentina so much they’re lining up to buy Germany shirts ahead of World Cup final July 13, 2014 Rather than support their neighbour, Argentina, in tonight's 2014 World Cup final, Brazilian shoppers are now queueing up to buy replicas of the shirts worn by Germany's national side. Argentinian sports magazine, El Grafico, suggests that Brazilians are suffering "a kind of Stockholm syndrome" after the German side delivered a 7-1 hammering defeat to Brazil's [...]
US markets tumble on Eurozone fears: Here’s what has traders scared July 10, 2014 US stockmarkets have opened deep in the red this afternoon, on fears that one of Portugal's biggest banks is in a bad state. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has opened 150 points lower, down close to 0.9 per cent, on fears that Banco Espirito Santo (BES) isn't healthy. Shares in the lender were suspended earlier, [...]
Bank of England keeps interest rates on hold: Why this could be last meeting without dissent July 10, 2014 The Bank of England's interest-rate setting committee is twiddling its thumbs again this month, voting to keep policy on hold. Interest rates remain unchanged at their historic 0.5 per cent lows, and there's no change to asset purchases either. Central bank watchers weren't expecting much this month, despite a small shakeup to the committee that [...]
Industrial production crumples across Europe in May: Here’s why analysts are baffled July 10, 2014 The industrial output numbers coming out of Europe this morning are ugly. France, Italy, and the Netherlands join the casualties today, all reporting some surprisingly large falls in industrial production this May. They join fellow Eurozone state Germany, which earlier this week reported that output suffered its largest monthly fall in two years this May. [...]
UBS: A No vote on Scottish independence will still shake financial markets July 9, 2014 International investors aren't taking the Scottish referendum seriously enough. That's the verdict from Swiss bank UBS. In all their discussions with investors, "the topic of Scotland's independence referendum (if it is mentioned at all) is generally not treated seriously". Globally, the media has treated the referendum as a light entertainment story, and Google data suggests [...]
UK house prices see rare fall this June: But the trend still sees values soar July 9, 2014 House prices have surprised analysts with a slight fall this June. Prices are 0.6 per cent lower, according to the latest Halifax house price index data. It's only the fourth time that Halifax has recorded a monthly house price in the last year. And while home sales are some three per cent lower in May, [...]
ONS website savaged: Review fails to find any user that was not critical of body’s online offerings July 8, 2014 No-one likes the Office for National Statisics (ONS) website. That's the finding of a new review of the body, released today. "Without exception, the users and stakeholders we spoke to were critical of the ONS website," said the review's authors. The range of problems encountered with institution's interface are wide ranging. Users complained about the [...]
Pharma wars: Shire share price leaps as AbbVie hikes offer to £51.15 July 8, 2014 US-based pharmaceuticals company AbbVie has hiked its offer for Shire to £51.15 per share in the form of cash and shares. Following AbbVie's 25 June announcement it has said that it has "met with, or spoken to, a large number of Shire shareholders, who collectively represent a majority of Shire's outstanding shares". "The majority of [...]
Marks & Spencer website nightmare knocks share price: Here’s what the analysts say July 8, 2014 Marks & Spencer's long-awaited website overhaul has failed to perform. The company announced that online sales have dropped by 8.1 per cent in the 13 weeks to 28 June. The retailer excused the performance as a "settling in" of the new M&S.com site, which cost the company £150m. Marc Bolland, M&S chief executive, says that [...]
Shock fall: UK manufacturing production drops in May July 8, 2014 UK output looks to be taking a tumble, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Industrial and manufacturing production both dropped in May, down by 0.7 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively. The picture is a little confusing for economy watchers. The news follows survey data suggesting we'd see strong [...]