Flappy Bird’s earnings pale in comparison with these big players February 12, 2014 When Flappy Bird creator Nguyen Ha Dong revealed he was making over $50,000 (£30,250) a day from the game, before he removed it from distribution, pundits were certainly shocked. But the smartphone App Store gold rush, those are rookie numbers compared to some larger game makers. Supercell, behind both Hay Day (the eighth highest grossing [...]
Interest rates could go up sooner than you think February 12, 2014 Mark Carney today made it clear the Bank of England will not raise rates just because unemployment is diving and growth is booming. But although markets expect the first rate hike in about two years, it could come even sooner – and a graph buried in the middle of the Inflation Report shows why. Instead [...]
Manchester United Execs: Team must do better February 12, 2014 Manchester United executives have admitted to the team’s frankly dire performance on the pitch this season, in their latest quarterly report – released in New York this morning. Off the pitch, United are doing pretty darn well – the club raked in £122.9m in the final three months of last year, up 11.6 per cent [...]
Carney’s new focus is spare capacity. Here’s what you need to know February 12, 2014 The Bank of England has given a crucial update on spare capacity. Notoriously difficult to measure, the Bank suggests that spare capacity stands at around one to 1.5 per cent of GDP, and that it is "concentrated in the labour market". It's clear that governor Mark Carney is stressing the concept, and says that there [...]
Bank hikes 2014 growth forecast to 3.4pc February 12, 2014 The Bank of England has just hiked growth forecasts, and the jump is huge. The UK's central bank now sees GDP growth at 3.4 per cent in 2014. Last November they forecast growth of just 2.8 per cent. That, and suggestions that rates will stay lower even if unemployment falls further, has seen sterling leap [...]
Bank of England sees unemployment falling below threshold – but sees scope to keep rates on hold February 12, 2014 Mark Carney was always going to have to pull something out of the bag this morning. The Bank of England governor has been wedged between two forces as the Inflation Report is released. Having introduced forward guidance, in an attempt to give direction over the path of future policy, the sudden and unexpected fall in [...]
An independent Scotland should use the pound without England’s permission. Here’s why February 12, 2014 The pound could still be an independent Scotland's best bet. As chancellor George Osborne is set to rule out a currency union with an independent Scotland, a Yes vote might make ignoring Osborne the smart choice. Sam Bowman, research director at the Adam Smith Institute, says that "an independent Scotland would not need England’s permission [...]
Toyota pulls 1.9m cars after software bug causes them to stop dead February 12, 2014 Toyota is having to withdraw 1.9m vehicles from the roads due to a nasty software glitch. The bug is causing some Prius hybrids to stop completely, as "the setting of the software could cause higher thermal stress in certain transistors". That overheating will cause "various warning lights" to go on, and "will probably cause the [...]
First day of Smithfield market battle kicks off February 11, 2014 The battle over the future of Smithfield begun in earnest today as the developers Henderson and the opponents SAVE gathered in a crowded room above the Guildhall art gallery for the first day of the public inquiry. The 12-day trial begun with all sides, including City of London Corporation and the Greater London Authority giving [...]
One US politician just asked the Fed’s Yellen an impossible question February 11, 2014 Janet Yellen just got a question that no-one can truthfully answer. When representative Gregory Meeks asked Yellen to "identify the jobs" of the future, so that America can train workers accordingly, he was asking the impossible. While Meeks spoke of how mechanisation has eliminated some positions, he was only able to do so with the [...]
