UK’s manufacturing recovery stutters in November January 10, 2014 Manufacturing's revival has lost some momentum. While analysts had expected to see production expand for the third consecutive month, new figures from the Office for National Statistics show that it was flat in November. Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Berenberg, says that the "hard data is not keeping pace with the red hot business [...]
This former Swiss banker has chosen a surprising new career January 10, 2014 A former employee says she faced a "lot of suspicion and ridicule" when she let go of her career at Swiss bank Pictet. Silvia Bignoni went on to become founder of Pole Glam Studio in 2010, and despite great success in her sport she still gets weird comments and twisted proposals. She told French language [...]
Royal Mail price may have safeguarded future privatisations January 10, 2014 It's been three months since the government first sold off Royal Mail shares, and there's another "dog bites man" story going around this morning as Labour's Chuka Umunna has yet again attacked the sale as being far too cheap. Umunna has said that "the business secretary's dismissal of the sharp rise in share price as [...]
Advertising giants Omnicom and Publicis get EU merger approval January 9, 2014 A tie-up between advertising mega firms Omnicom (the world's second biggest agency) and Publicis (the third) has been granted approval by EU antitrust regulators. When the deal was announced in July, the combined market capitalisation of the two stood at $35.1bn (£21.3bn). "The merged entity would be sufficiently constrained by several competitors, including large international [...]
Recruiters now seeing signs of broader economic recovery January 9, 2014 Hays has become the latest recruitment company to declare a thaw in the UK jobs market, with net fees in the last quarter of the year up 10 per cent. Hiring is on the rise in construction and there are pockets of jobs growth in financial services, finance director Paul Venables said. “In the City [...]
ECB holds policy with rates at historic lows January 9, 2014 Our second big central bank meeting of the day has seen no change. The European Central Bank (ECB) is holding policy, as forecast by 54 of the 55 economists Reuters polled about the decision. Most of those economists said that they expect rates to stay put until mid-2015, after the central bank cut its main [...]
Bank of England holds rates – but Carney will have to hike soon to avoid credibility crisis January 9, 2014 No surprises today. The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee has elected to hold policy. Rates stay at their historic lows, while asset purchases are held at £375bn. Yet the case for a rate hike is becoming ever stronger. Not necessarily because economic conditions warrant it – but because it's vital for the Bank's credibility. [...]
This table shows how US corps are worth more than entire countries January 9, 2014 A nice comparison from BoAML's chief investment strategist, Michael Hartnett, this morning. He points to it to show that emerging markets seem inexpensive: "Brazil's market cap barely exceeds that of Google, India's is less than Wells Fargo's and Turkey's is practically the same as Starbucks'" Hartnett says that there appears to be a "buyer's strike" [...]
Standard Chartered finance chief out in reorganisation January 9, 2014 Standard Chartered's finance director Richard Meddings is to leave the bank's board by the end of June, and will leave the group entirely by the end of this year. In December Meddings was stripped of his role overseeing the firm's risk division, following pressure from the Bank of England (BoE). Responsibility for risk was transferred [...]
Diageo joins Diddy for a shot at tequila market January 8, 2014 Back in 2007, the artist formerly known as Puff Daddy (then P Diddy, then just Diddy) used the lyrics of album track Through The Pain (She Told Me) to tell fans he’d been “hangin' on Patron all day” – name checking the premium tequila brand beloved by rappers from Jay-Z to Chamillionaire. Today he officially [...]
