Jobs crisis as City hiring falls to record low January 7, 2013 CITY job vacancies plunged to new lows last year as incoming regulations took their toll on financial services firms, making 2012 a worse year for job seekers than even the height of the credit crunch, recruiters Astbury Marsden revealed today. Just 35,115 new jobs were advertised last year, down 35 per cent on the 54,025 [...]
January Bank rates are likely to stay steady January 7, 2013 THE European Central Bank (ECB) is likely to keep interest rates on hold when it meets for its first policy meeting this year, analysts predict. “We believe the continued improvement in the forward-looking survey data will have been sufficient to stay the hand of those on the council who last month were willing to wait [...]
The coalition’s lack of purpose has ruined our freedom to fail or thrive January 6, 2013 A SOCIETY must provide its people with certain basics, including security, food and shelter. A civilised society should also provide freedom. There is no precise definition of the term, but it is basically a status that allows people to do what they want, provided they do not interfere with the freedom of others. A market [...]
FTSE 100 slips as miners lead index down January 4, 2013 The blue chip index was broadly flat in early deals, as it failed to replicate its landmark day of trading on Wednesday. The FTSE 100 edged down by around 0.15 per cent this morning. Miners led the way down as worries that the US Fed might halt its monetary easing programme and concerns over US [...]
Rapid responses January 3, 2013 Corporation tax [Re: Is Sir Martin Sorrell right that corporation tax payments are a “question of judgement”?, yesterday] While Steve Barclay is right that the UK tax system needs reforming, tax is still solely a matter of legal obligation, not a function of public relations. Starbucks’s recent move to pay an additional £20m set a [...]
FTSE 100 flat after landmark day yesterday January 3, 2013 Following a stellar day yesterday for the FTSE 100 in which it tipped over the 6,000 mark, the leading share index was broadly flat in early deals today, although it still clung to the 6,000 level. Financial shares were strong risers on the blue chip index, with Aberdeen Asset Management, Legal & General and Hargreaves [...]
Markets fly but hangover feared January 2, 2013 MARKETS around the world rallied yesterday after the US agreed an eleventh-hour deal to limit fiscal cliff tax increases and spending cuts, giving equities a much needed boost. The deal averted sharp rises in income-tax for a majority of Americans, but failed to reach any conclusion over cutting the budget deficit, leading analysts to warn the [...]
The optimists come out to play for the first day of 2013 January 2, 2013 For those hardy souls returning to work yesterday after the Christmas break the financial markets provided some welcome and slightly unexpected cheer. Talks in the US aimed at averting a stalemate on the so-called fiscal cliff succeeded (just) and a bill that many Republicans dislike because it contains too few spending cuts passed through the [...]
Sun European takes a shine to packaging January 2, 2013 SUN EUROPEAN Partners has snapped up two packaging companies including Lincolnshire-based Paragon Print & Packaging in a £400m spending spree. Sun European, an arm of US private equity firm Sun Capital, yesterday said it had bought a 49 per cent stake in Paragon from Equistone and LDC for an undisclosed sum. Sun European also completed [...]
Is Sir Martin Sorrell right that corporation tax payments are a “question of judgement”? January 2, 2013 YES Steve Barclay As the public becomes increasingly aware of how much tax companies are paying, chief executives should be asking: “What impact will our tax affairs have on our brand?” Sir Martin Sorrell is right to acknowledge that Starbucks’s decision to pay £20m extra in corporation tax was motivated by the idea that “doing [...]