BAA to sell two airports after losing court ruling October 13, 2010 AIRPORT operator BAA is set to take its battle with the Competition Commission to the Supreme Court, after the regulator won a High Court ruling forcing it to sell off two more airports to satisfy competition concerns in the industry. BAA’s Spanish owner Ferrovial will now have to sell off Stansted and either Glasgow or [...]
Time to offload Lloyds to save the City’s skin October 12, 2010 Politics can be so unpredictable that a week seems a long time, but there is one prediction that can be made with certainty: a car crash between bankers and politicians just in time for Christmas. The fall out could be so severe that it could lead to the demise of London as a financial services [...]
Battered Euro stock markets offer investors minimal upside October 4, 2010 EUROZONE equities have begun the fourth quarter firmly on the back foot with markets yesterday tumbling for the sixth consecutive trading session – the longest run of losses since January 2009. Fears that the US will plunge into a double-dip recession have outweighed more positive European economic data and upbeat expectations for the third quarter [...]
Tensions rise among MPC over more QE October 3, 2010 SPECULATION of a three-way split among the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has intensified in recent days, creating a debate among City economists about whether the Bank will loosen policy even further. External MPC member Adam Posen last week put the cat among the already nervous pigeons when he argued strongly in favour [...]
HOLLYWOOD DIRECTOR HAS POP AT GOLDMAN September 22, 2010 HOLLYWOOD director Oliver Stone is clearly a very brave man, having taken a figurative pop at not one, but two of the world’s most successful businessmen in the past week. Just a few days ago, it emerged that Stone – currently on a publicity flash tour to coincide with the opening of his new film, [...]
Wenger charged and mulling a tinker September 20, 2010 ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger is facing a touchline ban after being charged with improper conduct relating to Saturday’s dramatic 1-1 draw at Sunderland. Wenger is accused by the Football Association of “using abusive and/or insulting language and behaviour” to the officials in the wake of Darren Bent’s last-gasp equaliser for the Black Cats. Bent’s strike [...]
A car that’s easy to live in September 7, 2010 WHEN I was a kid, we spent every summer with family in Cornwall, and every year my father’s car used to break down, extending what was a gruelling journey into an epic, Herculean trial. Fortunately for me, motoring has moved on, and I’ve just done more than twice the distance in about the same time [...]
THE ART OF PEACEFUL PROTEST (IN SWINDON) September 1, 2010 IN an age where Facebook protests can reach hundreds of thousands of members within a few hours, often for the most spurious reasons – the lynching of women who put cats in bins being a recent example – it’s nice to see a good old fashioned show of dissent. One-man-army Paul Slennett, owner of three [...]
Black Cats purr at arrival of £13m Gyan August 31, 2010 SUNDERLAND boss Steve Bruce told of his delight last night after smashing the club’s record transfer fee to land Ghanaian striker Asamoah Gyan in a £13m deal. The powerful frontman spent all day in the north-east thrashing out a deal before finally agreeing to make the switch from French club Rennes 20 minutes before the [...]
Use technicals to chart your course through jumpy markets August 30, 2010 WHEN nervous markets are jumping upon every single piece of economic data as an excuse to swing one way or the other, it can be extremely difficult for contracts for difference (CFDs) traders to concentrate on analysing the market movement. But while traders should certainly not ignore the fundamentals, a blizzard of figures can hinder [...]