Floods to be Australia’s most expensive disaster January 17, 2011 AUSTRALIA’S devastating floods are likely to be the country’s most expensive disaster on record, the national treasurer said yesterday. Record rainfall, which has flooded an area three times the size of the UK, may leave Queensland state alone with a A$10bn (£6.2bn) damage bill, while Australian GDP is expected to fall by one per cent. [...]
Mid morning wrapup January 17, 2011 Oil giant BP saw its shares rise by two per cent this morning as its deal with Russian company Rosneft for arctic exploration boosted the stock. Analysts said the tie-up with state-controlled Rosneft opened up massive reserves in the arctic, a region they said was believed to contain one fifth of the world’s undiscovered oil. [...]
Starbucks hits back at McDonald’s with new cup January 16, 2011 STARBUCKS will soon introduce a new “Trenta” cup that will dwarf even its supersized Venti. The new offering will be available only for cold drinks such as iced coffee and iced tea and will cost around 30p more than Venti drinks. Seattle-based Starbucks tested the new size in several US markets last year, saying it [...]
London is still at forefront of business world January 16, 2011 THERE is no doubt in my mind that despite the uncertainty surrounding taxation and regulation and despite the continuing public anger, unfavourable media reports and a degree of political point-scoring, the City of London remains – in the eyes of the international business community at least – one of the most attractive financial centres in [...]
Chinese torture is holding back the commodities rally January 16, 2011 CHINA was once famous for, among other things, an obscure torture method: reputedly a way to drive suspects insane by slowly dripping water onto their foreheads. Nowadays, however, many commodities traders must feel rather like victims of the technique. The Chinese government has been slowly drip-feeding the commodities markets with hints about monetary tightening. On [...]
Intelligent luxury under a hot blue sky January 16, 2011 ABU Dhabi sounds like a heady jumble of car, construction and human. In the daytime, the air is thick with noise as it is thick with the pervading haze of dust blown in from the sandlands to the south and thrown up by the never-ending construction. It softens the otherwise relentless sunshine, rendering everything (including [...]
FTSE dampened by commodities and banks January 14, 2011 LONDON eased to a close just over the 6,000 mark after stronger Wall Street sentiment failed to shake off concerns over China’s monetary policy tightening. The FTSE 100 ended down 21.81 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 6002.07, having closed 0.4 per cent lower yesterday, pulled lower by commodity stocks and banks. China’s central bank [...]
WORLD BOOZE BRIEFING VINEXPO CONFERENCE January 12, 2011 The British taste for bacchanalia is on the rise, according to a massive drink report announced yesterday, conducted by IWSR (International Wine and Spirit Research) in conjunction with Vinexpo, the massive industry fair. The UK remains the number one importer of wine in the world – of which our favourite is Australian – in terms [...]
What the other papers say this morning January 11, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES LAWYERS URGE HUNT TO BE CAREFUL OVER SKY BID Jeremy Hunt must act carefully to avoid legal challenge to his role in regulating News Corp’s proposed bid for British Sky Broadcasting, after his department sent Rupert Murdoch’s company a key document, lawyers said. Three competition experts yesterday said the culture secretary’s move could [...]
What the other papers say this morning January 9, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES GOLDMAN TEAM RAISES MONEY FOR NEW FUND The last big proprietary trading team at Goldman Sachs has begun raising money to start a new hedge fund independent of the bank, for launch in the second quarter of this year. The team – led by two senior members of Goldman Sachs’ Principal Strategies desk, [...]