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, [...]
UK must take centre stage in EU policy race January 9, 2011 LAST week, the chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, made it clear that badly thought through regulation must not be allowed to undermine European competitiveness in financial services. Such a strongly worded public statement provides further evidence of the government’s belief that the financial services industry has a vital role to play in facilitating a [...]
A big week ahead for Portugal and the Euro January 9, 2011 WILL this be the week that Portugal becomes the latest Eurozone country to call in the EU and the IMF to bail it out? The answer to that question will become clear on Wednesday when Lisbon taps the bond market for the first time in 2011. If last weeks T-Bill auction is anything to go [...]
Investors rush to buy Facebook shares January 6, 2011 GOLDMAN Sachs stopped taking orders for shares in Facebook yesterday, with analysts saying the firm was inundated with offers from investors wanting a piece of the action. Some said that would-be investors were prepared to subscribe for $3bn (£1.9m) of equity in the social networking site, twice as much as is likely to be required. [...]