China’s industrial activity is still slowing August 11, 2010 CHINESE industrial production growth slowed for the second consecutive month in July, fueling fears that its economy was losing steam. Output rose by 13.4 per cent year-on-year in July. This was slightly below the 13.7 registered in June and significantly down on the 16.5 per cent reading in May. The cooling off in the industrial [...]
Pressures are building for a stronger renminbi August 11, 2010 AT THE start of this year, China was considered the only hope for global growth. But, for investors who wanted to get a slice of the pie and piled into the stock market, it has been a frustrating time. The Shanghai Composite Index is one of the worst-performing global stocks markets, having lost nearly a [...]
Jitters ahead of Bank’s Inflation Report as miners, banks and energy shares lose August 10, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares were lower yesterday as investors nervously awaited the outcome of the Bank of England’s quarterly Inflation Report due today and commodity shares were hit by demand concerns following weak Chinese data. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was down 34.11 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 5,376.41, having ended at its [...]
CAR TALK August 10, 2010 NISSAN’S BRAVE NEW WORLD UK order books for Nissan’s LEAF car open on 1 Sep. The LEAF – which stands for Leading, Environmentally friendly, Affordable, Family car – has a top speed of 87mph and a range of 100 miles and should cost £23,990. The price includes VAT at 20 per cent, as well as [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 10, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES HIGH COURT RULES INVESTOR BROKE BUY-OUT FUND CONTRACT An important precedent for the private equity industry has been set by a High Court ruling that Robert Adair, chairman of oil group Melrose Resources, breached a contract by refusing to put more money into Advantage Capital’s buy-out fund. Adair, who owns more than half [...]
NewsCorp drops China stake August 9, 2010 Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp said yesterday that it will sell control of its three Chinese TV channels to a fund backed by China’s second-largest media company, in a pullback from the market after years of difficulty. The deal would see China Media Capital acquire a controlling stake in News Corp’s Xing Kong, Xing Kong International [...]
Base metals can still shine in an uncertain environment August 8, 2010 THE global economy is at an important crossroads; economic data from the US has been patchy and signs of a slowdown in China are causing bouts of volatility in risky assets. However, base metal prices have held up well. The question is, will they continue to do so? The recent surge in base metal prices [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 5, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES GOOGLE AND VERIZON EYE WEB ACCESS DEAL Google and Verizon have agreed on the outline of a plan covering key aspects of how internet services are carried over communications networks, establishing what could become a financial and operational blueprint for the next phase of the web’s development. US HEDGE FUNDS EMBRACE THE BENEFITS [...]
China’s power is truly extraordinary August 4, 2010 REMEMBER the days when manufacturing was concentrated in the G7, while emerging economies supplied raw materials and components to feed rich nations’ demand? If you do, you are clearly showing your age. Even in 2008, as Stephen Lewis from Monument Securities points out, China produced more steel than the USA, the EU and Japan put [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 3, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BARCLAYS OFFLOADS LOANS IN STRUGGLING CONNAUGHT Lenders to Connaught have started selling their loans to the company, in a sign of their concern about the state of the embattled social housing maintenance group. Barclays, one of Connaught’s syndicate of banks, which is led by Royal Bank of Scotland, on Monday night sold its [...]