FISCAL POLICY LIFTS LOONIE AND SWISSIE March 23, 2010 As the first quarter of 2010 draws to a close, some currencies are enjoying a safety premium due to their superior fiscal and trade balance position. In Europe, the Swiss economy is currently running both a fiscal and trade balance surplus and it stands in sharp contrast to the much larger Eurozone economy. The single [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 18, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES RIPOSTE BY 60 ECONOMISTS TO CALL FOR CUTS More than 60 leading economists have backed Alistair Darling’s decision to delay spending cuts until 2011, creating a dividing line within the profession on the crucial general election issue of how to tackle the UK’s huge public debt. Two letters in today’s Financial Times warn [...]
LCH.Clearnet slumps to a loss after cutting transaction fees February 16, 2010 LCH.Clearnet, Europe’s largest independent central clearer, has recorded a net loss of €91m (£79.4m) for 2009 caused by fee cuts and a fall in exchange trading volumes. It is Clearnet’s first loss since it formed from a merger of the London Clearing House and Clearnet SA in 2003 and follows a €220m net profit in [...]
Volatile foreign exchange markets are back on the agenda for 2010 February 16, 2010 SIX months ago, it seemed that the worst of the global crisis was over. The markets had calmed down, the economic recovery appeared to be firmly on track and traders seemed to have regained their risk appetite. But just as we thought things were on the mend, a sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone coupled [...]
Bharti wins $11bn bid for African unit February 15, 2010 INDIAN mobile phone company Bharti Airtel has had its $10.7bn (£6.8bn) bid for the bulk of the African business of Kuwaiti telecoms company Zain accepted, according to sources close to the deal. Bharti, led by chief executive Manoj Kohli, will now enter exclusive talks with Zain to work out the details of the deal, under [...]
Arriva seeks a tie-up with France’s Keolis January 28, 2010 BUS and rail group Arriva is talking to French state railway SNCF about a deal that could create a European transport giant. Sunderland-based Arriva has held early-stage talks with SNCF about acquiring all or part of public transport operator Keolis, in which SNCF has a 44.5 per cent stake. The combination of the two businesses would [...]
When you liberate your employees, productivity and profit will follow January 27, 2010 FREEDOM INC BY BRIAN M CARNEY AND ISAAC GETZ Crown Business Publishing, New York, £18.99 **** WE LIVE in a society in which we’re always watched – not just by the state, but in the workplace, too. Keen to cut costs and direct workforce activities with precision, employers create ever more laborious internal rules and [...]
T-Mobile: we must join up with Orange January 26, 2010 T-MOBILE needs to merge with Orange or the two groups will struggle to compete with the biggest operators, the boss of the German firm’s British arm said yesterday. Speaking at the Telecomfinance 2010 conference in London, T-Mobile UK managing director Richard Moat also said he thought a regulatory examination by Brussels would be faster than [...]
Chinese actions shape Asian currency moves January 26, 2010 ASIAN currencies can be tricky for an investor to navigate. They have long been seen as a tangled web of fixed, floating and managed exchange rates. On top of that, political risk abounds. Some investors were caught off guard after a coup in Thailand in 2008 caused a steep fall in the value of the [...]
All can fail: my new manifesto for the banks January 25, 2010 REGULAR readers of this column will know that I am no fan of many of the proposals being cooked up to reform the banks. I have opposed Barack Obama’s plan to ban retail banks from engaging in proprietary trading; George Osborne’s support of Glass-Steagall, which would break up commercial and investment banks; and Alistair Darling’s [...]