Shinzo Abe’s snap elections: Can they save Japan’s flagging economy? November 18, 2014 Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at Capital Economics, says Yes. The lustre has come off Abenomics and its three arrows of fiscal, monetary and structural reform. The decision to postpone the sales tax hike that had long been scheduled for next year puts a huge dent in the government’s goal of eliminating the budget deficit [...]
Tyson sales up but it has beef with income November 17, 2014 TYSON Foods, the largest US meat processor, yesterday reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit. Sales increased 13.6 per cent to $10.10bn (£6.45bn) in the fourth quarter ended 27 September, Tyson said. But net income attributable to Tyson nearly halved to $137m, , down from $261m in the same period last year. “Operating income decreased for the [...]
Warning lights are flashing on the global economy: The reform laggards will suffer November 17, 2014 DAVID Cameron has warned of an unstable global economy. He says red lights are flashing on the dashboard. They are, but only in some parts of the world. Elsewhere, recovery looks firmly entrenched. Hot on the heels of US Treasury secretary Jack Lew’s comments about a “lost decade” in Europe, the Prime Minister’s remarks show [...]
Warning lights are flashing on the global economy – and it’s the reform laggards who will suffer November 17, 2014 DAVID Cameron has warned of an unstable global economy. He says red lights are flashing on the dashboard. They are, but only in some parts of the world. Elsewhere, recovery looks firmly entrenched. Hot on the heels of US Treasury secretary Jack Lew’s comments about a “lost decade” in Europe, the Prime Minister’s remarks show [...]
Goodbye QE, hello uncertainty November 13, 2014 The Federal Reserve in the US has been looking to extract itself from its quantitative easing (QE) programme over the last 18 months, but feared if it did so too soon, it would cause turmoil in the financial markets. It has finally concluded, having made $4 trillion (£2.5 trillion) of bond purchases, that it is [...]
Back to the 90s: What’s in store for 2015 markets November 11, 2014 US equities will stay in bull mode, but the problems for Europe look likely to persist. As we approach the end of 2014, many investors will be reviewing the performance of their portfolios, with a view to repositioning them ready for 2015. Here are my thoughts on where the major markets are heading. [...]
Miliband’s meaningless EU Polyfilla can’t hide his hostility to business November 10, 2014 WRITING for City A.M. in advance of his speech at the CBI conference yesterday, Ed Miliband penned 700 words of waffle. Ostensibly, this was on the pretext of setting out Labour’s position on the European Union. But his policy was so topsy-turvy, it made you feel seasick. It was so contorted, it would have made [...]
London’s billboards are about to get much more high tech with Clear Channel’s “London Wrap” November 10, 2014 London commuters will soon start noticing a change to the billboard adverts greeting them on their journey into the city. The huge posters at stations and at key commuter points across the capital are about to get a major makeover to bring them into the digital age. Usually plastered with an old-school poster ad made of [...]
Bank of England leaves interest rate at 0.5 per cent for 68th month in a row November 6, 2014 The Bank of England's monetary policy committee (MPC) leaft interest rates unchanged again this month, making it the 68th month in a row rates have been at a historic low of 0.5 per cent. The Bank also left its quantitative easing programme at £375bn, even though across the pond, the Fed wound its programme to [...]
Dollar rises as US jobs data beats expectations November 5, 2014 Having experienced a blip over the summer, the US jobs market continued its recovery in October, creating 230,000 new jobs, data by payroll company ADP showed today. The figure beat expectations of 220,000, causing the dollar to rise 0.4 per cent against both the pound and the euro. The data comes ahead of Friday's non-farm [...]