Steve Baker MP: Markets are hooked on kremlinology June 30, 2014 Bank of England staffers once used to a series of questions from MPs on parochial constituency matters have had to up their game. Steve Baker, the Conservative member for Wycombe, has just joined the Treasury Select Committee, and has brought with him a refreshing style of interrogation. I spoke to Baker just after his first [...]
New York Report: Dow down on rates rise call June 26, 2014 US STOCKS ended slightly lower yesterday, after the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis said interest-rate increases should come sooner rather than later. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 21.38 points or 0.13 per cent, to end at 16,846.13. The S&P 500 slipped 2.31 points or 0.12 per cent, to 1,957.22. The [...]
Letters to the Editor – 27/06 – Global money, Airport options, Best of Twitter June 26, 2014 Global money [Re: Bretton Woods: How stable monetary order was created and then destroyed, Tuesday] An interesting historical article, but the author displays a misguided support for a fixed international monetary system. If a floating exchange rate system is associated with the global expansion of credit, the older order is associated with the inability of [...]
Drones use cameras to politely interact June 26, 2014 “You first!” “After you!” “Thanks, but I must insist!” “This is getting silly” It is not out of the question that drones will engage in this sort of amicable conversation in the near future. Professor Sandor Veres and his colleagues at the University of Sheffield have created a system in which flying robots use cameras [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 26 June 2014 June 25, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Fed warns banks of tougher tests The Federal Reserve has warned banks in the US that tests of their ability to survive a financial crisis will be made tougher – with new risk assessments and regular checks to ensure they fix any weaknesses identified in the process. Fed governor Daniel Tarullo, who is [...]
A human step for artificial intelligence June 23, 2014 Robots are getting smarter. They still need instructions, but they no longer need to be so detailed. Now you can just say “make me a bowl of noodles”, rather than telling them that they need to heat the water, too. This is because of work being done by a scientist in California, who is designing them [...]
Euro rate hike unlikely for at least two years June 23, 2014 AUSTRIAN central bank chief Ewald Nowotny said this weekend that the European Central Bank (ECB) is unlikely to raise interest rates until at least 2016, as the policy of major central banks diverges. Nowotny’s comments follow the ECB’s easing, which reduced the Eurozone deposit rate to a negative level for the first time. Analysts have [...]
Pound at five-year high as CBI reports best order book results June 19, 2014 STERLING pushed above $1.704 yesterday, breaking into territory last seen before the full weight of the financial crisis hit in October 2008. The pound’s rise came as the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) reported that manufacturers’ order books were in their best state so far in 2014. Sterling’s surge against the dollar also followed comments [...]
New York Report: S&P hits new heights due to Fed optimism June 19, 2014 THE S&P 500 ended on a record high yesterday, extending gains for a fifth day on investors’ optimism that the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates low for a long period of time. While the The S&P 500 gained 2.50 points or 0.13 per cent, to close at 1,959.48, the Dow Jones industrial average eked [...]
Pound hits fresh four-year high against dollar on dovish Fed June 19, 2014 Sterling has made a leap higher against the US dollar this morning, granted strength by comments from the Bank of England signalling that a rise in rates may be approaching. The pound rose about the $1.701 level earlier today, a new post-August 2009 high. A relatively dovish statement from the US Federal Reserve last night [...]