UK economy faces sluggishness at home and abroad, warns Bank December 21, 2011 THE UK economy is slowing across the board, according to the Bank of England’s business conditions summary, published yesterday. Construction output declined in November, the Bank’s agents found, and growth also slowed in manufacturing, business services, and exports. Uncertainty in the economic situation is in part to blame – “employment intentions had softened recently, with [...]
Krona and krone won’t be safe-haven kings December 20, 2011 ALONG with Apple’s shares plummeting 50 per cent in value, Australia’s looming recession and wheat doubling in price, in its self-styled outrageous predictions for 2012, Saxo Bank speculates that Sweden and Norway could replace Switzerland as the safe haven currencies of choice. But could Sweden’s krona or Norway’s krone really become the security blankets for [...]
US GDP set to grow as Eurozone shrinks December 19, 2011 STEADY growth in the US economy means interest rate cuts are no longer needed, said Richmond Fed president Jeffrey Lacker (pictured right) in a speech yesterday. GDP will grow by between two and 2.5 per cent despite the Eurozone slowdown, he said, on the same day as PwC published grim forecasts for the major euro [...]
Hitting the right note at 34 December 19, 2011 Restaurant 34 34 Grosvenor Square, W1K 2HD Tel: 020 3350 3434 FOOD *** SERVICE ***** ATMOSPHERE ***** Cost per person without wine: £50 YOU missed Bill,” my companion informed me as I sat down to dinner at 34, the new restaurant from Richard Caring’s Caprice Holdings Group. “Bill Clinton,” he clarified. Like fellow Caprice outposts [...]
FedEx to buy new planes as profits rise December 15, 2011 FEDEX reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit yesterday and said it is buying 27 new Boeing aircraft to update its fleet for fuel efficiency and cost savings. The company also said it is deferring delivery of some Boeing freighter aircraft, adjusting for slowing volume out of Asia. The world’s second-biggest package delivery company reported second-quarter net [...]
Market gains on strong factory data December 15, 2011 US stocks rose yesterday as signs of strength in the economy and higher-than-expected profit at FedEx outweighed warnings about Europe. The US equity market continued its familiar back-and-forth rotation between optimism about the US economy and fears Europe’s debt crisis could spark a global recession. Lately the fear trade has been winning, but FedEx boosted [...]
Don’t lock the world out of London: New rules send the City back to the dark ages December 15, 2011 THERE is a well-used phrase in management, that it is better to make a wrong decision than none at all. The exception must be Mark Makepeace, chief executive of the FTSE Group, who this week ruled all listings in London from next month must have a 25 per cent free float In enforcing this, he [...]
Nokia’s Lumia has made me see it in a new light December 15, 2011 I HAVEN’T always been Nokia’s biggest fan. Earlier this year I might have said its tie-up with Microsoft was not so much a case of rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic as sending a diving team to the bottom of the ocean to drape bunting over its rusting shell. I might have said it was duller [...]
Russia’s protests are a cry for less state corruption December 14, 2011 ANYONE surveying the scene in Russia today has one name to commit to memory: Alexey Navalny. It would be a gross exaggeration to say that this 35-year-old anti-corruption blogger was responsible for turning out a 50,000-strong protest against a rigged parliamentary election – the largest pro-democracy movement Russia has seen since the collapse of communism. [...]
Fed: No more QE just yet December 13, 2011 MODEST economic growth means interest rates will be held at “exceptionally low levels” until at least mid-2013, the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) said yesterday as it decided to hold steady with its current monetary stance. Strains in financial markets pose “significant downside risks” to the economic outlook, the Committee warned, whilst it worried that [...]