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 [...]
CITY VIEWS: HAVE YOU NOTICED PRICE RISES EASING IN CONSUMER GOODS? December 13, 2011 TONY KIERNAN ACME PACKET “Not so much with food – but to be honest I don’t do the shopping, my wife does. I’m more aware of the price of petrol – it often stops me getting in the car.” PHILIP GIFFORD DELOITTE “I’ve definitely noticed food prices stagnating, especially bread and milk. Prices have risen [...]
Slump goes on as all eyes on the Fed December 13, 2011 Stocks fell for a second consecutive day yesterday after the Federal Reserve gave no hints of new stimulus measures to offset the effects of the worsening European debt crisis. Though the Fed did leave the door open to further easing next year, as it has done after recent meetings, it gave no indication it was [...]
Eurozone woes will strengthen the dollar December 13, 2011 CMC MARKETS MICHAEL HEWSON Given the problems within the euro area, the dollar looks as if it could post further gains as we head into 2012. However, talk of further easing from the Fed may weigh on the greenback in the medium term, especially with the political deadlock between Republicans and Democrats in the lead [...]