ROTHSCHILD GIVES STAFF ITS TURKEY OF A BONUS October 23, 2011 EVERY little helps, as the Tesco slogan goes. So the price-conscious supermarket giant will be pleased to learn that the competitively remunerated London employees of Rothschild receive daily luncheon vouchers for the sum of £3 that can be refunded in any of its stores. But Rothschild’s solicitous attempts to ensure its workforce is well fed [...]
US sees gains in factory output and jobs data October 20, 2011 US factory output across the mid-Atlantic region climbed in October after a poor showing in September, new data shows, while the number of people claiming unemployment benefit has fallen in the past week. The heartening data is helping to build a picture of a higher economic activity as the US fights to avoid another recession. [...]
Episode 32: Sleepless in the City – a day in the life with baby twins October 18, 2011 00.00 Gabriella doesn’t “do” nights. Seems it’s an opportunity for babies and parents to bond. So one day ends and another begins with Emma and me feeding the twins. 01.45 Ditto – after an hour’s sleep. 02.15 Harry has colic. I pace the darkened bedroom with him wailing into my shoulder. Emma sleeps soundly. 03.15 [...]
LOOKING FOR SIGNS OF HOPE October 16, 2011 THE Eurozone is in dire need of a quick capital injection, perhaps €2 trillion, says economist Nouriel Roubini. Roubini is not the only economist alarmed by the Eurozone’s banking system. Even outgoing ECB head Jean-Claude Trichet said recently that the systemic crisis must be decisively tackled, as the interconnectedness threatens the Eurozone’s financial stability, and [...]
Rajaratnam sentenced to 11 years in prison October 13, 2011 Raj Rajaratnam, the US former hedge fund tycoon at the centre of the biggest Wall Street insider trading case in decades, has been sentenced to 11 years in prison in one of the most severe sentences of its kind. Rajaratnam, 54, founder of the Galleon Group hedge fund that reached $7bn (£4.5bn) at its peak, [...]
QE3 is still on the table, Fed minutes show October 12, 2011 A CONTROVERSIAL third phase of quantitative easing could still be on the cards in the US, it emerged last night. Two of the Fed’s 10-person committee “said that current conditions and the outlook could justify stronger policy action” than the central bank’s Operation Twist, the minutes to its September meeting revealed. Operation Twist – which [...]
Pimco beefs up exposure to mortgages October 12, 2011 THE PIMCO Total Return Fund, the world’s largest bond fund, increased its exposure to mortgages in September and showed a dramatic drop in cash equivalents and money market securities for the same period, according to its website yesterday. Pacific Investment Management Co, which has $1.3 trillion in assets under management, increased exposure to mortgages in [...]
FTSE rises as miners gain and euro hope pushes bank stock October 12, 2011 STRONG miners and banks boosted Britain’s top shares yesterday, keeping the index on an upward tilt, underpinned by progress in tackling the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis and recent upbeat US data. The mood, already elevated by hopes European leaders will unveil new measures to solve the crisis by the month’s end, was further lifted when [...]
Celebrate Big Food: Our diet is cheaper, richer and more nutritious than ever before October 12, 2011 BIG Food is widely regarded as the polar opposite of good food. Big food companies, we are told by campaigners and celebrity chefs, produce poor quality, waistline-busting, environment-wrecking, small-farmer-bankrupting products. The supermarkets allegedly destroy communities to sell rubbish to zombified shoppers. Industrial agriculture gives us nutrient-lite, flavourless, chemical-soaked food produced in a shockingly wasteful manner. [...]
The sherry bar that’s rocking South London’s food scene October 12, 2011 TONIGHT, José Pizarro is a rock star in his own restaurant. He’s shaking everyone’s hand, or rather, everyone’s shaking his hand. Hardeep Singh Kohli, the Scottish Sikh presenter, and his chums are settling in round a pillar to order and are giving him the pats on the back. It could be because today the Bermondsey [...]