Venezuela plans to fingerprint shoppers to stop food shortages August 22, 2014 The President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, has announced plans for a major mandatory fingerprinting system to combat the increasingly dire food shortages and rampant smuggling afflicting the Latin American state. He said the fingerprinting system would be similar to the one the country uses for voting and was intended to stop Venezuelans buying too much [...]
Food spending falls for first time in 25 years as supermarkets wage price wars August 21, 2014 Spending on groceries has fallen for the first time since records began 25 years ago, laying bare the challenges facing Britain’s supermarkets in winning over cash-strapped shoppers. The amount spent in food stores fell 1.3 per cent in July compared with the same time last year, according to the Office for National Statistics, which put [...]
No Eurozone GDP growth in second quarter after France and Germany disappoint August 14, 2014 There was zero GDP growth for the Eurozone in the second quarter of 2014, according to figures released today. The seasonally adjusted figures for GDP growth in the 18-country bloc grew by 0.2 per cent in the first quarter, and economists had predicted a similar level of growth in the second quarter. The result [...]
Worst quarter for retail since summer 2012 as drop in food sales gets sector reversing August 11, 2014 Retail sales growth went into reverse last month, according to dreary figures released this morning, with the first quarter of contraction in more than two years recorded. Like-for-like sales dropped by 0.2 per cent between May and July, compared to the same months a year ago, according to the latest data from KPMG and the [...]
Russia’s food ban sanctions against EU farmers threaten Eurozone August 8, 2014 Sanctions slapped on EU farmers by the Russian government could help to push Eurozone inflation even lower, potentially forcing price growth into negative territory. Inflation in the euro area is already running at just 0.4 per cent, where even a small drop could push the region into deflation. Economists fear the single currency could [...]
Draghi: Ukraine crisis a threat to the Eurozone economy August 7, 2014 Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), today admitted that the Ukraine crisis represented a threat to the Eurozone economy. The geopolitical concerns surrounding the Ukraine crisis and in particular the import ban imposed by Russia, were highlighted as a potential risk to European economic outlook by Draghi, but he insisted that [...]
Investment Comment: European earnings could be set to come back with a bang August 5, 2014 There is a question mark looming over European equities – when will companies deliver on earnings? So far, underwhelming earnings growth has done little to support the market’s upward march. In our view, that is poised to change. The Eurozone has a real and sustainable economic recovery underway, following four consecutive quarters of positive [...]
Inflation slips to lowest since 2009 for Eurozone July 31, 2014 Inflation weakened even further in the Eurozone during July, dropping to just 0.4 per cent, the lowest level since the aftermath of the financial crisis. The consumer price index (CPI) has been growing increasingly slowly since the middle of 2012, and was last above the European Central Bank (ECB) target level of two per cent [...]
Inflation jumps to biggest monthly increase since October 2012 July 15, 2014 UK consumer inflation unexpectedly jumped to 1.9 per cent in June, according to latest figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS). Headline annual consumer price inflation (CPI) recorded a much higher increase than had been forecast, rising 0.4 percentage points on the May figure. That is the biggest monthly increase since October 2012 [...]
London Report: Unemployment figures set to show recovery July 14, 2014 UNEMPLOYMENT figures this week are expected to show that the number of people out of work has dropped again, as the UK recovery takes hold. Jobs data is likely to show an unemployment rate of 6.5 per cent in the three months to May, down from 6.9 per cent in the quarter to February. Despite [...]