New Xbox and PS4 send sales soaring at Game August 14, 2014 GAME Digital, the high street video games retailer, revealed a strong set of sales during the past year in its first trading update as a public company yesterday, helped by high demand for the launch of new consoles from Microsoft and Sony. The group reported a 30 per cent bump in total sales during the [...]
New York Report: Wall St rises amid talk Fed won’t up rates August 14, 2014 US STOCKS edged higher yesterday, as softer-than-expected economic data reinforced speculation that the Federal Reserve won’t rush to raise interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 61.78 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 16,713.58.The S&P 500 closed up 8.46 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 1,955.18, with health-care stocks leading the gains. And the [...]
Asda steals market share as like-for-likes edge up August 14, 2014 Like-for-like sales at Asda edged up 0.5 per cent for the 10 weeks to June 30, with the supermarket building market share by 0.14 per cent year-on-year. The Walmart-owned grocer – which is currently going through a major restructure involving 1,360 job cuts – said growth demonstrated it was “continuing to deliver on its [...]
Osborne awaits Lloyds share price rise before next stock sell off August 13, 2014 The Treasury is waiting for Lloyds’ share price to jump again before it sells the next tranche of shares in the bank. Lloyds’ share price has fallen by around seven per cent in the past two months, in line with the rest of the sector, putting the brakes on the privatisation of the bailed out [...]
New York Report: Biotechs help to lift Wall St August 13, 2014 US STOCKS ended higher yesterday as surging biotech shares helped investors shrug off disappointing retail sales data. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 91.13 points, or 0.55 per cent, to close at 16,651.67. The S&P 500 was up 12.97 points, or 0.67 per cent, to close at 1,946.72. The Nasdaq Composite added 44.88 points, or [...]
The sorry tale of forward guidance August 13, 2014 What remains of the Bank of England’s policy of forward guidance, launched just a year ago? In the light of yesterday’s Inflation Report, the answer has to be “not much”. The value of guidance from a central bank should be to provide a consistent and reliable indication of how it is thinking about its decisions [...]
US retail and food sales edge up August 13, 2014 Retail and food sales reached $439.8bn (£263m) in the US last month, a marginal uptick of 0.5 per cent on June, and 3.7 per cent higher than July 2013. Health and personal care stores recorded the biggest annual rise, with July's sales up 7.3 per cent on last year, and 0.4 per cent on [...]
Scandal-hit American Apparel posts bigger-than-expected losses August 13, 2014 American Apparel has reported bigger than expected losses for its second quarter, as the company attempts to ride out a series of scandals relating to founder and former chief executive Dov Charney. The retailer said in a preliminary filing that it expected to make a net loss of $15m (£8.9m) for the three months [...]
PlayStation 4: Sales reach 10 million as 14 November UK release date revealed for PlayStation TV August 13, 2014 Sony has sold 10m of its PlayStation 4 consoles in the nine months since launch and has revealed a 14 November UK release date for its new PlayStation TV streaming device. Speaking at gaming conference Gamescom, Sony Computer Entertainment chief Jim Ryan said consumer sales of the console, not just units shipped to retailers, had [...]
New Look lines up buyer for its French business as sales surge August 12, 2014 FASHION retailer New Look said yesterday it had received an offer for its French clothing chain Mim after revealing a strong rise in first quarter sales. The group, which slipped into the red last year after having to write-down the value of Mim’s assets, declined to name the buyer, but said deal was expected to [...]