Marks and Spencer unveils new collection May 14, 2014 HIGH street giant Marks and Spencer has revealed its 2014 autumn/winter collection of womenswear, in a bid to bolster a small upturn in fashion sales. In figures released last month, the retailer saw a 0.6 per cent rise for the first three months of the year, against 10 quarters of decline.
Mike Ashley in talks to buy 33 LA Fitness sites May 14, 2014 SPORTS Direct’s billionaire owner Mike Ashley has set his sights on expanding into the health and leisure industry, with plans to buy 33 sites from LA Fitness. The health club chain confirmed yesterday that it was in talks with the Newcastle United football club owner over the 33 sites, which had been put up for [...]
Macy’s ups share buyback programme despite poor sales May 14, 2014 Macy’s, the enduringly popular US fashion store, has reported a 1.7 per cent drop in sales in the first quarter, from a year earlier – from $6.38bn (£3.8bn) to $6.27bn (£3.7bn). Analysts had been expecting a fall of 1.3 per cent. It’s still upping its share buyback programme, though – by $1.5bn. It also increased [...]
Asian markets advance as US equities maintain record highs May 14, 2014 Asian markets rose after US equities stayed at record highs, while the euro hovered near a five week low fuelling speculation among investors that the European Central Bank may pursue stimulus next month. Weaker than expected retail sales in the US did little to damper investor confidence, with the Federal Reserve continuing its tapering programme [...]
Weaker retail sales cast shadow over growth outlook for the US May 13, 2014 US RETAIL sales grew by a meagre 0.1 per cent in April, a shadow of the previous month when sales jumped by a revised 1.5 per cent. Sales in April were four per cent higher than a year earlier, the Commerce Department said, but still disappointed investors. Analysts at HSBC had expected sales “to turn [...]
New York Report: Fresh record peaks for Dow and S&P 500 May 13, 2014 THE DOW and the S&P 500 eked out record closing highs again last night, while the Nasdaq resumed its recent slide, dragged down by Cisco shares. The S&P 500 briefly rose above 1,900 for the first time early in the session, but quickly gave back some of its gains. In contrast, the Russell 2000 index [...]
Sterling strength won’t last: Markets will soon notice UK economic weaknesses May 13, 2014 STERLING has had a good run against the dollar, but it can’t last much longer. The pound has risen to five-year highs on growing expectations of an early UK rate rise and more dovish comments from the Federal Reserve. But events on both sides of the Atlantic could upset the consensus. For a start, the [...]
Citizens wants to dominate north east US May 13, 2014 RBS is cutting right back in the UK and across the world – it only wants to focus on British retail and business banking. That means slashing its investment bank further, an efficiency drive in branches and selling overseas units. One of those is Citizens its US arm, which could be worth as [...]
What you need to know before the US open May 13, 2014 US stocks are expected flat today, after retail sales disappointed and investors found little else to prompt a push resulting in anything like the sharp rally seen yesterday. Retail sales improved just 0.1 per cent in April, below the 0.4 per cent forecast and the 1.5 per cent jump seen in March. Meanwhile, imports and [...]
US rebound evaporates as retail sales slump May 13, 2014 Not the number analysts were looking for. US retail sales grew by a meagre 0.1 per cent in April, a shadow of March's estimated 1.5 per cent leap (which has today been revised down to 0.4 per cent). Analysts at HSBC expected sales "to turn in a solid performance, as households continued to make up [...]