A crude conspiracy: Saudi Arabia’s oil war is about far more than economics November 16, 2014 Having worked in Washington for the better part of a decade, I absolutely despise conspiracy theories, as they simply do not explain the world as I’ve found it. Rather than an evil, omniscient series of Bond villains ruling things, my experience is that human error and fallibility explain far more. As Bob Woodward’s key source [...]
After growth beat expectations, are we too pessimistic about the Eurozone’s chances? November 16, 2014 Christian Schulz is senior economist at Berenberg, says Yes. Remember early October? We’d just learned that German industrial output, factory orders and exports had plummeted in August by the biggest margins since Lehman. Alarm bells rang from Frankfurt to Washington. The reality is less spectacular: Germany entered an economic rough patch. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine [...]
G20 summit: Cameron, Obama and world leaders pledge $2 trillion boost and 2.1pc GDP growth by 2018 November 16, 2014 Countries of the G20 have pledged to grow their economies by 2.1 per cent by 2018, adding $2 trillion (£1.25 trillion) to the global economy. The G20 summit in Brisbane was brought to a close by leaders committing to more than 800 reforms aimed at growing their collective GDP, including employment measures, Infrastructure investment, increasing [...]
“More sanctions? I’m off”: Putin leaves G20 early after being blasted over Ukraine November 15, 2014 Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to wave goodbye to his fellow G20 summit attendees a day early, after they criticised Russia's involvement in Ukraine and threatened to impose more sanctions on Moscow. Western leaders from both Europe and North America berated Russia for its part in the recent escalation of military activity in [...]
Sainsbury’s Christmas advert, forex fines, Rosetta and the Double Donut Burger: 10 things we learned this week November 14, 2014 1. Sainsbury's has stolen the Christmas ad crown from John Lewis. Maybe. But have either of them done enough to be considered for our Christmas ad hall of fame, which includes a 1950s Coca-Cola number and the 1992 Yellow Pages classic? 2. Bankers' forex rigging was £1.1bn of bad. RBS, HSBC, UBS, JPMorgan and [...]
Apple is now worth more than the entire Russian stock market November 14, 2014 An interesting viewpoint from Bloomberg this afternoon, whose chart of the day shows how Apple is now bigger than the whole of the Russian stock market. (Source: Bloomberg) Thanks to various factors, including sliding oil prices and sanctions from Western economies against Russian companies, the value of Russian shares has fallen $234bn (£150bn) this year, reckons Bloomberg. [...]
Sweden confirms foreign vessel entered its territory: How would Sweden and Russia fare in a military conflict? November 14, 2014 Sweden says it has proof a foreign submarine entered its waters last month, prompting Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Loefven to increase the country's border defenses and military arsenal. Swedish Armed Forces Supreme Commander Sverker Goeransson said the navy had “fully confirmed that a foreign power violated Swedish territory underwater”. At a press conference [...]
Fifa accused of whitewash over bid probe farce November 13, 2014 FIFA faced a barrage of whitewashing accusations last night after the lawyer hired to investigate World Cup corruption claimed football’s world governing body had misrepresented his findings. Michael Garcia, Fifa’s chief ethics investigator, said a report published yesterday that found no cause to re-run the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, won [...]
Goodbye QE, hello uncertainty November 13, 2014 The Federal Reserve in the US has been looking to extract itself from its quantitative easing (QE) programme over the last 18 months, but feared if it did so too soon, it would cause turmoil in the financial markets. It has finally concluded, having made $4 trillion (£2.5 trillion) of bond purchases, that it is [...]
Omnishambles as Fifa’s corruption report is branded “erroneous” by lawyer Michael Garcia – the man who conducted the investigation November 13, 2014 If you were spitting feathers this morning over the Fifa report which exonerated Qatar and Russia but put England in the spotlight, you weren't the only one. Lawyer Michael Garcia, who actually conducted the investigation, has issued a statement slamming the report summary published this morning. He claimed the report, written by Fifa ethics judge [...]