British Airways continues Israel flights as US and European airlines suspend operations July 23, 2014 British Airways is one of the only major European airlines still flying into the Israeli airport Ben Gurion in Tel Aviv. A number of major US and European carriers have suspended flights to the country after rockets from Gaza were fired closed to the airport raising safety concerns. BA’s twice daily flights to the destination [...]
Putin has exposed a chilling truth about the West: It no longer exists July 22, 2014 Somehow Europe’s leaders have managed to undershoot even my subterranean expectations. Ahead of an EU foreign ministers meeting yesterday to plan a common response to the Malaysia Airlines atrocity, leaks made it all too clear that this whole process would not amount to much. But the results – even for the EU – are almost comically [...]
London Report: FTSE rises as rebels move to hand over MH17 black boxes July 22, 2014 THE UK’S top equity index rallied yesterday, lifted by technology group ARM, which rose after posting higher profits. The FTSE 100 added 66.90 points or 0.99 per cent to 6,795.34, while other global markets also moved higher on news that pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine had complied with western requests to hand over the black box [...]
EU could impose new hard-hitting sanctions on Russia by Thursday July 22, 2014 European foreign ministers failed to agree on fresh hard-hitting measures aimed at the Russian economy today, however new sanctions including capital restrictions could be announced by Thursday if Moscow does not cooperate on the MH17 crash investigation. Under growing pressure from the US, which says plane was brought down by a surface-to-air missile fired by pro-Russian [...]
Coca-Cola share price slides as profits miss expectations July 22, 2014 Coca-Cola saw its shares slide as much as 4.2 per cent in early trading this afternoon after its second quarter results showed profits were down on last year. Profits fell to 58 cents a share from 59 cents a year earlier, a drop from $2.67bn to $2.59bn. Revenue was also down, falling one per cent [...]
MH17 plane crash: Russia sanctions will hit City Cameron warns July 21, 2014 David Cameron and George Osborne have warned the City of London to brace itself for a financial hit as they prepare to push for tough financial sanctions on Russia in the aftermath of the MH17 disaster. Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, the Prime Minister referred to the downing of the Malaysian airlines flight, [...]
Severstal to sell US steel plants July 21, 2014 RUSSIAN steelmaker Severstal yesterday said it has agreed to sell two US steel plants for $2.325bn (£1.36bn), as it looks to return cash to shareholders and focus on its domestic market. The sale of the Columbus and Dearborn assets – which mainly make steel for the automotive industry – to US rivals Steel Dynamics and [...]
London Report: FTSE falls as tobacco stocks are burned by $23.6bn US fine July 21, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index fell yesterday, with tobacco stocks hit by a multi-billion-dollar fine against RJ Reynolds in the United States and retailers slipping after a profit warning from Tesco. The prospect of further sanctions by the West against Russia over last week’s downing of an airliner over Ukraine also discouraged investors from making big [...]
The sanction spiral: Russia and Europe may fall into recession July 21, 2014 A trade “tit-for-tat” would hit both sides extremely hard EVEN before the tragic Malaysia Airlines plane crash in Ukraine last Thursday (allegedly the work of Moscow-backed separatists), Russia was already reeling from the US’s tightening of the screws. The country’s Micex stock index tumbled 2.3 per cent to 1,440.63 last week after news that financial [...]
CNBC Comment: Why instability isn’t spooking markets July 21, 2014 THE BIGGEST point markets are making at the moment is that they aren’t making a big point. Given increased tensions around Russia and Ukraine, we are closer to war in Europe than we have been for a long time. Simultaneously, the death toll in Gaza tragically keeps rising. Yet despite these dominating geopolitical events, involving [...]