A trade war with Russia would be Lehman Bros 2 March 3, 2014 MORALITY and foreign policy make uneasy bedfellows. In 1997, when Tony Blair called for an ethical foreign policy, the country cheered; 17 years later, any politician calling for such idealism would be laughed out of town. After 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq, Georgia, the Arab Spring and so on, a battlehardened realism is the order of the [...]
Worst day for Russian market since 2008 crash March 3, 2014 RUSSIAN stocks dived by 11 per cent yesterday, wiping around $60bn (£36bn) from the value of the companies – a loss of value even greater than the $51bn cost of the Sochi olympics. The country’s central bank hiked interest rates in an effort to stem the flood of money out of the country, attempting to [...]
Bottom Line: Three stocks that stand to lose big from the escalating market chaos March 3, 2014 1 BPTHE MOST exposed to Russia of the FTSE’s energy majors slumped 2.28 per cent yesterday despite a similar rise in the cost of brent crude. A hotly contested deal in 2012 saw BP take on a 19.75 per cent stake in Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft – whose shares dropped 4.1 per cent in [...]
Boris: Increase council tax and cut business rates in the capital March 3, 2014 LONDON Mayor Boris Johnson has called for a cut to business rates and increases to council tax for those who own expensive homes in London. Speaking at a Communities and Local Government select committee yesterday the Mayor said businesses are being “clobbered” by high rates while rich homeowners pay low rates of tax as council [...]
London Report: Ukraine unrest drags on FTSE as volatility climbs March 3, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index fell to a two-week low yesterday, led down by asset management firms as stocks most exposed to emerging markets fell on increasing tensions in Ukraine. The possibility of war between Russia and Ukraine hit stocks that are particularly sensitive to optimism over global markets, such as fund managers Schroders and Aberdeen [...]
New York Report: US stocks fall despite strong factory activity March 3, 2014 US STOCKS tumbled yesterday alongside other risky assets globally as tensions in Ukraine and Russia escalated after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared he had the right to invade his neighbour. News that Ukraine mobilised for war on Sunday and Washington threatened to isolate Russia economically overshadowed better-than-expected US data, including an index showing that factory [...]
Letters to the Editor – 04/03 – Ukraine crisis, Best of Twitter March 3, 2014 Ukraine crisis [Re: Russia’s Ukraine attack is end of Pax Americana, yesterday] A missile defence umbrella would represent a pointless and long-term burden, and is unlikely to restrain future Russian expansionism. The US and Europe are widely regarded as militarily incapable, and the expenditure of lives and money in Iraq and Afghanistan has proven a [...]
Ukraine conflict adds to perfect storm for international markets March 3, 2014 And investors should expect rising levels of geopolitical risk Market risk sentiment quickly unraveled yesterday, as investors reacted to what has been termed the biggest threat to European security this century. As Russian troops massed in Crimea, stocks in Moscow’s MICEX index crashed by around 9 per cent on the open (see graph), with the [...]
CNBC Comment: Russia’s economy looks set up for a fall March 3, 2014 DECADES of diplomacy ushered Moscow into the international tent. And in the interest of keeping the country inside, Western powers mostly seemed content to ignore Russian aggression across its borders and human rights violations within. But this not-so-Great Game of diplomacy only works when all sides are prepared to at least preserve the façade. Closer [...]
There’s a cost to doing nothing in Ukraine March 3, 2014 IN RESPONSE to Russian forces entering the Crimea, the interim Ukrainian government called for UK and US intervention, invoking the undertakings we (and the French, and latterly Nato) gave to protect Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Yesterday, William Hague went to Kiev to tell the Ukrainians to their faces that we’re not coming – “no military options [...]