Don’t trust everything people say February 13, 2011 TRADERS short on oil suffered a brief shock last Thursday. In early trading, a rumour began circulating, originating from a relatively minor Arab news site that the King of Saudi Arabia had died. Despite the implausible nature of the story – it was reported that King Abdullah died during a heated phone debate with Barack [...]
Nokia teams up with Microsoft to take on Apple February 11, 2011 Nokia and Microsoft have teamed up to take on Google and Apple in the fast-growing smartphone market using Windows Phone as the software platform for its smartphones as part of new chief executive Stephen Elop’s overhaul of the world’s biggest cellphone maker. Nokia has rapidly lost share in the higher-margin smartphone market to the likes [...]
Nokia leaks Doomsday memo February 9, 2011 A leaked memo sent from Nokia’s chief executive Stephen Elop yesterday painted a vivid picture of the threat facing the company. The email warned that Nokia’s failure to keep pace with rivals such as Apple has left it “standing on a burning platform” needing to change. Elop said in the past two years Nokia had [...]
Smartphone sales rocket as Apple bites February 9, 2011 GLOBAL smartphone sales grew an astonishing 72 per cent, with next-generation handsets now making up almost a fifth of receipts, according to new research by Gartner. BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) and Apple crept ahead of industry stalwarts Sony Ericsson and Motorola in total phone sales, with both claiming close to three per cent of [...]
Scents to make the one you love (or like) swoon February 9, 2011 FOR HER FEMME FATALE: LOVE IN BLACK BY CREED Dark, powdery and seductive – the silent screen siren of scent. Florentine iris, glorious pure Damascus rose and a violet encore. Love In Black by Creed £142/75mls from www.creedfragrances.co.uk SENSUAL: SKIN PETALS BY ILLUMINUM Succulent apple blossom and wild berry, mellows into a duo of fragile [...]
WHAT’S NEW IN GADGETS AND TECHNOLOGY February 9, 2011 ALL NEW IPAD ON THE WAY Get those sleeping bags, thermos flasks and cagoules ready and prepare again for the kind of ultra-queuing hardship that occurs only with the release of a new Apple gadget. According to reports in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere yesterday, the iPad 2 is now in production. Thinner, lighter [...]
Dido’s gamble means white flag isn’t likely February 8, 2011 DIDO Harding is a keen racehorse owner whose horse Cool Dawn won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1998. But perhaps the biggest gamble of her career was leaving the sector she had become synonymous with to take the reins at TalkTalk. Harding made her name in supermarkets, first as an executive at Tesco, which she [...]
The world lists in New York February 8, 2011 America is home to many of the world’s biggest companies. However, as mentioned above, NYSE Euronext has a truly global reach. Leading business from Asia, Latin America and Europe choose the exchange for their primary or secondary listings. And this includes many of the UK’s largest blue chip businesses. The top five UK companies listed [...]
What the other papers say this morning February 6, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES GOLDMAN CASH STAGNATES AS ASSET PRICES RISE Goldman Sachs’ attempt to spend some of its $170bn (£106bn) excess capital on loans, real estate and other distressed assets is being hampered by a prolonged rebound in risk appetite that has lifted prices on many would-be bargains. Goldman’s “excess liquidity”, or cash deposits and securities [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD February 6, 2011 COMPANY NEWS ● FTSE 100 gold miner Rangold Resources releases its fourth quarter results today. ● Natural gas group BG Group releases its fourth quarter results tomorrow. ● Steel manufacturer Arcelor-Mittal also releases its full year results tomorrow. ● French food company Danone releases its full year results tomorrow ● Airline Air France-KLM releases its [...]