Mistakes to avoid if you move abroad October 5, 2011 MANY people choose to leave the UK to escape, temporarily or permanently, the gloomy weather and the even gloomier tax regime. Sadly, there is a mountain of bureaucracy to wade through before setting sail for warmer climes. “It is important to differentiate between moving overseas for a short period of time and expatriating indefinitely,” says [...]
Bernanke fails to rule out QE3 October 4, 2011 IN A testimony to the US Congress yesterday, Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke largely rehashed language used in recent speeches, such as his address at the Jackson Hole symposium in August and his speech to the Economic Club of Minnesota on 8 September. However, forex market reactions leaned more on what the Fed chairman didn’t [...]
GOLDMAN PREDICTS GREAT STAGNATION September 29, 2011 THE GREAT recession is in serious danger of becoming “the Great Stagnation”, according to research published by Goldman Sachs. “Both Europe and the US are remarkably close to the typical stagnation trajectory,” the report said, calculating that there is as much as a 40 per cent chance of major parts of the West experiencing an [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 27, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES ANADARKO SOUNDS OUT BRAZILIAN BUYERS Anadarko Petroleum has asked advisers to sound out potential buyers for a collection of its Brazilian oil assets in a deal that could be worth up to $5bn, in the latest attempt by oil and gas explorers in the region to attract investment. The US independent oil and [...]
US may charge S&P over sub prime ratings September 26, 2011 CREDIT rating agency Standard & Poor’s could be hit with legal action from the US markets regulator for mis-rating a risky package of sub-prime mortgage bonds in 2007, it disclosed yesterday. S&P said the Securities and Exchange Commission was considering recommending action against it for violating securities laws in its rating of a collaterised debt [...]
US new home sales fall to six-month low September 26, 2011 New single-family home sales in the US fell to a six-month low in August in a sign the crippled housing market will not provide much support for the flagging economy any time soon. The US Commerce Department said sales slipped 2.3 per cent to a seasonally adjusted 295,000-unit annual rate. The reading was in line [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WILL CONFIDENCE BOUNCE BACK SOON? September 25, 2011 SAMUEL TOMBS | CAPITAL ECON “No – conditions may be deteriorating further. We expect figures from surveys like the CBI’s Distributive Trades Survey, which comes out in the UK tomorrow, to maintain the gloomy tone. And while August’s household borrowing figures, released this Thursday, may reveal a rise in mortgage approvals, we predict a fall [...]
The Fed’s paper plane won’t fly: why the US economy is in need of more than a Twist September 22, 2011 THE markets were hoping for a helicopter drop from the US Federal Reserve this week, a reference to Ben Bernanke’s infamous 2002 speech on how to prevent deflation. What they got was more a paper plane, where the Fed will fly Treasury bonds from the short to the long end of the interest rate curve. [...]
FED ADDS AN EXTRA TWIST TO STIMULUS September 21, 2011 THE FEDERAL Reserve under Ben Bernanke (pictured)announced two new “twists” to its efforts to stimulate the ailing US economy last night, yet stopped short of declaring another phase of quantitative easing. “There are significant downside risks to the economic outlook, including strains in global financial markets,” the Fed said in a bid to justify its latest intervention. [...]
Companies don’t pay taxes: we do. A Tobin Tax will cost us far more than it collects September 21, 2011 GLORY be, we are to be saved! As the TUC, President Nicolas Sarkozy, Chancellor Angela Merkel and the European Parliament agree, impose a Financial Transactions Tax (FTT) upon the banks and Europe, or at least the euro, will be saved. The banks shall pay for their errors and kittens will gambol in sunshine once again. [...]