French businesses start the year on a high as German industry is hit by snow February 8, 2011 FRENCH business confidence spiked to a three-year high in January, the Bank of France revealed yesterday. The surge prompted the Bank to forecast growth of 0.8 per cent for the first quarter of this year. Such an expansion in GDP would be the fastest quarterly growth rate in seven years and more than double what [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 2, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES LLOYDS DROPS MORTGAGE BROKERS OVER SUSPECTED FRAUD Concerns over suspected fraud have prompted Lloyds Banking Group to cull the list of brokers it allows to sell its mortgages. The UK’s largest mortgage lender has removed some 900 individuals over the past four years from its “approved panel” of brokers, including 300 in the [...]
Davos leaders on defensive as risks loom January 30, 2011 GLOBAL leaders flew back to their home countries yesterday to face up to the twin risks of high unemployment and rising inflation that marked the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos last week. The conference tried to sound an optimistic note, with trade between emerging markets flourishing and advanced economies coming out of recession, but many [...]
Events January 26, 2011 DAVOS: THURSDAY 27 JAN French President Nicolas Sarkozy will give the opening address in the Congress Centre. 7.30am in the Belvedere Hotel: BCG-CII breakfast session, with BCG CEO Paul Buerkner speaking. 7.30am in the Belvedere: Swiss Re hosts a roundtable on solutions to ageing, good security and natural disasters. NASDAQ OMX hosts an opening bell [...]
HEDGE FUND MANAGERS GET A VERY RAW DEAL January 25, 2011 HEDGE fund managers rightly feel they are being persecuted by creeping EU legislation, which is suffocating their industry. But Hugh Hendry, a Scottish fund manager at Eclectica Asset Management, may be suffering from a touch of hyperbole. In the latest issue of Bloomberg Markets he likens the plight of the humble hedgie manager to the [...]
Sarkozy calls for regulation January 24, 2011 WITH global food prices rising, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for stronger regulation of commodity markets yesterday. His comments came on the eve of the Davos summit, as economists decide how best to respond to food inflation. The world risks food riots and weaker growth if leaders fail to act, Sarkozy told 300 diplomats and [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD January 23, 2011 COMPANY NEWS ● Electronics company Philips publishes its 2010 full year results on Monday. ● Sodexo, the food services provider, releases its first quarter 2011 results on Monday. ● Tuesday sees Ericsson report its fourth quarter 2010 results and Siemens its first quarter 2011 results. ● WH Smiths will hold its annual general meeting and issue [...]
G20 reassures that it will tackle food price inflation January 7, 2011 THE Group of 20 leading economies have started working-level talks on the soaring food prices that are stoking fears of a repeat of the 2008 food crisis. Global food prices hit a record high last month, outstripping the levels that sparked riots in several countries in 2008, and key grains could rise further, the United [...]
Cameron secures EU budget freeze December 17, 2010 Prime Minister David Cameron has said the UK alongside France, Germany and other EU countries will publish a letter calling for a freezing of the EU budget at least until 2020. Cameron has been lobbying behind the scenes at EU meetings in Brussels over the past few days to secure the real-terms freeze in the [...]
Sarkozy signs $20bn in deals on Indian trade trip December 6, 2010 FRANCE’S President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday said he had clinched deals worth about $20bn (£12.6bn) with India, becoming the latest among a string of world leaders jostling for a share of Asia’s third biggest economy. The business deals, which spanned atomic energy, defence and civil aviation, comfortably bettered the $10bn US President Barack Obama secured on [...]