The City must not over-react to the shock death of an intern August 21, 2013 THERE are still lots of unanswered questions following the sudden and tragic death of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s 21-year-old intern Moritz Erhardt. Whether he was an epileptic – and whether he had declared that to the bank – is crucial to understanding what happened to cut an ambitious young man down in such cruel [...]
Strong London rents help boost UK Commercial Property Trust August 21, 2013 UK Commercial Property Trust, the largest UK-focused trust of its kind, said yesterday its net asset value (NAV) per share had dipped 1.2 per cent to 68.9p in the six months to 30 June, as the value of its property portfolio fell. The Guernsey-based trust, which owns retail and office properties across the UK, posted a [...]
UK public finances run up unexpected deficit August 21, 2013 The UK's public finances posted an unexpected deficit in July, exposing the government's failure to reign in spending. July is typically a good month for the public coffers, as it is the time of year when high taxes on income and wealth are recorded from self assessment and quarterly corporation tax returns. Indeed, tax receipts [...]
What the analysts are saying about July’s public sector deficit August 21, 2013 This morning, the Office for National Statistics said the UK government posted a £62m deficit in July – down from an £823m surplus the year before (full story here). Here's what analysts are saying about the figures. Martin Beck, UK economist at Capital Economics: Despite signs of life in the economy, July’s public finances data [...]
Glencore Xstrata writes down £4.9bn in assets August 20, 2013 FTSE 100-listed Glencore Xstrata yesterday revealed that it had taken a $7.7bn (£4.9bn) writedown on Xstrata’s mining assets, as it posted a nine per cent fall in half-year earnings to $6bn, due to low commodity prices that continue to weigh down on the sector. The miner trader attributed a large part of the writedown to [...]
Ex-Channel Five boss Dawn Airey takes Yahoo’s top European gig August 20, 2013 FORMER Channel Five supremo Dawn Airey was yesterday appointed as Yahoo’s most senior official for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Airey, who in a long television career also held senior posts at Channel 4, Sky and ITV, will be based in London as a senior vice-president and work in Yahoo’s headquarter in California on [...]
Outen quits crime squad August 18, 2013 A FORMER KPMG partner picked to head the government’s new financial crime-fighting unit has unexpectedly stepped down, just months after his position was announced with great fanfare. Jeremy Outen was appointed in April as director designate of the Economic Crime Command at the National Crime Agency (NCA), which is due to launch in October. Outen [...]
London Week Ahead: All eyes on UK GDP and Fed’s minutes August 18, 2013 TRADERS will get a better glimpse into the British economy this week when a further estimate of second quarter economic growth is published at the end of the week. The Office for National Statistics will give a revaluation of the 0.6 per cent advance it recorded between April and June this year on Friday, with [...]
Household energy consumption falls by a quarter since 2005 August 16, 2013 Average household energy consumption in England and Wales fell by nearly a quarter between 2005 and 2011 according to the Office for National Statistics. Energy consumption fell by 24.7 per cent over the period. There was significant regional variation, with the East Midlands posting the highest consumption every year measured. However, the difference in average [...]
Markets in turmoil over taper fears August 15, 2013 ■ Mixed US data leads to new fears over when Fed will start tapering stimulus ■ Dollar dives from one week high as uncertainty stalks trading desks ■ FTSE 100 suffers worst day in almost two months after retail sales rise GLOBAL markets were sent reeling yesterday, as strong US economic data reignited [...]