Airlines lose appeal over EU carbon tax December 21, 2011 US airlines have lost a legal fight to block the EU’s plans for carbon permits, which are due to come into force on 1 January. Industry group Airlines for America said it was considering an appeal after the European Court of Justice said the scheme to charge airlines for carbon emissions on flights to and [...]
Wall Street slumps on oil and euro fear December 14, 2011 US stocks fell for a third day and hit their lowest level in two weeks yesterday as widespread risk aversion sank commodity prices, drove the euro to its lowest in a year and pushed Italian bond yields to a record high. Investors are disappointed the European Central Bank is not buying more bonds of troubled [...]
In America, the shale gas revolution is creating jobs and growth. It can here too December 14, 2011 WHEN is a job not a job? Answer: when it is a green job. Jobs in an industry that raises the price of energy effectively destroy jobs elsewhere; jobs in an industry that cuts the cost of energy create extra jobs elsewhere. The entire argument for green jobs is a version of Frederic Bastiat’s broken-window [...]
TUI to post full-year profit December 14, 2011 Germany’s TUI, owner of Europe’s largest tour operator TUI TraveL, said it expects to post a net profit in its current fiscal year as it passes on rising input costs to holidaymakers and weathers strong economic headwinds. Turnover and operating earnings will grow moderately in the twelve months through the end of September, it said. [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 8, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES GDF SUEZ LAYS OUT FIVE YEAR PLAN GDF Suez, the world’s biggest independent power producer, is to spend up to €55bn globally over five years as it tries to double its size in Asia and cut its reliance on Europe, where it has been locked in dispute with two of its biggest state [...]
Price war cut food inflation December 6, 2011 CUSTOMERS are benefiting from intense competition between supermarkets, according to data out today from the British Retail Consortium. Food price inflation fell for a second consecutive month to 4.0 per cent in the year to November, compared with 4.2 per cent in October. Overall shop prices rose 2.0 per cent in the twelve-month period, down [...]
RWE’s €2.1bn share sale hampered by S&P’s credit warning to the Eurozone December 6, 2011 RWE’s share sale fell flat yesterday as investors held back amid the Standard & Poor’s warning of a credit rating cut to Eurozone countries. The German utility said it raised €2.1bn (£1.8bn) by selling 80.4m shares to institutional investors at €26 a piece – well below the €2.5bn it had hoped for when it announced [...]
City A.M.’s at-a-glance guide to the key points of Osborne’s mini-Budget November 29, 2011 UK ECONOMIC OUTLOOK • The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has slashed the growth forecasts it made in March. • Its central forecast for 2011 has been revised down to 0.9 per cent from the 1.7 per cent March prediction. It expects 0.7 per cent year-on-year GDP growth in 2012, instead of 2.5 per cent. [...]
Pride before a fall: Osborne looked to special interests, not the UK’s perilous state November 29, 2011 THE Autumn Statement showed that George Osborne has failed to grasp the gravity of the economic crisis facing the UK. Urgent action was needed to brace the economy for double-dip recession and the fallout from the euro crisis. Instead, the chancellor announced a big increase in government borrowing, together with a series of measures that, [...]
CLOUDS GATHER AHEAD ON OSBORNE’S BIG DAY November 28, 2011 THE UK will fall victim to a second recession, a leading economic forecaster warned yesterday, pushing up unemployment and further damaging George Osborne’s hopes that he will be able to meet his deficit reduction target. The figures will make for grim reading for the chancellor, who will today deliver his Autumn Statement just hours before millions of [...]