Investment Comment: Mid caps will give you maximum exposure to the UK’s recovery October 29, 2013 WHILE boom times remain far off, UK households are spending and sentiment is improving. The latest good news is that the UK economy grew at its fastest pace in three years in the third quarter, with economic output up 0.8 per cent between July and September. Earlier this month the IMF also lifted its UK [...]
Big six quizzed by MPs on energy prices, profit and green levies October 29, 2013 Bosses from the big six energy companies are being grilled by MPs this afternoon. First on the agenda was why prices have gone up by an average nine per cent when wholesale costs of energy has increased by only 1.7 per cent. A row has already erupted over the Ofgem data that claims the 1.7 [...]
Government promotes media freedom abroad while Cameron threatens UK press October 29, 2013 The government has just published a release entitled "UK support for media freedom", on a recent workshop on freedom of the media. Stephen Hickey, the British deputy ambassador, said "was an important discussion about the challenge facing media freedoms in Egypt". Some of the ideas discussed included "media independence of state control". On Monday, Prime [...]
US consumer confidence will grow now that shutdown’s over October 29, 2013 The slump in confidence incurred by US government shutdown is likely to be reversed soon, says research consultancy Capital Economics. The marked dip in consumer confidence to a six-month low of 71.2 in October, from 80.2 in September and analyst expectations of 75.0, is probably a reflection of shutdown, says Capital Economics' Amna Asaf. The survey period [...]
It’s 2013 and Blackberry have released an app for 2008 – and it’s showing October 29, 2013 Last week we reported that Blackberry Messenger (BBM) for Android and iOS had 10m downloads in 24 hours. Blackberry have now announced the addition of 20m users in the first week. Those numbers put BBM leagues behind seasoned competitors like WhatsApp, which has 350m active users. BBM was very popular on its release in 2008, [...]
Rabobank fined £662m over Libor scandal as boss quits October 29, 2013 Dutch Rabobank said today that it has agreed to pay around €774m (£662.77m) in fines, including £105m to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), for Libor-related misconduct. The announcement comes with the news that Piet Moerland, the bank's chair, has resigned with immediate effect. The fines, imposed by various Dutch, UK and US authorities, follow the [...]
Rental chain Blockbuster goes into administration (again) October 29, 2013 Blockbuster has fallen into administration after suffering from poor trading, according to private equity firm owner Gordon Brothers Europe. Stores will continue trading while a buyer is sought for a business, while efforts "will now be focused on giving the company a chance of future survival through a reduced and different business model". Frank Morton, [...]
The UK is the most expensive place in the developed world to enforce a contract October 29, 2013 Contract enforcement in the UK is the most expensive in the developed world – as disputes take an average of 437 days to resolve. In Singapore it takes just 150. The UK ranks as just the 56th best country in the world in which to enforce a contract. The average cost is a staggering 39.9 [...]
US producer price index decreases slightly in September owing to falling food costs October 29, 2013 The US producer price index fell 0.1 per cent in September, following analyst expectations it would rise by 0.2 per cent, and August's increase of 0.3 per cent. Year-on-year, the index continued to point to soft inflation, up by 0.3 per cent. Prices for finished consumer foods fell 1.0 per cent – the largest decline [...]
US retail sales fall unexpectedly on lower auto numbers October 29, 2013 US retail sales have dropped by 0.1 per cent in September, despite consensus analyst estimates suggesting that sales would grow by 0.1 per cent in that month. Excluding automobiles sales rose by 0.4 per cent, as forecast by economists. In August total sales rose by 0.2 per cent according to the US Census Bureau data. [...]