US inital jobless claims drop by 26,000 as continuing claims rise July 18, 2013 US initial jobless claims have dropped from 360,000 to 334,000 in the week to 13 July, a drop that exceeded what economists were expecting. Analysts had predicted a fall to 345,000. Weird blip with the continuing jobless claims though, which were up from 3.0323m (revised from 2.977m) to 3.114m. These jobs numbers have a special [...]
Morgan Stanley will begin £329m share repurchase as revenues beat estimates July 18, 2013 Morgan Stanley has posted earnings per share of $0.43 for the second quarter (release), which is exactly the number analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had been expecting. Revenues rose from the first quarter, up from $8.2bn to $8.5bn, despite forecasts that these would drop to $7.9bn. For the first time in years, the bank will be [...]
German finance minister Schäuble confirms development bank funding for Greek firms July 18, 2013 German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble has said that while the worst of the euro crisis has been overcome, there is still work that needs to be done. Speaking in Greece for the first time since 2010 as he looks to build confidence ahead of the German elections in the autumn, Schäuble said Greece has taken [...]
One chart that shows the failure of Osborne’s Funding for Lending Scheme July 18, 2013 Designed to get banks to lend more, chancellor George Osborne's Funding for Lending Scheme has failed to actually boost lending. Engineered to boost business lending, it's actually had more of an impact in the mortgage lending sector. This chart from the Bank of England demonstrates quite how poor the measure has been, and in July [...]
Labour filibustering of EU membership referendum bill gets under way July 18, 2013 Labour MPs suggested no fewer than 11 amendments to the line in James Wharton’s private member's bill pertaining to the date that a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union must be held. In the original proposals, the bill reads: “The referendum must be held before 31 December 2017”. Labour MP for Wolverhampton North [...]
Crime figures a further boost for home secretary Theresa May July 18, 2013 The number of crimes committed in England and Wales fell by nine per cent in the year ending March 2013 – the lowest estimate since the survey began in 1981. The latest estimate form the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimate there were 8.6m crimes committed in this period, less than half the [...]
Pound gains as retail sales perform well in June July 18, 2013 (Source: ONS) Retail sales are up 2.1 per cent in the year to June, above the 1.6 per cent growth economists had been forecasting. The pound is performing better on the news. The growth into quarter 2 (0.9%) will therefore contribute approximately 0.1 percentage points to gross domestic product (GDP) when estimated from the output [...]
Greece’s latest austerity measures could push government over the edge July 18, 2013 The narrow approval of fiscal reforms demanded by troika lenders in the Greek parliament late last night will put further pressure on Antonis Samaras’s government, potentially resulting in early elections. Robin Bew, chief economist and editorial director of the Economist Intelligence Unit, said today: #Greece agrees civil service layoffs to keep bailout alive. But politics [...]
ECB’s Asmussen says that jobs should be at the centre of policymaking July 18, 2013 The European Central Bank's (ECB) Jorg Asmussen has said that the crisis which currently grips the Eurozone is not a product of the common currency, but of international business models and practices. He said that "austerity versus growth" is the wrong debate, and that fiscal consolidation will remain on the table, and that jobs should [...]
Eurozone current account surplus fell in May July 18, 2013 The eurozone current account surplus remained elevated in May at a seasonally adjusted €19.6, down from the revised €23.8bn recorded last month and marginally lower than the €20bn expected. The current account, which measures the net flow of current transactions like goods, services and interest payments in and out of the eurozone, remains down from [...]