Don’t fear a stock correction: Markets are regaining a sensitivity to danger August 28, 2014 Congenital insensitivity to pain is a rare and dangerous disorder that causes those afflicted by it to, quite literally, feel no pain. This happens because of a genetic malfunction that prevents “pain signals” from being transmitted to the brain. At first this may sound pretty appealing, but a moment of consideration soon reveals the pitfalls. [...]
As Tory MP Douglas Carswell defects to Ukip, will this prove disastrous for David Cameron? August 28, 2014 Mike Smithson, editor of PoliticalBetting.com, says Yes. The big consolation for David Cameron and his party is that, although Ukip did exceedingly well in the May European Parliament elections, it has struggled in other contests elsewhere where there was a different voting system. In the first past the post local elections, Ukip dropped 6 per [...]
Don’t fear a stock market correction: We’re regaining our sensitivity to danger August 28, 2014 CONGENITAL insensitivity to pain is a rare and dangerous disorder that causes those afflicted by it to, quite literally, feel no pain. This happens because of a genetic malfunction that prevents “pain signals” from being transmitted to the brain. At first this may sound pretty appealing, but a moment of consideration soon reveals the pitfalls. [...]
So will Andrew Bailey be the lord of the ring (fence)? – Inside Track August 27, 2014 It is surprisingly easy to find bankers with positive things to say about Andrew Bailey, their chief regulator. By the end of the year, though, he could find that it isn’t only the weather that feels chillier whenever he meets bank executives. Already, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) consultation on a new accountability regime [...]
Forget Piketty: How Sweden combined wealth and equality through capitalism August 27, 2014 SWEDEN continues to be one of the countries others look to for an answer to this fundamental question of our times: how can a country successfully combine increasing prosperity with a relatively egalitarian distribution? The French economist Thomas Piketty provided part of an answer in his book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, in which he [...]
Brussels must see the lighter side of dark pools – or watch City innovation wither August 27, 2014 FROM allegedly failing to execute trades at the best price, to clients being misled about the type of trade being executed, trading in dark pools has taken its fair share of criticism recently. But against this flurry of negative headlines, and with the EU seeking to enforce stricter controls on dark pools, it is important [...]
As 133 company leaders question the business case for Scottish independence, are they right? August 27, 2014 Ian Angus Mackenzie, chief executive of Harris Tweed Hebrides, says Yes – the business case for Scottish independence has not been made. Everything Harris Tweed sells is priced in sterling, so the currency issue is crucial to our business. Amid the shouting, there is simply no answer. If a sterling union is not agreed, or [...]
5 questions you should be asking prospective employers August 27, 2014 You may be coolly and calmly considering a job offer – or choosing objectively between several, if you’re lucky. Or you may have already bitten their hand off, accepted the offer and now are counting down the days before you begin and the first payday because you have blown this month’s salary in anticipation… Either [...]
Asset price distortion: Central banks’ new philosophy comes with old risks August 26, 2014 PRIOR to the financial crisis, life was relatively straightforward for central bankers. They favoured opacity over their future actions, using the theoretical argument that transparency was a threat to credibility. And they refused to control asset prices for a number of reasons – the most compelling of which was the threat of moral hazard. Yet [...]
Alex Salmond’s independence fairytale won’t serve Scottish voters well August 26, 2014 SIR JAMES Mirrlees is one of the mere handful of British recipients of the Nobel Prize in economics. And as his fine old Scottish surname might suggest, he has been active in the debate on independence. His latest intervention, which has attracted considerable publicity, is to pronounce that an independent Scotland should be willing to [...]