KitKat’s four-finger shape cannot be a trademark says High Court in latest step in Nestle’s intellectual property battle January 20, 2016 Confectionery company Nestle suffered yet another knock today in its ongoing intellectual property battle against Cadbury after the High Court ruled that its four-finger KitKat design could not be registered as a trademark. The High Court decision follows a ruling last September from the Court of Justice of the European Union. The European court determined that, [...]
BP boss Bob Dudley: Oil prices falling to $10 “not impossible” January 20, 2016 BP's chief executive, Bob Dudley, has said it's "not impossible" oil prices will fall as low as $10 per barrel, as some analysts have predicted. Standard Chartered previously warned a worse-case scenario could see oil fall to this level, because its being moved by changes in other assets prices such as the US dollar and stocks, rather [...]
Canadian dollar jumps as Bank of Canada holds fire on interest rates despite further fall in oil prices January 20, 2016 The Bank of Canada kept interest rates on hold today despite widespread expectations of a cut. The Canadian dollar, also called the loonie, rose 0.7 per cent against the US dollar. It now buys $0.6891. Interest rates were kept at 0.5 per cent, with the Canadian central bank confident that the economy would quickly adjust [...]
Twitter share price breaks a new record but not in a good way, falling to a new low of under $16 within an hour of the New York market opening January 20, 2016 Just when you thought the Twitter share price couldn't fall any lower, it only goes and breaks the $16 mark. After closing on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday at an all-time low of $16.69, Twitter's shares have continued to tumble today, dipping below $16 within an hour of the market opening. Shortly after 3pm London [...]
Gazprom boss Viktor Zubkov warns EU of impending gas crisis due to Brussels policy January 20, 2016 Energy giant Gazprom today warned the European Union that its energy markets could be plunged into crisis unless Brussels revises its “contradictory” energy prices. Energy companies have been forced to make deep cost cuts in order to weather the global commodity price rout which started around 18 months ago. Speaking at a conference in Vienna, [...]
TalkTalk hack: Customers flee telco firm after high-profile cyber attack January 20, 2016 Customers are fleeing TalkTalk, with the embattled telco firm’s market share dropping sharply since the high-profile data hack exposing personal data. TalkTalk has lost 4.4 percentage points of its home telecoms services market share, with its slice of the pie down to a mere nine per cent, according to market researchers Kantar Worldpanel. Over 150,000 [...]
UK house prices: Bexley, Cambridge, Bristol and Bedford among the UK’s hottest property spots, while Aberdeen, Stockton-on-Tees and Bradford are “coldest” January 20, 2016 Cambridge, Bristol and Bedford are among the regional cities vying with Greater London as the top 10 hottest property spots in the country – but Aberdeen, Stockton-on-Tees and Bradford are where demand is weakest. That's according to online estate agent Emoov, which puts the London Borough of Bexley at the top of its index for the last [...]
US inflation rate climbs to highest since 2014 January 20, 2016 US inflation climbed to a rate of 0.7 per cent in December from 0.5 per cent the month before, according to figures released today. The US Bureau of Labor Statisitcs said inflation – as measured by the year-on-year change in the consumer price index – said average food prices had climbed 0.8 per cent while energy prices had [...]
Goldman Sachs posts third straight quarter of sliding profits January 20, 2016 Goldman Sachs reported a sharp drop in fourth-quarter profit today, after a $5bn (£3.5bn) legal settlement weighed on the investment bank's costs in the last three months of 2015. Goldman reported a 71.8 per cent fall in net income applicable to common shareholders to $574m, or $1.27 per share, from $2.03bn, or $4.38 per share, a year [...]