General election 2015: The Tories and stock markets December 22, 2014 When market-watchers think ahead to 2015’s political risks, it’s a safe bet that minds will quickly turn to the Middle East, Russia, or certain parts of Latin America and Africa. There are good reasons for this: Vladimir Putin’s revanchism looks unlikely to halt soon, and a tumbling oil price threatens further instability in Nigeria, Iran, [...]
A crude conspiracy: Saudi Arabia’s oil war is about far more than economics November 16, 2014 Having worked in Washington for the better part of a decade, I absolutely despise conspiracy theories, as they simply do not explain the world as I’ve found it. Rather than an evil, omniscient series of Bond villains ruling things, my experience is that human error and fallibility explain far more. As Bob Woodward’s key source [...]
US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro to end trade embargo after 50 years December 17, 2014 US President Barack Obama has just announced the end of the longest-standing trade sanctions in US history, as part of a ground-breaking thaw in relations with Cuba. The two long-time enemies, which sit on the opposite ends of the political spectrum, have agreed to “open economic and travel ties”, the most significant improvement in [...]
Total CEO Christophe de Margerie killed in Moscow plane crash as his aircraft collides with snow-clearing machine October 21, 2014 The CEO of Europe's third largest oil company Christophe de Margerie has been killed after a collision between his private jet and a snow-clearing machine at Moscow's Vnukovo airport. Russian authorities said the incident had involved a Falcon-50 plane, with the collision occurring a little before midnight local time. Visibility was reported to have been [...]
Deutsche Bank share price stays flat despite €92m loss on legal costs October 29, 2014 Deutsche Bank has posted a net losses of €92m (£72.6m) for the three months to the end of September, with pre-tax income of €266m. The third-quarter loss stems from the legal costs of settling a number of investigations, and compares to a €51m profit during the same period last year. Alleged misconduct by [...]
FTSE 100 slips again as oil prices hit energy groups – London Report December 10, 2014 Britain's main equity index fell yesterday for a third day in a row as a further drop in the price of oil hit energy stocks. The blue chip FTSE 100 index closed down by 0.5 per cent, or 29.43 points, at 6,500.04 points – its lowest closing level since early November. Following the decline [...]
Tumbling oil prices to give lift to UK economy December 9, 2014 As oil tumbles to another five-year low, the consequences for the global economy will be far-reaching Plummeting oil prices could give a major boost to the UK’s economic growth and provide a turnaround in fortunes for the Eurozone. Consultancy group Oxford Economics is forecasting the UK economy to grow by 2.6 per cent on average [...]
Chatting to the Queen about the smartphone era December 16, 2014 The boss of Imagination tells Ollie Gordon how he discussed tech with Elizabeth II IT WASN’T something I was expecting, it was hugely humbling,” says Sir Hossein Yassaie of the knighthood he received from the Queen in the New Year’s Honours list last year in recognition of his services to technology and innovation. Yassaie, the [...]
Saudi soap opera: The petro-kingdom’s day of reckoning is now approaching fast January 25, 2015 I have never understood the world’s fixation with soap operas; why obsess about EastEnders when the real world is so often far more dramatic and even less plausible? Even more to the point, why worry about 80s American re-runs Dallas and Dynasty when we have the true-to-life House of Saud, the world’s most prosperous family, [...]
Goldman: Weak Opec will mean lower oil prices October 27, 2014 OIL PRICES will continue to decline in 2015, according to analysts form Goldman Sachs, who have also stated that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) has lost its pricing power. The investment bank has lowered its price forecasts for brent crude oil from $100 a barrel to $85 a barrel for the first quarter and [...]