Austerity Games can still be a triumph July 26, 2010 WHEN London last hosted the Olympic games, it was 1948. The Allies had won the war, but Britain’s rewards were still to come: food was still rationed; the capital’s streets looked like rows of broken teeth (post-war construction was but a dream); and there was quite simply no cash at all to spend on stadiums [...]
Wall St cheers bumper results July 22, 2010 WALL Street bellwethers cheered investors with a raft of good results last night, pushing up US indices and raising hopes of a sustained economic recovery. Corporate stalwarts UPS, Caterpillar and 3M all posted double-digit profit growth for the last quarter, while Microsoft surpassed Apple’s recent sales to report a record rise in revenue. The upbeat [...]
BAD TEMPERS AND CHICKEN WINGS IN OBAMA’S ECONOMIC HOTHOUSE August 10, 2010 WHEN Christina Romer, Chair of the US Council of Economic Advisors, quit her role suddenly last week, speculation was rife that she had been forced out due to fighting with colleague Lawrence Summers. Summers is director of the National Economic Council and before his role as coordinator of US economic policy, he was president of [...]
What now? Prepare for the next crisis July 28, 2010 PREDICTING the future can be a notoriously tricky business. If people declare with certainty that things will happen, they often don’t. While things that no one saw coming have a horrible habit of actually happening. The Asian financial crisis in 1997 came as everyone was talking about an “Asian economic miracle”, while the most recent [...]
BP credit rating cut in new blow June 3, 2010 BP suffered a fresh blow yesterday after two of the world’s three largest credit rating agencies downgraded the group’s debt. Fitch and Moody’s both slashed BP’s rating on fears that the company would be significantly impacted by the mountainous legal and clean-up costs coming from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Moody’s lowered its senior [...]
Don’t let your prime real estate abroad stand idle while you slave away at work July 15, 2010 WITH global growth likely to be sluggish in the coming years, it might seem like a poor time to invest in a holiday home. But with a clear strategy for renting out the place when you’re not in residence, it is easily possible to make back the cost of maintenance and to generate a little [...]
Don’t let your prime real estate abroad stand idle while you slave away at work July 15, 2010 WITH global growth likely to be sluggish in the coming years, it might seem like a poor time to invest in a holiday home. But with a clear strategy for renting out the place when you’re not in residence, it is easily possible to make back the cost of maintenance and to generate a little [...]
C&W positive despite £94m loss last year May 26, 2010 CABLE & Wireless Worldwide has reported losses of £94m in its first set of results since splitting from its regional telecoms operation. C&W Worldwide’s loss for the year was prompted by £210m of exceptional items, including £143m stemming from the recognition of the deficit in its defined benefit pension scheme and £13m of demerger-related costs. [...]
A new port of call far north of the Algarve July 11, 2010 IF you’re thinking of getting away to Portugal this summer, chances are it’s the Algarve you’re considering, for a bit of sea, sardines or the swing of a golf club. Well fine, the country’s southern region does all those things extremely well. However, British holidaymakers tend to forget what the rest of the country has [...]
A new port of call far north of the Algarve July 11, 2010 IF you’re thinking of getting away to Portugal this summer, chances are it’s the Algarve you’re considering, for a bit of sea, sardines or the swing of a golf club. Well fine, the country’s southern region does all those things extremely well. However, British holidaymakers tend to forget what the rest of the country has [...]