At the close: S&P 500 recovers from early year losses on tech giants’ results while FTSE 100 touches two month high October 23, 2015 The People's Bank of China may have cut interest rates for the sixth time since November on Friday, but even without its actions the S&P 500 would have made gains after Google, Amazon and Microsoft's share prices soared. As the markets opened in the US, shares in the three companies went crazy, with Amazon's stock opening nine per cent [...]
City Moves for 9 February 2016 | Who’s switching jobs February 9, 2016 Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking has strengthened its technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) team in London with the appointment of Natalie O’Byrne as mid-markets relationship director. With six years’ experience in corporate banking, she joins the nine-strong TMT team having previously worked in a similar role for Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking looking after clients [...]
Is economic growth stimulated by tech platforms? Amazon’s UK boss believes so March 24, 2015 Thirty years after the first dot com website was registered, one of the most exciting developments in the internet revolution is the way technology platforms are enabling entrepreneurs of every type and size. Technology platforms are all around us. Retail platforms like Amazon Marketplace, eBay and Not on the High Street enable brands and sellers [...]
Black Friday 2015 UK: After Asda pulled out of the big deals day, will it fade to grey? November 11, 2015 Asda’s decision to opt-out of the US-imported shopping holiday begs one question: Could this be Britain’s last Black Friday? With high-street retailers like Primark and Oasis also deciding to pull out of the Black Friday race, this is a huge sign that perhaps this one-day shopping bonanza could be abandoned by the majority of the [...]
Amazon moves drone testing to Canada after US takes too long to grant licence March 30, 2015 Tech giant Amazon appears to have followed through on its threat to move futuristic drone testing out of the US, after complaining of excessive red tape. The company is testing drones just across the border in Canada. It plans on using the unmanned flying machines to deliver goods ordered through its website. Just last week, Amazon [...]
People really do listen to Chris Rea when they’re driving home for Christmas – but Maria Carey is still festive top of the pops December 24, 2015 It turns out the nation's drivers are a pretty literal bunch when it comes to choosing their playlist for the car journey home. A survey by government body Highways England has found 20 per cent of people listen to Chris Rea's Driving Home for Christmas on the way home – more than The Pogues' Fairytale of New York, [...]
Brookfield Property Partners buys Potsdamer Platz in central Berlin January 4, 2016 Canary Wharf and Center Parcs owner Brookfield Property Partners has bought a chunk of central Berlin in partnership with an Asian sovereign wealth fund for an undisclosed sum. The Canadian and US listed property giant announced the pair have completed a deal to buy Postdamer Platz, a busy junction at the heart of the city [...]
Fraud with Problems: Ravelin boss Martin Sweeney talks Hailo, fake credit cards and machine learning May 23, 2016 "There’s a real tension at the heart of fraud detection: if you want to stop online fraud, just switch everything off.” Martin Sweeney is, of course, being facetious. But fraud, he impresses, has become an accepted fact of the on-demand economy. “We as consumers are accepting that most of the things we buy have a premium [...]
Amazon bounces back and beats expectations January 29, 2015 Amazon has reported its fourth quarter earnings and beate analysts' expectations by a handsome margin. Revenue rose 15 per cent to $29.3bn Amazon was forecast to report sales of $29.67bn, 16 per cent up year-on-year. However, earnings per share obliterated forecasts came in at 45 cents rather then the expected 18 cents. Operating expenses rose [...]
Amazon sales up at year end January 29, 2015 ONLINE retailer Amazon saw income drop to $214m (£142m) in the fourth quarter of 2014, from $239m in 2013, despite sales increasing by 15 per cent to $29.33bn. Sales are expected to be lower in the first quarter of 2015, at between $20.9bn and $22.9bn, and the firm said it could make a loss of [...]