Major inflation risks should ease, says MPC’s chief economist Dale September 23, 2010 Debate over the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has entered a particularly aggressive and vigorous phase as policy-makers struggle to assess the relative strength of upside and downside risks to inflation, Bank chief economist Spencer Dale said yesterday. Dale said the policy debate was particularly aggressive at the moment as MPC members strove [...]
John Lewis easter sales jump 30pc April 9, 2010 JOHN Lewis has posted a 30 per cent jump in weekly sales after a bumper easter. The retailer said sales at its 28 department stores and one “at home” store were £59m in the week to 3 April, up from £45.4m in the same week last year. Merchandise director Jill Little said: “We now have [...]
THE TIPSTER May 3, 2010 THE US banking sector has been a wild ride for traders of the Select Sector SPDR Financial ETF over the past two weeks. The index, which contains a range of diversified financial firms including JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, had added almost 20 per cent since 1 January to a [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 1, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES AUSTRALIA’S GROWTH RATE STALLS IN THIRD QUARTER Australia’s economic growth rate slowed markedly in the third quarter to its weakest level in two years as higher interest rates cut into housing investment and the rise in the Australian dollar hit exports. The 0.2 per cent rise in gross domestic product compared with the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 1, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES AUSTRALIA’S GROWTH RATE STALLS IN THIRD QUARTER Australia’s economic growth rate slowed markedly in the third quarter to its weakest level in two years as higher interest rates cut into housing investment and the rise in the Australian dollar hit exports. The 0.2 per cent rise in gross domestic product compared with the [...]
Christmas will come early to the high street October 6, 2010 HIGH-STREET retailers have every reason to be cautious right now. If it isn’t the government squeezing households’ disposable incomes with one hand and hiking VAT with the other, then surges in the prices of commodities such as cotton, which is at a 15-year high, are threatening margins. Only last month Next chief executive Simon Wolfson [...]
Mitchells & Butlers sees food sales soar September 23, 2010 Britain’s biggest pubs and restaurants group Mitchells & Butlers reported a 4.4 per cent increase in sales at outlets open for more than a year driven by a surge in demand for food. The company, which is re-shaping itself into a food-led business, said sales of food increased 7.1 per cent in the nine weeks [...]
Markets face huge annual losses May 20, 2010 STOCK MARKETS worldwide plunged for the third consecutive day yesterday amid growing fears that the European chaos could lead to a financial collapse on the scale of the 2008 banking crisis. The FTSE 100 flirted briefly with the 5,000 point mark, eventually finishing the day down 1.7 per cent at 5073.13, while the French CAC [...]
Greene King toasts sales rise September 7, 2010 Greene King has seen an upturn in sales thanks to its pub grub. The brewer and pub operator saw sales lift by 4.4 per cent in the last 18 weeks. Like-for-like food sales rose 8.6 per cent. However sales of Greene King’s own beer, which includes IPA, dropped five per cent. Chief executive Rooney Anand [...]
BOXING BANKERS UNLEASH THEIR BULLISH INSTINCTS IN THE RING June 27, 2010 ONE of the City’s biggest bankers’ boxing clubs is setting up a championship fight for a charity night soon. The Real Fight Club in Spitalfields, London’s original home to the practise of “white collar boxing” (i.e. boxing by bankers) is holding a boxing showcase evening on 15 July and expects to see a City audience [...]