Euro falls to two-year low on disappointing ECB speech November 6, 2014 The euro fell to its lowest level against the dollar in two years today after much-anticipated comments by European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi disappointed markets. The currency dipped below $1.24 and fell to £1.27, before rallying slightly. Although European stocks spiked immediately after the speech, Germany's Dax closed down 0.92 per cent, while [...]
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is hosting a Q&A tonight and will answer questions from the public November 6, 2014 Famously private tech top dog Mark Zuckerberg is opening up to the public for the first time in a question and answer session online. The Facebook founder, and more recently Chinese language student, is taking an hour out of his busy schedule to field questions from, basically, anyone who asks. Much like Reddit’s famous AMAs [...]
Obama dealt blow by Republican victory November 5, 2014 BARACK Obama was dealt a significant blow yesterday when the Republican Party won control of the Senate in the US mid-term elections, increasing their power in the final two years of his presidency. The Republicans also increased their grip on the House of Representatives and now control both chambers of Congress for the first time [...]
M&S boss Marc Bolland puts the focus on womenswear and a five gold rings chocolate Christmas cake November 5, 2014 Everyone knows Marc Bolland is a bit of a charmer. The M&S chief has been under pressure all year with disappointing clothes sales and a finance chief who decided every little really did help and hopped over to Tesco. But yesterday, at the retailer’s half-year results event, the suave Dutchman came out fighting, with compliments. [...]
Battle of the Nigels: Farage vs Askew as Ukip to take on the Reality party in South Thanet November 5, 2014 Russell Brand has been making the headlines as a pop culture icon-cum-political revolutionary lately, but he certainly isn’t the only one. Let’s not forget Bez from the Happy Mondays and his Reality party. Someone who is unlikely to forget is Ukip’s Nigel Farage, as he’ll be up against one of its candidates in [...]
Barack Obama faces the press after Republicans triumph over Democrats in US midterms November 5, 2014 President Obama has finished his first press conference since his party's shellacking in America's midterm elections. Republicans strengthened their control over the House of Representatives gaining ten seats. However, the big story of the night was the GOP takeover of the Senate going from 45 to 52 seats so far. Furthermore, Republicans won governors' races [...]
Why Draghi may opt against full QE – CNBC Comment November 3, 2014 As one major central bank – the US Federal Reserve – closes the quantitative easing door, markets are hoping that another – the European Central Bank (ECB) – will throw it wide open again. Many economists now expect that ECB president Mario Draghi will usher in a quantitative easing policy, involving buying up countries’ debt, [...]
Boris Johnson welcomes report calling for more Commonwealth immigration November 3, 2014 The UK is missing a huge economic and cultural opportunity because of anachronistic and counterproductive restrictions on immigration from the Commonwealth, easing pressure created by its ageing population. So concludes a new report published today by think tank the Commonwealth Exchange, with a foreword written by London mayor Boris Johnson. Johnson wrote: We should welcome [...]
Mike Ashley positions former Newcastle United MD Derek Llambias as Rangers director November 3, 2014 Former managing director of Newcastle United Derek Llambias has been appointed non-executive director of Rangers, after being nominated by Mike Ashley's venture Mash Holdings. Llambias, who is a long-time associate of Ashley, had been acting as a consultant for the club after the sudden departures of chief executive Graham Wallace and finance director Philip [...]
US elections: Obama can only salvage his failing presidency if his party loses November 2, 2014 There is a lovely story about how the administration of US President John F Kennedy – for all its intellectual glitter and panache – managed to get Vietnam so wrong. Coming back from his first cabinet meeting, vice president Lyndon Johnson told his mentor and great friend Sam Rayburn, a crafty giant of the House [...]