WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
THE SUNDAYS
The Sunday Telegraph
EURO MAY NOT SURVIVE, CAUTIONS STIGLITZ
One of the world’s leading economists has warned that the future of the euro is “looking bleak” and the fragile European economic recovery could be irreparably damaged by a “wave of austerity” sweeping the continent. Joseph Stiglitz, the former chief economist of the World Bank and a Nobel prize winner, also predicted that short-term speculators in the market could soon start putting pressure on Spain, which is struggling with a large deficit and high unemployment.
EXPANSION HELPS DYSON DOUBLE PROFITS
Sir James Dyson’s privately-owned engineering group delivered record financial results last year with profit doubling to £190m.
THE SUNDAY TIMES
GOLDMAN ENDS PAY CAP
Goldman Sachs is to scrap a self-imposed limit on bankers’ pay in a move that will reignite the debate on City bonuses. Last year the US investment bank capped pay for its London staff at £1m in a response to government calls for restraint. Goldman and CreditSuisse were the only large institutions to introduce voluntary limits.
MARKS & SPENCER SHOWS IT’S BACK IN FASHION
Marks & Spencer will defy the economic gloom this week as it reveals a bounce in fashion sales powered by a celebrity-heavy advertising campaign starring Lisa Snowdon and Dannii Minogue. M&S is expected to be the star performer in an important week for gauging the mood of the British consumer. Tesco has half-year results, while J Sainsbury and M&S will publish trading results.
TODAY
FINANCIAL TIMES
GM LOWERS SIGHTS ON FLOTATION
The first step in the US government’s efforts to extricate itself from General Motors is likely to raise substantially less money than initially expected. Challenging markets and the difficulties of planning a long-term exit strategy from the Detroit carmaker have reduced the expected size of the float – from $12bn, when GM first filed its prospectus, to about $8bn.
JP MORGAN REOPENS NEW YORK GOLD VAULT
JPMorgan has reopened an underground gold vault in New York that was mothballed in the 1990s, in the latest sign of the soaring appetite for bullion. Investors are piling money into gold in record quantities, pushing the price to a record nominal high of over $1,320 a troy ounce.
The Daily Telegraph
BORIS JOHNSON: WE NEED NEW LAWS TO STOP WAVE OF STRIKES
The Conservative mayor of London has called for ministers to raise the legal threshold for triggering a strike, threatening to undermine the Prime Minister’s attempts to avoid confrontation with the unions. Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Mr Johnson accuses the trade unions, with Labour support, of pursuing a “nightmarish return to the politics of the 1980s” with “wave after wave of debilitating strikes”. “The government should consider a law insisting on a minimum 50 per cent participation in a strike ballot,” he writes.
BANKS MOVE TO CALM FEARS OVER CITY’S FUTURE
Britain’s top banking industry trade body has attempted to calm fears over the City’s with a month-long tour of Europe’s largest financial centres.
THE TIMES
BANK URGED TO LIFT INTEREST RATES RATHER THAN PRINT MORE MONEY
Sir John Gieve, the former deputy governor of the Bank of England, has stepped into the increasingly divided debate over monetary policy and urged the Bank not to print more money. Claims that Britain’s economy was heading into a Japanese-style slump were far too pessimistic, Sir John said.
CHINESE LEADER OPTIMISTIC THAT EURO WILL RECOVER
Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Premier, pledged support for a stable euro and said that China would not reduce its holding of European government bonds. Mr Wen visited the Parthenon with the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on a tour of Athens before next week’s EU-China summit.