As even Morgan Stanley’s share price drops 50% this year, Franco-Belgian lender Dexia enters emergency talks on possible break-up (and Greece’s failure to meet 2011 budget targets will be turned into new 2012 targets), pressure mounts for UBS to be broken up while RBS, Bank of America and Merrill Lynch also struggle, investors look around for the …
Continue reading “Risk-avoiders are actually increasing the risk”
New figures on US manufacturing showed better than expected figures, lightening fears of a double-dip recession. At the same time US car sales rose strongly in September. (GM up 20%, Ford up 9% and Chrysler up 27% on a year ago.
…according to a survey carried out by Management Today magazine and the Institute of Leadership and Management. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ceb08890-edd8-11e0-acc7-00144feab49a.html
New research shows that just seven percent of companies, mid-sized, created half of all new jobs since 2002. These fast growers are spread across all sectors and industries, and Government is looking at whether anything can be done to help them grow faster. At the same time, with the global manufacturing sector in the worst …
Continue reading “Manufacturing and mid-sized companies are unexpected sources of growth”
In the face of proliferating competition and the trend towards on-line viewing, Yahoo and ABC News have announced that they are pooling resources in an effort to improve their ability to reach mass audiences online. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/24d6dc22-edd6-11e0-acc7-00144feab49a.html
Despite increased supplies of corn from countries around the Black Sea, the balance between supply and demand at a global level is tightly balanced. This has left markets “vulnerable to leading to intense price swings”, despite a drop in the price from recent highs. Corn is the main ingredient in cattle feed. This uncertainty, combined with …
Air travel is closely related to economic growth, and Europe’s ‘flag’ carriers have had a disappointing summer. The IMF has cut its forecasts for global economic growth in 2012-2013 to just over 1%. European flag airlines are so far responding not by cutting capacity but by cancelling growth plans. Low cost airlines, however, and US …
But unlike BAE Systems (which also blamed slower Typhoon orders) EADS will not cut jobs. Neither will Finmeccanica. Sounds like these latter two are following a plenitude approach.
The Welcome Break and Little Chef chains are installing charging points for electric cars at their restaurants across the country, in partnership with electricity companies. Blackfriars station in London is getting a new (solar PV) roof that will generate about half the electricity it uses.
The struggle for power between the US and China will be “the defining geopolitical drama” of this century. It took a step forward this week as the US voted on legislation to introduce tariffs on China in return for its failure to allow its currency to appreciate.