Dow hits new six year high
28 Apr 2006 [0 Comments | 64 views]
With just one day’s trading to go, the gap seems to be too big. At the end of last week, the Dow Jones Industrial average closed at a six year high, and, or so proclaimed commentators, the index was within just 380 points of its all time high, and it seemed as if the record [...]
German economy moves up a gear
28 Apr 2006 [0 Comments | 62 views]
It’s hardly a pace that is only fit for the autobahn, but the German economic machine is moving forward again, and is gathering pace. One could say perhaps that it’s moved out of first gear into second. According to six economic institutions that know the German economy, growth of 1.8% this year is expected, this [...]
British pharmaceutical duo impress
28 Apr 2006 [0 Comments | 63 views]
Some of GlaxoSmithKline’s customers might wheeze, but there was no hint of constrictions to the corporate airways yesterday, as the world’s second largest drugs company announced a 35% rise in first quarter profits, after its asthma drug, Advair, has proved a big hit. In all the company posted net income of £1.5bn. With a strong [...]
Whose double standards are they anyway?
28 Apr 2006 [0 Comments | 45 views]
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of double standards, while gazing across the global economy form his own two pronged approach to standards in business. Mr Putin wants the West to see things from Russia’s point of view. He says: “We hear statements about a threat of dependence on Russia, about the need [...]
Premiership TV wars: is this the beginning of a new era?
28 Apr 2006 [0 Comments | 83 views]
When the EU announced that in future there would be no exclusive TV coverage of the Premiership, the cat was set amongst the pigeons. The EU edict is that Premiership TV coverage must be broken into six packages of 23 games. These packages will not differ in terms of importance of games, but will be [...]
Bond to bulldozer icon
27 Apr 2006 [0 Comments | 78 views]
Thanks to James Bond, the Aston Martin became the dream car for many. But times change, and perhaps modern day cinema audiences who are influenced in their aspirations by product placements will find themselves desiring the latest, state of the art, sleek, bulldozer. Fiat has managed to pull off the coup of having its W190 [...]
Phone Texts surge
27 Apr 2006 [0 Comments | 38 views]
Would business benefit if all communication was conducted in text? Last night in the TV programme the Apprentice, Sir Alan Sugar, in an appeal for brevity, asked one of his potential apprentices, to restrict his answers to SMS like succinctness. Certainly it would perhaps be a good discipline for some people to adopt. But for [...]
Smoking ban: pub and tobacco sales increase
27 Apr 2006 [0 Comments | 45 views]
Have fears that a smoking ban in English pubs will lead to mass closures, gone up in flames? After the habit was banned in Ireland’s drinking houses for the public, 600 pubs were eventually closed, and some feared that English pub’s profitability would disappear in a puff of clean air, when a similar ban is [...]
The UK is back
27 Apr 2006 [0 Comments | 61 views]
The economic down turn in the UK is over. With talk of a potential crash in house prices, gradually rising unemployment, a High Street that can’t get beyond first gear and a manufacturing sector that would be grateful if it could even hit first gear, you could be forgiven for thinking the UK was about [...]
Amazon profits fall but sales rise
26 Apr 2006 [0 Comments | 44 views]
Some might fear it’s a sign of the end of the dot com boom. Amazon, that beacon of profitability in the days when dotcoms just made huge losses, has seen profits slump by 35%. Net income in the last quarter was $51mn, from $78mn a year ago. Is this is a sign that the market [...]
