Mortgage holders in for a shock
28 Nov 2007 [0 Comments | 48 views]
“The focus over the last few months has very much been on subprime borrowers, but they are only the tip of the iceberg,” said Mintel yesterday. And with those words Mintel put the Fear Of God up the UK property market. Mintel reckons 9 per cent of mortgage holders in the UK are subprime, but [...]
Wage revolution hits Bangalore, but misses UK
28 Nov 2007 [0 Comments | 60 views]
It’s good news for workers of India, while the Vietnamese and Chinese have reason to celebrate. Closer to home, Bulgarians and Turks should be laughing, but it’s not so good for the Brits, or indeed Germans and French. Earlier this week, human resources group Mercer released its projections for wage increases next year. India should [...]
Germany sees bright landscape, but cloudy
28 Nov 2007 [0 Comments | 62 views]
As you may know, while the US totters and the UK starts watching its footing with trepidation, Germany seems to be returning as a major player on the world stage. It has now pretty much paid off the cost of re-unification, and it has quite impressively managed to maintain its share of international trade, at [...]
Is this the winter of Uncle Sam’s discontent?
28 Nov 2007 [0 Comments | 43 views]
Right now, or so it would appear, we are entering the winter of discontent in the US. The latest news out yesterday was grim indeed. The bard, after opening his play Richard III with his famous saying on discontent, went on to describe the central character as, “Deformed, unfinished, sent before his time into this [...]
Branson gives hope to Northern Rock shareholders
27 Nov 2007 [0 Comments | 62 views]
There are always two extremes. One extreme says that Northern Rock should be bust by now. If it was a business operating in any other sector, or indeed if it was a business operating in any other region, it would be in administration by now. The other school of thought says that the government has [...]
Debt almost doubles in seven years
27 Nov 2007 [0 Comments | 64 views]
So how serious do you think debt is? Yesterday, PricewaterhouseCoopers deposited its pennyworth into the debate. And its findings: this year the average adult now owes £33,000, compared with £17,000 in 2000. It says, “Households have already stretched their borrowing capacity. Their finances will be further tested as many households that are currently benefiting from [...]
Dow moves to correction phase
27 Nov 2007 [0 Comments | 66 views]
It’s now a correction. Yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by another 237 points and all of a sudden the index is now more than 10 per cent below its year peak, seen on October 9. In fact the index is now 1,420 points from the record. That works out as just over 10 [...]
Sovereign funds in double strike
27 Nov 2007 [0 Comments | 54 views]
Two giants of the corporate world have found themselves on the receiving end of multi billion dollar investments from sovereign funds, this morning. The two companies are as different as you can get, but maybe the two announcements made yesterday signify something far deeper and far reaching, than the media and analysts say, with their [...]
Good news from the US, at last
26 Nov 2007 [0 Comments | 46 views]
Phew, at last some good news from the US. Friday, as you may know, was Black Friday. No, this name does not refer to a day of disaster, rather it was the day back after Thanksgiving, a day always known as Black Friday. It’s a big shopping day, so all eyes turned to the US; [...]
France and China: the happy couple
26 Nov 2007 [0 Comments | 66 views]
“Allow me to admit something,” said French President Nicolas Sarkozy in China yesterday.” It was not a big effort for me to accept your invitation. Because if you hadn’t invited me, I would have come anyway.” What a difference a couple of hundred years can make. When Britain sent a trade mission to China in [...]
