The three BPs: British Petroleum, Bolshoi Petroleum and British pensioners
17 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 360 views]
You have to feel for Vlad Putin. You can imagine this issue has upset him so much that he is getting sleepless nights. Poor old Vlad, he was really upset over the way BP was treated in the US. Well, he can sleep better, because he has done his level best, in that philanthropic way [...]
Inflation fears rise, as economist tells Bank of England to hold its nerve
17 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 199 views]
There was bad news on inflation last week, pretty much across the board. There was bad news in Europe, the US and the UK. David Cameron seems to have signed up to the hawk camp, fretting about rising prices and the plight of savers. But the fearmongering is Mickey Mouse economics. In the US, data [...]
Tunisia: where were the warnings from the IMF?
17 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 142 views]
We all know economic forecasting, or is that economic guessing, is tricky. Economists are especially bad at predicting political turmoil. You may recall, back at the end of 1989 The Economist produced a one-off edition looking at the state of various economies at that time. The issue was published towards the end of the year, [...]
Intel breaks record, but is this its last hurrah?
14 Jan 2011 [1 Comment | 413 views]
Only one word will do: impressive. But what is truly head turning about the latest figures from Intel isn’t that it merely posted its best year ever. No, what stands out is that the company broke its record at a time when its core market was in trouble. In other words, Intel seems to have [...]
Now China is slated for Spanish rescue
14 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 299 views]
The answer is: China is a currency manipulator. What’s the question? Sometimes it seems the conclusions that people like to draw are the same, regardless of what the intelligence says. And so it is, or at least this is what we reckon, that China gets hammered whatever it does. You may have heard this one [...]
iPad erodes PC sales
13 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 190 views]
The times, they are a-changin’. It seems now that the iPad is beginning to encroach on the PC market. But this is just the beginning. According to IDC, the world saw an additional 2.7 per cent of PCs shipped in Q4, much less than the 5.5 per cent expected. But tablet sales soared. Gartner told [...]
Bank of England puzzles over dilemma
13 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 222 views]
Today is the day the Bank of England will probably do nothing. Well, that’s a bit harsh. It will fret, and worry, and then fret some more. But then it will almost certainly do nothing. (Watch out for its announcement today to see if it actually surprises us all and does something, leaving us with egg [...]
Portugal breathes sigh of relief as Germany celebrates
13 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 376 views]
Phew, said Portugal yesterday. Yippee, said Germany. It don’t add up, suggests a top economist. Portugal went along and did it yesterday. It successfully sold 1.25bn euros’ worth of bonds. Markets had expected its sales push to fall flat. Well done you, Portugal. Mind you, the interest rate it is paying on these bonds is [...]
Global imbalances close
12 Jan 2011 [1 Comment | 331 views]
For all the woe, two bits of news have emerged over the last few days to at least suggest there are signs global imbalances are closing. Earlier this week, China’s latest trade figures were released. And of course, her trade surplus is still massive – $13.1bn in December. But, once again, import growth outpaced export [...]
A tale of two countries: Germany and Portugal – oh, and Japan, too
12 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 301 views]
The opposite ends of the euro spectrum will come under the spotlight today. Portugal, because today may be the day she joins Ireland and Greece on the bailed out list. Germany, because today the latest set of GDP data is being released, and analysts expect it to be good. Japan, meanwhile, has her own set [...]
