While German companies have become decisively more optimistic about current business conditions and the outlook for future activity, consumers seem to be getting gloomier again. After a stronger than expected rise in the Ifo business …
The Chinese economy has started to slow owing to excess capacity. The rapid investment-led boom of the last five years borrowed growth from the future. I believe the economy will take at least two years …
“US politicians beating the protectionist drum should be hanging their heads in shame,” said Fiona Maharg-Bravo on Breakingviews.com, as Chinese oil explorer CNOOC pulled its $18.5bn bid for Unocal in the face of political opposition …
HSBC, the third-largest banking group in the world, described the UK credit market as the “most difficult” in the world, said The Times Online, as the group blamed rising interest rates, a subdued property market …
Anna Levine-Gronningsater for the Christian Science Monitor reports that with petrol prices above $2 a gallon, an increasing number of US car-owners are refuelling and then driving off the forecourt without paying. ‘Drive-offs’ apparently cost …
The outlook for the UK economy is fluid – terrorist events, major data revisions, the potential fallout from China’s currency revaluation/currency regime change and even London’s Olympic bid success all add a significant degree of …