High-growth economies drive euro appreciation
The eurozone is experiencing the biggest challenge since its inception – it is currently at the worst point of the debt crisis that started two years ago. Contagion has already spread to Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, Spain and Italy; and even France is starting to feel the pain. The crisis recently has also started to spread […]
UBS exceeds $1bn profit despite rogue trade loss
UBS on Tuesday said 3Q11 profits fell 39 percent owing to the financial loss of around CHF1.8bn ($2.2bn) from an unauthorised trading incident in September. The bank’s net profit beat analysts’ predictions however, as a better than expected $1.13bn was announced due to a large accounting gain which offset the shortfall. Figures were down from […]
S Africa buys into “made in China” brand
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe finished a trip to China on Friday by praising how it had mobilised state-owned-enterprises (SOEs) to construct a global power. Pretoria should learn from Beijing’s example, he added. “Markets on their own cannot lead such fundamental change,” said Motlanthe, regarded as a leading candidate to be the next president of Africa’s […]
International buy-in for JCA programme, despite delays
The origins of the Joint Combat Aircraft (JCA) programme can be found in plans developed in the 1990s to replace our carrier-borne aircraft. The aircraft selected to meet the JCA requirement is the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The JSF is an exceptionally capable fifth generation, multi-role, supersonic, stealthy aircraft containing cutting-edge technologies. […]
Citigroup to settle negligence charges
Federal regulators late on Wednesday charged a unit of Citigroup with negligence after they found it had sold $1bn worth of financial products linked to the flagging 2007 housing market. The bank’s Global Markets division had misled investors when it failed to inform them that the $1bn investment was doomed for failure, the SEC said. […]
China’s GDP slows in Q3
China’s economic growth slowed down in 3Q11 to 9.1 percent, down from 9.5 percent in 2Q11 and 9.7 percent in 1Q11, the national Bureau of Statistics of China announced Tuesday. According to the statement fixed asset investments remained high for the first three quarters of the year with an increase of 24.9 percent. Investments […]
Philips to cut 4,500 jobs amid profit slump; Occupy Wall Street continues
Dutch electronics group Philips on Monday announced that 4,500 jobs will have to be cut “inevitably” to help restore earnings after 3Q11 profits dropped to a two-year low, as demonstrators in London continued a sit-in at the London Stock Exchange. Net profit for the three months to the end of September decreased to €74m, down […]
S&P drops Spain rating one notch on weak growth
Standard & Poor’s late on Thursday slashed Spain’s credit rating one notch to AA- with a negative outlook from AA, citing economic woes. The lowering of Spain’s long term rating reflects its uncertain growth prospects in light of the private sector’s need to access fresh financing to roll over high levels of external debt amid […]
China trade slows; BlackBerry outrage continues
China’s trade surplus shrank for a second straight month in September to $14.5bn. Trade data published on Thursday showed September’s figures were $3.3bn lower than the $17.8bn in August and had reduced by more than half from the $31.5bn figure recorded in July. September’s imports rose 20.9 percent compared with 30.2 percent in August, and […]
Brazil’s retail sales plunge; Occupy Wall Street kicks off
Brazil saw retail sales volumes drop 0.4 percent from a month earlier indication a slowdown as South America’s largest economy continues to struggle with rising inflation, the Brazilian Institute of geography and Statistics announced late on Tuesday. Sales in August were up 6.2 percent year-on-year but nonetheless produced the second most sluggish growth rate since […]
