[SFTW] Now that’s what I call a Target
One of the mysteries, to me, of the Greek crisis has been why there should be any deposits left in the local banks. All those with more euros than they need in order to eat and stay warm and dry should have moved their savings to,
[SFTW] Vedanta’s iron-clad PR
Vedanta Resources is creating happiness. This might seem like a tall order for a mining group, but it must be true because the company tells us how it’s sent some nascent film-makers around India to snap pictures of smiling kiddies.
[SFTW] Merv’s swerve from inflation control
It was almost a throwaway remark from Sir Mervyn King. At the end of another uncomfortable press conference, he floated the idea that the 2 per cent inflation target has had its day. In the real world,
[SFTW] ‘orrible merger! Read all about it!
If he’s selling, I’m not buying. This was an excellent plan with last year’s public offer of Glencore shares. Dazzled by the fees and muzzled by the conflicts of interest, very few mining analysts were in a position to say what they thought.
[SFTW] Dear Davey: handbrake turn needed
Every government needs a thick slice of luck, and this week’s has come as Chris Huhne slid off the political road into the ditch. Ed Davey has a golden chance to drive away from an energy policy which might have been designed to make energy expensive and electricity unreliable.
[SFTW] Winner takes all…
It’s been a gruesome week in the mobile phone market. The almost embarrassing dominance of Apple (ideas for spending $90bn of spare cash, anyone?) provided a cruel contrast to the desperate plight of the opposition.
[SFTW] The ship is easier to salvage than the supermarket
Two solid FTSE stocks, covered by a total of more than 50 analysts, fell by 15% in a day during the first couple of weeks of January. It would have been downright spooky for any of Carnival’s crew of followers to have predicted the bizarre sinking of the Costa Concordia,
[SFTW] Salmond is on the hook
Alex Salmond looks smug as a bug right now. His popularity in the Scottish polls is approaching that of Nicolai Ceausescu when he was running Romania. He should be careful what he wishes for. His pick’n'mix approach to Scottish independence plays straight to the xenophobic basic instinct of the complaining Scot,
[SFTW] No more Shelling out for pensions
So even Royal Dutch Shell has decided that the oil business is hard enough, without running a life assurance scheme for employees on the side. There is now not a single company in the FTSE100 index which offers a final salary pension scheme to new employees.