Japan’s sovereign debt rating cut

Exillon Energy drops 20 percent

Most European equities markets were higher Friday, but did not come anywhere near making back declines from earlier in the week, with banks mostly higher even though Moody’s Investors Service cut the credit ratings on eight Greek banks. The FTSE 100 was up 0.5 percent to 5,066.81 in London, but the FTSE 250 was down [...]

Irish economy sees strong growth in Q2

Figures today have revealed Ireland’s economy continued to see growth in the April to June period. According to the Central Statistics Office, the economy grew by a better than expected 1.6% in the three-month period and this follows a revised 1.9% growth rate in the first quarter. This represents the first time since 2006 that [...]

SMMT: UK car production up in August

Figures published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) revealed a strong rise in UK car production for the month of August. UK car production rose 10.7% in August versus the same month a year ago, the SMMT said, with the total number of cars produced at 86,250. Furthermore, for the year-to-date, car [...]

HMRC: House sales weak in August

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has today revealed a fall in the number of homes sold in August in the UK. According to HMRC, 78,000 homes worth at least £40,000 or more were sold in the month – 6,000 less than the previous month and 3,000 lower than in August 2010. However, August is traditionally [...]

Vedanta drops 13 percent on 100

European equities markets were significantly lower Thursday on a statement from the US Federal Reserve that said there are “significant downside risks” to the growth of the US economy and after Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the credit ratings of three US-based banks, including Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: [...]

Accountant fails energy bill test

Energy tariffs are so complicated that even an accountant could not calculate how much they should be paying, according to latest research from Which?. The consumer group asked 36 people including a solicitor, an engineer and an accountant, to work out their domestic energy bill using only the information from the supplier’s website, and a [...]

FTSE 100 falls as markets price in Greek debt default

The FTSE 100 has fallen as much as 4.28% already in morning trading, as markets price in a Greek debt default. This comes after the failure of the US Federal reserve to implement any real strategy last night, while announcing serious financial headwinds that could potentially put the world’s largest economy into recession. While financial [...]

Antofagasta leads miners lower

European equities markets were lower Wednesday as yet another round of talks failed to reach a solution for Greece’s debt crisis. The FTSE 100 was down 1.4 percent to 5,288.41 in London, while the FTSE 250 dropped 0.41 percent to 10,266 as miners and the energy sector were lower as prices for base metals and [...]

UK Public Sector Borrowing higher than expected in August

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed UK public sector net borrowing rose last month. According to the ONS, public sector net borrowing came in at a higher than expected £15.9 billion in August - a rise of £1.9 billion from a year ago and represented the highest for the month of August [...]

Bank minutes suggest further round of QE

Minutes of the Bank of England’s September 7-8 meeting have been released today and have revealed all nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to keep interest rates at the historic low of 0.5%. This was the second consecutive month that the Committee voted unanimously to keep rates at the record low after [...]