8:00 - 19:00

Working hours MON. - FRI.

 

News

FirstGroup asks shareholders to back sale of units as top investor opposes By Reuters

(Reuters) - Britain's FirstGroup recommended that its shareholders back the $4.6 billion sale of its two North American bus businesses to Swedish private equity firm EQT Infrastructure, after the company's top investor urged against it. Coast Capital, which holds nearly 14% of the transport operator, late on Monday urged fellow shareholders to vote against the proposed disposal of the "crown jewel assets", unless the terms of the proposal were "rapidly and substantively improved". FirstGroup said, "The sale followed a comprehensive and competitive process in order to seek the best possible price for First Student and First...

Continue reading

Bank of France governor sees French 2021 economic growth of at least 5.5% By Reuters

PARIS (Reuters) - The French economy should grow by at least 5.5% in 2021, said Francois Villeroy de Galhau, governor of the Bank of France and a policymaker at the European Central Bank. Villeroy also told a webcast of the 'Cercle des Economistes' on Tuesday that he felt the French economy was performing better than its peers in Europe. He added that the Bank of France would give updated forecasts for the French economy in June. ...

Continue reading

ECB’s Villeroy plays down inflation risks, says ECB policy should stay very accommodative By Reuters

PARIS (Reuters) - European Central Bank policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Tuesday that he did not think there was "any risk of a durable return of inflation" in the euro zone, and that the ECB's monetary policy should remain very accommodative. "As of today, there is no risk of a durable return of inflation in the euro zone and therefore, it goes without saying, there is no doubt that the monetary policy of the ECB will remain very accommodative," Villeroy, who is also Bank of France governor, told a webcast of the Cercle...

Continue reading

Inflation sparks buy UK stocks, sell tech shares trades – BofA survey By Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - Fund managers turned overweight on UK stocks for the first time in seven years and cut exposure to tech stocks as rising inflation leaves growth stocks vulnerable to pullbacks, Bank of America (NYSE:BAC)'s May fund manager survey showed on Tuesday. Unprecedented stimulus measures to tackle the pandemic-induced recession have now sparked worries about inflation, which featured in the BofA survey as the biggest tail risk for markets. Last week, data showed U.S. consumer prices unexpectedly rose by the most in nearly 12 years in April, triggering worries that the Federal Reserve may have...

Continue reading

German antitrust watchdog launches new proceedings against Amazon By Reuters

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany's antitrust watchdog said on Tuesday it has launched a new investigation into whether U.S. ecommerce giant Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is exploiting its market dominance. "In a first step, we are looking at whether Amazon is of outstanding, cross-market importance for competition," the Federal Cartel Office said in a statement. Should it find that such a marketing position exists, new rules for digital companies would allow it to prohibit any anti-competitive behaviour at an earlier stage, the watchdog said. Changes to Germany's antitrust laws for digital corporations, which came into effect earlier this year,...

Continue reading

Home Depot Earnings, Revenue beat in Q1 By Investing.com

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) reported on Tuesday first quarter earnings that beat analysts' forecasts and revenue that topped expectations. Home Depot announced earnings per share of $3.86 on revenue of $37.50B. Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated EPS of $3.06 on revenue of $34.6B. Home Depot shares are up 20% from the beginning of the year and are trading at $320.01 , down-from-52-week-high.They are outperforming the Dow Jones which is up 12.16% from the start of the year. Home Depot follows other major Services sector earnings this month Home Depot's report follows...

Continue reading

Invest in health or face credit ratings ‘stick’ -WHO’s expert panel By Reuters

(Changes description of G20 economies to largest from richest in second paragraph) By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) -States that invest too little in public health could have their credit ratings cut, according to the chair of a World Health Organization panel that wants a new global body set up to spell out the risks to financial stability from healthcare failures. The comments by Mario Monti come before a global health summit on Friday in Rome at which leaders of the Group of 20 largest economies will discuss the coronavirus emergency and how to prevent...

Continue reading

Germany’s top court rejects complaint against ECB bond buys By Reuters

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's constitutional court rejected on Tuesday a complaint against the European Central Bank's 2.4 trillion euro Public Sector Purchase Programme, saying the ECB had shown the scheme was appropriate. The court had ruled last May that lawmakers failed to exercise sufficient control over the Bundesbank, which buys bonds on behalf of the ECB, and ordered the German central bank to quit the scheme unless the ECB provided fresh justification that prove the programme was necessary and appropriate. Since that ruling, the ECB has provided a trove of documents to the German...

Continue reading

Euro zone inadvertently supported zombie firms, ECB finds By Reuters

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Euro zone policies aimed at keeping the economy afloat during the pandemic inadvertently supported unviable or "zombie" firms and more targeted support is needed, especially as subsidies are phased out, a European Central Bank study concluded on Tuesday. Zombie firms, kept alive by the availability of ultra-cheap credit, drag on economic growth as they take funding away from viable companies, fail to produce efficiency gains and endanger banks' balance sheets. "The economic impact of the pandemic and the policy response may have, at least temporarily, contributed to some degree of...

Continue reading

Sterling rises above $1.42 after UK jobs data By Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - Versus a weaker dollar, the British pound rose to a three-month high on Tuesday, with sentiment also boosted by jobs data showing that Britain's unemployment fell between January and March. The dollar index was at a three-month low after Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan reiterated his view that he did not expect interest rates to rise until next year. Expectations U.S. interest rates would remain low helped offset concerns over rising COVID-19 infections in Asia. The pound rose above $1.42 for the first time since February in early London trading, and at...

Continue reading
en_GBEnglish