No so fast
EU data dampened
The eurozone economy is by no means out of the woods yet after the European Commission scaled back its forecasts for growth in the economic bloc for 2014 from 1.2 per cent to 1.1 per cent. Growth is expected to pick up to 1.7 per cent in 2015 as the continent continues to grapple with its deep seated debt problems. Meanwhile, unemployment is forecast to remain elevated at 12.2 per cent next year, only dipping to 11.8 per cent in 2011. The headline reductions to individual country growth forecasts came from France, where growth is forecast to be 0.9 per cent compared with an earlier forecast of 1.1 per cent and Spain where growth is now expected to be just 0.5 per cent next year, down from 0.9 per cent in previous predictions. On a brighter note, Greece and Portugal are forecast to return to sustained growth.
Twitter takes flight
Hot IPO
Social media messaging giant Twitter listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange this week after ramping up the value of its initial public offering by 25 per cent in the last few days of its roadshow. In echoes of the Facebook float, Twitter's pricing was marked sharply upwards in the final hours as demand proved to be keen, valuing the company at north of $13bn. Meanwhile, north of the border, Blackberry maker Research in Motion's $4.7bn sale to a group of investors including major shareholder Fairfax collapsed, with an alternative plan for Fairfax and other investors to inject $1bn into the business put forward instead. RIM chief executive Thorsten Heins is to leave the business, being replaced by software industry veteran John Chen.
See Twitter's IPO: will the shares fly?
Merry Christmas?
Online boost
Retail industry analysts are forecasting online sales of more than £10bn during December for the first time as retailers look to eke more out of their online channels this Christmas season. The survey by IMRG and CapGemini predicts that online sales will rise by 15 per cent this year to a total of £10.8bn and this forecast was lent credence by the latest British Retail Consortium sales figures which showed that 18.3 per cent of retail sales were online in October. Overall like for like retail sales grew by 0.8 per cent during the month. But some retailers are still struggling with high street giant Marks & Spencer this week recording its ninth consecutive quarter of declining like for like clothing sales.
London losing
Regions to rise
The capital city's domination of the UK housing market look set to end over the coming five years as regional property markets are set to outpace London’'s according to research by property specialists Savills. It predicted average UK house price growth of 25 per cent over the next five years with London lagging just below this at 24.4 per cent as regions such as the South, which is forecast to see 32 per cent house price inflation, South East, East of England and affluent areas of the South West all outpacing the mean. This may seem optimistic but, adjusting for inflation, average UK house prices will only recover their pre-crash levels by 2018, although London already stands at 10 per cent ahead of that mark.
Crude fix
Big oil accused
Four long-term traders on the oil markets have alleged in a US lawsuit that a number of major oil companies conspired to fix the price of Brent Crude oil over a period of a decade. They allege that various oil market participants including BP and Royal Dutch Shell and trading houses Vitol and Trifigura conspired to manipulate various different prices for brent crude around the world in a bid by giving pricing information services such as Platt's misleading information in order to make a profit on the swaps and futures markets. These are the latest in a series of such cases brought and in particular allege that the less transparent physical commodity spot markets, which are typically privately traded, were used to move prices.
Asia ailing?
Currency fears
Despite some better economic figures out of China recently, Asian currencies have continued their recent weakness - a move which could hit the earnings of western companies with significant operations there. The latest outlook from the Bank of Japan was mixed with some members expressing concern that wage growth is lagging price inflation, with consumer price inflation hitting a five year high of 0.8 per cent in September. There are concerns that the recent Japanese recovery will not be sustained without significant growth in exports, although one bright spot was delivered this week in the form of raised full year forecasts by car giant Toyota, which has been boosted by the weaker yen and stronger sales in the US.
