Category Archives: Business

5 news bites for your coffee break

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Here is a quick press review selected from the most interesting business news of the day:

  1. Pound Falls to 5 Year Low Against Dollar: the pound slid to the lowest level in more than five years against the dollar after the Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said Britain’s worst banking crisis since World War I is likely to push the economy into a recession – read more on bloomberg.com.
  2. Factory gloom ‘worst since 1980’: the slowdown in the UK economy is now spreading to sectors previously resilient to weaknesses in the banking and housing markets. The crisis is spreading into all sectors of business, affecting unemployment and inflation – read more on BBCNews.co.uk.
  3. Soaring art market returns to earth with a bump: the global financial crisis has finally caught up with the art world. Experts warn that things are likely to get tougher: what’s happened in the financial markets will also damage the art market because liquidity is tighter everywhere – read more on Reuters.co.uk.
  4. European business backed up: during this crisis, resultant cuts in jobs, production and investment, means companies must hunker down hoping to survive what they fear will be a ferocious reversal – read more on Ft.com.
  5. David Beckham will join AC Milan on loan in January: the English football player will move to Italy for few months at the beginnig of 2009, according to Adriano Galliani, the Italian club’s vice-president. Beckham wants to train and play with Milan, and Milan wants him: Beckham’s commercial value means full stadiums and read sponsors. Maybe not all rich men are crying – read more on Thetimesonline.co.ukthe English football player will move to Italy for few months at the beginning of 2009, according to Adriano Galliani, the Italian club’s vice-president. Beckham wants to train and play with Milan, a sentiment reciprocated by the Italians: Beckham’s commercial value means is nothing but good news for club merchandise and ticket sales – read more on Thetimesonline.co.uk

How to calculate your own inflation

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Prices are increasing rapidly as inflation grows but how will it damage you and your wallet?

BBCNews.co.uk is trying to help you find the answer. By filling in this form created by the Office for National Statistics, you will be able to calculate your personal inflation rate. The more accurate you are with filling out your dates, the more accurate the result will clearly illustrate how inflation affects you.

Take our advice and fill in the form now. This way you can better understand your personal financial position and be prepared for the future.

Is the economic storm passing?

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The sun appears to be breaking through after the storm that hit the financial market last week. The London Stock Exchange has continued to increase its value after the G8 Meeting of Sunday. France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, India, South Korea, Japan and Qatar all took measures to guarantee deposits and improve bank liquidity, showing an encouraging recovery for markets across the world.

The governments committed trillions of dollars to stop the collapse of the financial system, a measure that appears to have been successful so far. The decision of the American Treasury will provide a wide variety of banks with $250bn (£143bn). However, whilst a renewed confidence this week underlines how the collapse of the markets last week was the result of a common fear, we’re far from clear of danger.

Here some news about the Markets from:

From this market volatility we must learn how the collaboration and the union can help business – every business, including your own.

Stock markets around the world slump further

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The panic is spreading worldwide: the slump of every stock market can take the global economy into a deep recession. After Wall Street fell to a five-year low last night with the Dow Jones closing at 7.3% down, the day started very badly in Asia, where Singapore slid into recession, and quickly spread to Europe. In London, the FTSE 100 plunged more than 10% in the first 30 mins of trading.
What will happen in Wall Street today? And in Europe?

What does ‘recession’ mean? And what does it mean for your business and for your livelihood?

Here is a quick press review for you:

BBC News : Fear grips global stock markets

Reuters : Global rout, bank woes roil Wall Street

Guardian : Markets crash: How panic spread around the globe

Timesonline.co.uk : Wall St shares plummet, following London and Asia, as G7 gathers

Bloomberg : Most U.S. Stocks Decline on Credit Crisis; Regional Banks Gain

The dark Monday increases the fear of a recession

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After a terrible day for worldwide economic stability, banks and governments are taking steps to try and save their country’s businesses from feeling the effects of the ‘credit crunch’. National banks mint more money and Finance Ministers work on new rules to control and protect the savers and the investors.

Many are calling for an official statement on the crisis today, feeling that this latest fall in bank shares is juts the latest chapter in a seemingly endless economic downturn.

Here is our selection of some of today’s essential Business headlines.

  • Panic swept through the world’s financial markets yesterday, wiping $2.5 trillion from share values, amid concern that regulators and politicians were struggling to get a grip on the worsening crisis of confidence. [Timesonline.co.uk]
  • The really urgent issue is the breakdown of wholesale markets, and the increasing difficulty that almost all banks are having in funding themselves on a day-to-day basis. [BBCNews]
  • After the worst day’s trading in over 20 years, analysts had hoped for a relief rally, with speculation growing of concerted central bank action on global interest rates. … Yesterday £93bn was wiped off the FTSE 100 as the leading index plunged by 391.1 points – its third worst daily decline in percentage terms ever. [Guardian.co.uk]
  • Iceland sought a 4 billion-euro ($5.43 billion) loan from Russia, pegged the slumping Kroner to a basket of currencies and took control of its second biggest bank to stem a collapse of the financial system. [Bloomberg.com]

3 quick news bites for your small business

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In the current business news storm, here are three things that you should know if you have a small business:

  1. Business regulation is exhaustive, confusing and constantly changing. Are you aware of the current and new legislation that affects your business? Recently the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has criticised the huge number of new rules that will add to the administrative burden on many firms, and expressed concern that the sheer volume of new rules could overwhelm small businesses. This goes against government pledges to cut back on the amount of regulation. [Read more here…]
  2. After the last bout of crumbling banks, it might seem more sensible to keep your money under the bed than in a bank, but Gordon Brown has said that the government would do “whatever is necessary” to protect savings. Therefore, the Financial Services Authority is set to begin negotiations with the banks to raise the threshold at which deposits are guaranteed to £50,000. [Read more here…]
  3. It might be useful to switch on the TV and have a look at The Business Channel on Sky 547. Companies from the entire world are introducing their businesses and telling their stories through the voices of their directors, customers, partners and investors. The channel also offers you the chance to produce a short promo spot that you can use for your website or for your meeting. What could you say about your business in 60 seconds?  [Read more here…]

Business Events UK: the value of networking

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A significant element in growing a business is to attend events, conferences and exhibitions; Ideal for networking, it also gives you a chance to assess your competition and find new ideas and solutions. Meeting colleagues and people who deal in your field is very important for the success of your business: it makes for good public relations. Every week London and all of England offer new events aimed at different aspects of business.

In Yorkshire for today and tomorrow there is the Business North West; an event designed for company directors and entrepreneurs who run small and medium-sized businesses in England. It’s an important event to provide thousands of small businesses with information, advice and inspiration whilst offering several seminar programmes to provide training within a networking environment.

In London, on Wednesday 15th of October, the International M&A conference will be held in the prestigious Sofitel London St James: it will examine the benefits and practice of running a business abroad. Experienced speakers will look at all aspects of cross-border deal-making, from finding initial targets to post-acquisition integration.

To find out more about the next business events have a look at the main venues for these events in tomorrow’s post!

New Business Support Programme

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A new business support programme goes on trial: today we’re looking at an interesting news item found on Westbury.co.uk! The Government plan will introduce a new simplified system support business. This Business Support Simplification Programme (BSSP) was announced in the 2006 Budget to reduce the number of publicly funded business support schemes from over 3,000 to less than 100 by 2010. Because easier is better!

And a select number of local authorities are already starting this new system!

To get more news about business here are the two links to follow: westbury.co.uk and businessmadesimple.co.uk! Don’t waste a second.

The world is changing: investment banks are no more…

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The recent developments in the financial world are forcing vast changes to the economic climate and the markets are desperately trying to right themselves amidst the evolution many banking sectors are experiencing. In one week the era of the independent investment bank has ended, deeply changing the worldwide financial landscape.

‘Wall Street as we’ve known it for decades has ceased to exist’, explains The Wall Street Journal, though the gravity of such a change is of course affecting London: six months ago there were five major investment banks, now a portion of the market has vanished overnight; Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns have collapsed, Merrill Lynch is getting bought out by the Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are becoming commercial banks.

Two banking giants filing for bankruptcy is a clear sign of a problem with the system, and now the survivors have to arrange their affairs to conform to the capital requirements and other rules that govern such commercial banks.

Perhaps this is one of the greatest tests to the global economy in decades: and a strong example of rules required. Lax regulations have allowed investment banks to boost their profits for almost twenty years by borrowing money and investing in ever more risky schemes. And now they are paying the price.

What will happen now? Can we be sure that the worldwide economic machine is correcting itself against the greed of man?