Swiss travel firm Bravofly Rumbo are now the proud owners of Lastminute.com a success story from the dot.com boom in 2000. The online travel booking service, founded by Martha Lane Fox and Brent Hoberman in October 1998, was sold by US tech firm Sabre Holdings in 2005 in a deal valuing the company at £577m. […]
As fuel pump prices continue to fall, Brent crude oil has now fallen below $59 a barrel for the first time in five years. The Brent price first dropped below $60, then to $58.50 a barrel, before recovering slightly to $59.01. Oil prices have now nearly halved since June as a result of waning demand […]
Eurozone, Investments, Market watch, Stock Market, World Economy
UK inflation is down to a 12-year low as a result of sinking fuel prices according to official statistics. An “early Christmas present” for consumers as the Consumer Price index measured inflation at 1% in November, having been at 1.3% in October. The Retail Prices Index fell to a five-year low of 2% down from […]
Eurozone, Government Changes, Great Britain, Interest Rates, Investments, Market watch, UK, World Economy
Greece is still suffering at the hands of their political crisis, and the boss of their central bank, has warned that their economy faces “irreparable” damage as a result. In the words of Yannis Stournaras; “The crisis in recent days is now taking serious dimensions…and the risk of irreparable damage for the Greek economy is […]
Following the decline of the rouble against the dollar, the Russian central bank has announced it is hiking its key interest rate from 10.5% to 17%. Raising interest rates has its own risks, as more expensive borrowing can itself slow growth. But it may also stem the tide of money leaving the country.
The Russian rouble has dropped even further against the US dollar to a new low. Falling oil prices and Western sanctions continue to oppress the country. Despite continued stimulus from Russia’s central bank the rouble has lost more than 45% of its value against the dollar since the start of the year. As of Monday […]
The Australian government has warned that it expects the nation’s deficit to grow to A$40.4bn (£21.2bn) in the 12months to June. Earlier this year, the projection had been forecast to come in at A$29.8bn. Falling prices in key export commodities has hurt the economy according to the country’s treasurer, Joe Hockey. The Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal […]
Months of intense cross-party debate has resulted in the US Senate completing congressional approval of a controversial $1.1tn (£700bn) federal budget which will now be sent to President Barack Obama to sign. Both Democrats and Republicans have made concessions in order to pass the bill, which was settled late Saturday night by a vote of […]
The UK construction suffered a sharp fall in output during October official figures have illustrated. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said output dropped by 2.2% from the month before. However, the good news is that they made a revision to construction output growth for the third quarter of the year, which doubled to 1.6%. […]
A China based construction giant is about to buy one of Australia’s most sizeable construction companies for $1.15bn Australian dollars. ($951m; £603m) China Communications Construction International (CCCI) is a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), which is the world’s fourth largest construction firm by revenue. IT will buy Leighton Holdings’ building unit, John Holland. […]
In an effort to tackle inflation, Russia’s central bank has raised its interest rate to 10.5%, just six weeks after it raised the rate to 9.5% from 8%. The bank’s official website has also stated that it won’t stop there, confirming that it would continue raising the rate “in case of further aggravation of inflation […]
In reaction to the risk of a snap general election in Greece, shares on the Athens Stock Exchange have fallen sharply for three straight days. The Athens general share index fell more than 7.5% on Thursday. Greece has only recently emerged from recession, and yet this week, seems to have been thrown back in to […]
