Mobile phone group Vodafone moved quickly to defend its share price on Wednesday, announcing a surprise 1 bln-pound ($2 bln) buyback program after its stock crashed a day earlier on a weaker-than-expected trading update. Vodafone shares slumped almost 14% on Tuesday, wiping nearly 11 bln pounds of its market value, after the group said its
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Both Dow Jones futures and S&P 500 futures were up 0.55% at 0945 GMT, while Nasdaq futures were 71% higher. Stocks on the move after Tuesday's closing bell included savings & loan Washington Mutual , up more than 8%, software maker WMware, down 10.5%, chip maker Broadcom, up 3.5%, brokerage E*Trade, down 11.6%, surgical systems
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Pfizer Inc on Wednesday said second-quarter earnings more than doubled on higher sales of its prescription drugs, lower expenses and overseas sales that were boosted by the weak dollar. The company earned $2.78 bln, or 41 cents per share. That compared with $1.27 bln, or 18 cents per share, a year earlier, when Pfizer took
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Britain's top share index rose 1.5% by midday on Wednesday as Vodafone gained after announcing a share buyback programme, while lower oil prices eased inflation fears, lifting banking stocks. By 1032 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 78.6 points at 5,442.7, after losing 0.7% on Tuesday. Index heavyweight Vodafone advanced 2.5%, recovering some of the
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British manufacturers' orders fell in July and business confidence tumbled but price pressures rose at their sharpest rate in more than 18 years, a survey showed on Wednesday. The Confederation of British Industry's industrial trends survey showed the total order books balance fell to -8 this month after +1 in June. Analysts had forecast a
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GUEST COMMENT By Dr. Jim Leontiades Cyprus International Institute of Management Importing water is expensive. The current commitment to bring water from Greece will cost Cyprus some 40 million euros. It must represent one of the most unnecessary expenditures to be made by any of the past governments. Six tankers have been chartered to bring
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EDITORIAL Cyprus’ national and foreign policies have, over the decades, been unavoidably focused on one issue alone – the island’s continued occupation and division by Turkey and on efforts to get unstuck from this quagmire. Although it would be unfair to compare Cyprus with “any other democratic country”, due to the political stalemate entrenched through
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CYPRUS GOURMET By Patrick Skinner Pambos Argyrides returned to Cyprus in 1985 after 15 years in South Africa. He was a founder of the immensely successful potato chip and snack manufacturer “Corina”, eventually selling out to the giant Lay’s company several years ago. He decided to devote himself to wine and the restoration of the
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GUEST COMMENT WASHINGTON — The Doha Round of multilateral trade talks has already died a thousand deaths. But, apart from the bureaucracies in Geneva, Brussels and Washington, few are grieving. That’s because the world economy is moving forward without a World Trade Organisation treaty. While Doha negotiations have sputtered on for seven years, annual global
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One Bank of England policymaker wanted to hike rates this month, another wanted a cut but the remaining seven chose to keep borrowing costs steady as both the inflation and growth outlook had worsened. Minutes of the July 9-10 policy meeting showed on Wednesday arch hawk Timothy Besley wanting an immediate, credibility boosting quarter-point hike
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