British retail sales volumes unexpectedly fell at their sharpest annual pace in 5 months in January as freezing weather and the reversal of the VAT cut depressed demand, a survey showed on Wednesday. The Confederation of British Industry's monthly distributive trades survey reported sales balance fell to -8 in January from +13 in December, confounding
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The Bank of England may find it difficult to keep inflation on target as long as import and services prices keep rising strongly, Monetary Policy Committee member Andrew Sentance said on Wednesday. In a speech in London, Sentance said that the economy was facing opposing pressures which the BoE would have to consider when it
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Global stock markets fell again on Wednesday, hitting their lowest in two months as investors fretted about a monetary squeeze from central banks around the world and also the impact of tightening U.S. banking regulation. European markets lost 1.5 percent in early trading and followed a 9th straight loss for Asia stocks on continued reverberations
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Britain's top share index dropped 1.1 percent early on Wednesday as miners and energy stocks fell on lower commodity prices and investors waited for the end of a U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting. By 0920 GMT the FTSE 100 was down 56.07 points at 5,220.78, touching its lowest level since Dec. 21 after it gained
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The United Kingdom ''welcomes the intensification of negotiations in search of an agreed settlement for the benefit of all Cypriots'' and ''urges all parties to approach the negotiations in a spirit of compromise,'' British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Chris Bryant has said. Replying to a question by British MP Andrew Dismore
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The leaders of the two communities in Cyprus, President of Cyprus Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, continue here today their discussions on governance and power sharing, as part of their effort to find a negotiated settlement. Today, is the last day of the second round of intensive talks. The first round
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Asian stocks fell for the ninth straight day on Wednesday on fears that China's heightened efforts to rein in soaring credit growth could hamper the global economic recovery. European stocks were set to follow Asia lower, with financial spreadbetters expecting key indexes in Britain <.FTSE>, Germany <.GDAXI> and France <.FCHI> to open as much as
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U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner denied any role in disclosures about American International Group's payments to banks and defended his decisions as New York Federal Reserve chief to pay full price to retire AIG credit default swaps. Geithner, in prepared testimony for a much-anticipated congressional hearing on Wednesday, said protracted demands for concessions from banks
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Toyota Motor Corp said it will suspend sales in North America of eight models involved in recall, a move that could throw the timing of its earnings recovery into doubt and one that pushed its shares 2 percent lower. Toyota also said it would halt production of the models at plants in the United States
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Publishers have high hopes that Apple Inc's highly anticipated tablet computer will attract new readers and boost revenue, but few expect that it will by itself reverse the fortunes of a beleaguered industry. Investors and analysts are cautiously optimistic about the prospects for publishers like Time Warner Inc, Conde Nast, the New York Times and
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