Costs for mining firms are sliding, a rare bright spot in a downturn that will help soften the impact of a crash in metals prices, but some improved costs, such as labour, will be slow to appear. The same gloomy forces that have hammered commodity prices and shot down stocks have also pushed down the
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Britain's top share index gained 1.4 percent by midday on Tuesday, touching its highest level in a month as investors shrugged off a raft of weak data in anticipation of further growth-boosting government action. By 1119 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 61.85 points at 4,361.91 after gaining 6.2 percent on Monday, reaching its highest
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Registered unemployment rose for the third consecutive month in November, hitting construction and real estate the most. According to the Statistical Service, the number of unemployed registered at the District Labour Offices on the last day of November 2008 reached 12,073, which was 187 or 1.5% higher than in November 2007. The increase was concentrated
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Vodafone Group Plc said on Tuesday it would make a public offer for navigational and locating services firm Wayfinder Systems, valuing the Swedish company at 239 million Swedish crowns ($30 million). "Wayfinder's exceptional expertise in this space and technology capabilities will enable Vodafone to develop a suite of exciting new location-aware products and services," Pieter
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The EU-harmonised consumer price inflation rate (HICP) in Cyprus fell to 3.1% in November, down from 4.8% in October and a peak of 5.3% in July. Compared with the previous month, the index fell by 1.3%. The biggest fall in prices was recorded in the price of transport, which dropped by 5.3% as international oil
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The fate of the U.S. auto industry and millions of jobs are on the line as major players work out details on Tuesday of a plan to extend emergency loans to the Big Three automakers in exchange for tougher oversight. Congressional Democrats and the White House have been in talks for several days to finalize
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British retail sales fell at their sharpest annual pace in more than three years in November, a survey showed on Tuesday in a grim portent of the all-important Christmas shopping season. The British Retail Consortium said like-for-like sales fell 2.6 percent on the year last month — the sharpest fall since April 2005 when the
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Profits at Britain's high-street stores are set to plunge by 3.6 billion pounds ($5.3 billion) next year, as a 4 percent drop in sales is compounded by rising costs, according to a report published on Tuesday. Retail researchers Verdict also forecast that with consumers needing to rebuild savings and competition from Internet retailers rising, sales
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Microsoft Corp will soon launch a full range of online versions of its software products, including the Office suite, and expects the weak economy to accelerate growth of the nascent Web-based software market, a senior executive said on Monday. Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft's business division, is leading the company's entry into the "software as
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President-elect Barack Obama faces many difficult tasks when he enters the White House, and now people who want to face similar challenges can give the U.S. presidency a try, too, in a video game. Game maker Eversim will start selling "Commander in Chief" on January 20, when Obama is sworn in as president, the company
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