Is Osborne right to warn about sterling now?

So, George Osborne's unveiled his new line of attack on the Government - warning that, in light of sterling's recent plunge, Brown's addiction to debt could trigger a run on the pound.  It's a prognosis not entirely without basis, but is now the right time to make it, politically?  After all, the trends aren't currently heading in the direction of the Shadow Chancellor's worst-case scenario, and the devaluation of sterling could even result in a few benefits.  Gary Duncan puts it best in today's Times:

"How much does any of

Continue reading...

Email to a friend   |   Permalink   |   Comments (8)

Daily Brief

When the hammer came down on the last lot at Phillips de Pury's contemporary sale last night, it marked the end of the most brutal auction season in recent memory.

The boutique auction house suffered the worst performance of the two-week period, with only 59 percent of the 51 works on offer finding buyers. The sale brought in $9.6 million (including buyers' fees), a fraction of the evening's $23 million low estimate. It didn't help that five works were withdrawn at the last minute by nervous sellers, including pieces by Richard Price, John Currin, and Anselm Kiefer.

The top lot...

Continue reading...

Email to a friend   |   Permalink   |   Comments (1)

Citi's Achilles heel: foreign depositors

Dick Parsons, lead outside director of Citigroup, is sounding just a tiny bit defensive these days:

We are confident that the direction our management team has set is the right direction -- and the winning direction -- for these extraordinary times. Citi is well positioned for growth because of its unique global universal bank model, and because it has the right talent, the right management, and the right approach.

If you ask me, Citi's "unique global universal bank model" is in fact its greatest weakness. As of June 30, Citigroup had a whopping $820 billion in...

Continue reading...

Email to a friend   |   Permalink   |   Comment

A well worked story

At the moment in the day job I'm working in PR (I know, I know, "hangs head in shame") which makes me rather more sensitive than I normally am to well placed stories. Like this one.

Asda said that the sales increase was driven by a combination of increased customer numbers, in particular among wealthy AB shoppers looking for bargains, and a higher average 'basket spend' per visit. The company said that it had grown its profit ahead of its internal targets "with good cost control despite rising energy costs".

What they've said there might even be true...

Continue reading...

Email to a friend   |   Permalink   |   Comments (1)

Why I like the financial crisis

Because it means that Will Hutton writes more often for public consumption. This makes my job easier as, being a self-declared crusader against idiotic economic commentary  Will Hutton writing provides me with fuel.

There are a number of areas in which it needs to change rapidly, bringing forward proposals in the pre-budget report. First, it is stipulating a 12% interest rate on the coupon rate it is charging when it invests in banks via preference shares. This makes the cost of capital high, and encourages the banks to charge high margins to deliver the profit to pay off the...

Continue reading...

Email to a friend   |   Permalink   |   Comment