18May2012

At least Hollande and Merkel agree on one thing – a financial transaction tax

Cameron believes a Tobin tax would hurt the City – but France and Germany are under pressure to finance a eurozone boostSupporters of a financial transaction tax have a strong ally in the new French president, François Hollande, who wants to recycle the revenue raised from the so-called Tobin tax into growth-enhancing investment projects. On this, if little else, he may have the backing of Ange

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18May2012

JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon faces shareholders – as it happened

• Dimon: huge losses happened when hedge position 'morphed'• Dimon: we've always favored regulation • Join our Q&A session on JP Morgan and Jamie Dimon at 2pm ET / 19.00 GMT10.00am: Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan's embattled boss, is about to face off with shareholders in Tampa, Florida this morning. It's Tom McCarthy here in New York with live blog coverage.Last week the bank boss revealed JP

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18May2012

Who’s going to pay to update Britain’s infrastructure?

Research from the RAC reckons the annual take from motoring taxation will drop by £13bn by 2029 while traffic will grow by 50%The problem facing the government over infrastructure is not whether we need it. From nuclear power stations to new runways in south-east England, there are compelling arguments for a multibillion pound spending programme that would span a decade. The issue is how to pay f

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17May2012

UK exports rise: George Osborne still can’t yet play the eurozone card

Falling exports to EU have dampened the UK figures but chancellor would still be unwise to blame eurozone crisisAt one level, today's UK trade figures were encouraging. Exports to countries outside the European Union were up 2% to a record high as UK firms started to penetrate some of the world's faster-growing markets. The share of British exports going to the EU dropped to just over 45%, its low

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17May2012

Saving Greece will benefit Europe as it did when the Allies rescued Germany

German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble says if the Greeks don't like the rules they can leave, this is unfair and it won't workThere is a ritual in European politics that is stretching the patience of its citizens. International lenders push for a debt problem to be resolved. They are ignored. They withdraw loan facilities to the country they are worried about to provoke some action. Seconds b

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17May2012

MPC could boost quantitative easing

One minute the experts say we're on an upward trajectory, the next they appear to say the oppositeThe Bank of England's interest rate setting committee could add another £25bn to its £325bn programme of quantitative easing when it meets on Thursday.Only last month rising inflation was deemed to be sufficient to deter the monetary policy committee (MPC).There was some positive news from surveys o

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17May2012

US jobs numbers in tune with weak recovery

The pace of jobs growth has slowed to a level more in keeping with an economy that is growing at an annual rate of 2%The US jobs figures were a curate's egg - good in parts.On the upside, the world's biggest economy is still creating jobs and the unemployment rate - which peaked at just over 10% - is coming down.The bad news is that the pace of hiring has slowed since early 2012 and the drop in th

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17May2012

Eurozone crisis live: Markets slide as Greek euro exit looms

Chances of Greece leaving the eurozone are growing, as political leaders prepare for last-ditch coalition talks in Athens• FTSE 100 falls 110 points• Spanish and Italian bond yields rise• Fears of civil disorder...• ....or Greece running out of money in June• Today's agenda7.37pm: And with that it's time to close the blog for another day.Tomorrow François Hollande will be sworn in as th

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17May2012

Data asset or data liability?

One distinguishing factor of successful businesses is how well they capture, maintain, access and interpret data. Why is it, then, that many businesses fail to adequately protect their data assets, and even more fail to provide for sufficient contingency should data become lost, damaged, corrupt or compromised? Data compromise remains one of the most prevalent challenges, and the one most feared b

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16May2012

Recession plus austerity equals loss of political power

Voters have wanted to give the coalition a good kicking since the budget – and they have found numerous reasons for doing soThe government has had a terrible time since the budget in late March, capped by the poor performance by the two halves of the coalition in the local elections.It would be wrong, however, to imagine that the big gains for Labour are due to granny taxes and VAT on cornish pa

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