Archive for the 'Economy' Category
New Zealand Supermarkets Chipping Cheese Blocks, Meat to Prevent Theft
August 30th, 2008Via: New Zealand Herald: Supermarkets are introducing electronic tags on items popular with shoplifters and other thieves. The Source Tagging Alliance, set up by leading retailers, is encouraging suppliers to use radio frequency identification (RFID) and source tagging on grocery product packaging at the point of manufacture. Retailer Association chief executive John Albertson told the […]
Alistair Darling: UK Facing Worst Economic Crisis in 60 Years
August 30th, 2008Via: BBC: The UK is facing its worst economic crisis in 60 years, Chancellor Alistair Darling has admitted. He told the Guardian newspaper that the economic downturn would be more “profound and long-lasting” than most people had feared. Using strong language, Mr Darling acknowledged voters were angry with Labour’s handling of the economy. Shadow Chancellor […]
FDIC Friday: Integrity Bank Becomes 10th U.S. Failure This Year
August 30th, 2008Via: Bloomberg: Integrity Bank of Alpharetta, Georgia, was closed by U.S. regulators today, the 10th bank to collapse this year amid a surge in soured real-estate loans stemming from the worst housing slump since the Great Depression. Integrity Bank, with $1.1 billion in assets and $974 million in deposits, was shuttered by the Georgia Department […]
Russia May Cut Off Oil Flow to the West
August 29th, 2008It might be a swindle to gap the oil price up temporarily on the news for a long oil play. Assuming it happens, of course. Via: Telegraph: Fears are mounting that Russia may restrict oil deliveries to Western Europe over coming days, in response to the threat of EU sanctions and Nato naval actions in […]
World’s Largest Gold Refiner Runs Out of Krugerrands
August 29th, 2008Via: Bloomberg: Rand Refinery Ltd., the world’s largest gold refinery, ran out of South African Krugerrands after an “unusually large” order from a buyer in Switzerland. The order was for 5,000 ounces and it will take until Sept. 3 for inventories to be replenished, said Johan Botha, a spokesman for Rand Refinery in Germiston, east […]
The Price of Rat Meat has Quadrupled in Cambodia
August 28th, 2008Via: Reuters: The price of rat meat has quadrupled in Cambodia this year as inflation has put other meat beyond the reach of poor people, officials said on Wednesday. With consumer price inflation at 37 percent according to the latest central bank estimate, demand has pushed a kilogram of rat meat up to around 5,000 […]
UK House Prices Drop Most Since 1990, Retail Index Plunges
August 28th, 2008Via: Bloomberg: U.K. house prices declined at the fastest annual pace in almost two decades and an index of retail sales plunged to a 25-year low in August as Britain’s economy edged closer to a recession. The average value of a home fell 10.5 percent to 164,654 pounds ($301,500), the biggest drop since the final […]
U.S., Europe, Japan Devised Plan to Prop Up Dollar, Nikkei Says
August 28th, 2008Via: Bloomberg: Finance officials from the U.S., Japan and Europe in mid-March drew up plans to strengthen the U.S. dollar following troubles at Bear Stearns Cos., Nikkei English News reported, citing unnamed sources. The intervention designed by the U.S. Treasury Department, Japan’s Finance Ministry and the European Central Bank called for the central banks to […]
SEC May Let Companies Abandon U.S. Accounting Rules
August 28th, 2008Via: Bloomberg: The Securities and Exchange Commission may let large U.S. companies switch to international accounting rules in six years, a step it says will lower compliance costs and make American firms more competitive. SEC commissioners today approved a “road map” that might allow corporations with market values exceeding $700 million to abandon U.S. accounting […]
Bundesbank on Gold Reserves
August 28th, 2008Via: Guardian: Germany’s Bundesbank on Friday rejected calls that it should sell some of its gold reserves to help boost the slowing German economy, telling Reuters financial and political uncertainty make the reserves even more important than before. “Gold sales are not a suitable way to sustainably consolidate the public accounts,” the Bundesbank said after […]
