How the world sees Greece
The chairman of National Bank of Greece warned on Thursday that political, economic and geopolitical risks pose a threat to the country’s recovery. “Unfortunately we made too much noise and instead of investors focusing on the financial achievements secur... ...
 |
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
During the 2008-13 Greek recession, the country endured the steepest domestic electricity rate hikes seen anywhere in the European Union, amounting to a total of 60 percent over the six years. This means there was an annual increase of 10 percent, accordi... ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expressed its opposition to the Greek government’s plans to rely solely on commercial markets for financing, after Prime Minister Antonis Samaras revealed that the country might exit its bailout program ahead of schedule. In addition, the IMF underlined that Athens has more than one year left in its program and that it should still draw on it for support, rather than exiting it early. IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said that “Greece has made important progress… but as recent events have shown, there’s still a way to go before Greece can rely entirely on markets for financing,” adding that “at this stage we are looking forward to receiving the full set of policy proposals from the authorities that could serve as the basis for the discussions” between the country and its lenders, while some $16 billion are still to be disbursed. Rice said the IMF was sympathetic to Athens’ desire to avoid more sweeping cuts to wages and pensions as a way of balancing its budget: “That is why it is important to press ahead with the structural reforms… to strengthen the tax administration in particular, where we feel progress continues to lag.” Furthermore, IMF’s spokesman said that the Fund firmly believes that it would be better for Athens to continue with at least some kind of precautionary support program, even after its exit. Earlier this month, Samaras spread concerns in financial markets when he said Greece wants to end the IMF program by the end of December.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
Local lenders continued to drag the Greek bourse lower on Thursday, with the banks index down 10 percent at one point before ending with daily losses of 5.06 percent, based on fears that shareholders will see their stakes shrink if lenders proceed to shar... ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
Greek consumers are rediscovering the benefits of saving money, indicating both a slight improvement in household finances and a shift from the extreme consumerism of the pre-crisis years. This is reflected in the third-quarter consumer confidence index c... ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
The reform efforts over the past few years have begun to bear fruit. Greece has improved its standing in the World Bank’s Doing Business rankings, rising 48 positions from 2010 to 61st place among 189 countries today. But even as the report notes improvem... ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
The International Monetary Fund said it might supply its know-how if the eurozone provides a precautionary credit line for Greece. IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said the contingency support could take various forms and that the final agreement would depend on ... ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
Greece is due to send by Saturday its proposal on several of the key issues that remain unresolved in its talks with the troika in the hope that this might pave the way for the current program review to be concluded by the Eurogroup on December 8. Althoug... ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
WARWICK — The Warwick Valley High School Drama Club presents "The Iliad, The Odyssey, And All Other Greek Mythology In 99 Minutes or Less!
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT warwickadvertiser.com |
The Geek and The Greek chugged along with identical 8-7 records in Week 8, keeping The Athenian One safely on top (73-47-1, seven up on The ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT blogs.theprovince.com |
More than 5,000 civil servants are under investigation for transferring some 1.5 billion euros to foreign bank accounts since 2010, when Greece’s economic crisis erupted, the Administrative Reform Ministry revealed Thursday. Based on ministry data, a tota... ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
West Brom head coach Alan Irvine believes Georgios Samaras' Greece ... The striker has been axed by Greece for their Euro 2016 qualifier with the ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.dailymail.co.uk |
Convicted terrorist Savvas Xeros has failed in his attempt to recruit other urban guerrillas, according to high-ranking sources in the police and anti-terrorism squad. The November 17 member has been on the run since January, when he failed to return to K... ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
Despite gains in the broader European markets, Greece stocks and country-specific exchange traded fund is experiencing heightened volatility as the specter of snap elections could put the country’s euro-membership ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT finance.yahoo.com |
The Greek Life Summit brought student representatives from different fraternities and sororities, including Kappa Kappa Gamma, Pi Beta Phi, Phi Mu, Sigma Phi Epsilon, and Alpha Delta Phi (Wawa) among others, together on Oct. 23. Dean of Student Life Terry ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT uwire.com |
Samaras, who captains the Greece national side, has been omitted from the squad for their upcoming European Championship qualifier with the ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.expressandstar.com |
ATHENS, Greece — The European Union on Thursday carried out its biggest exercise to prevent cyber-attacks on Europe's public utilities and ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.bellinghamherald.com |
In June, Corti was invited by New Wines of Greece, the state-backed organization that wished to show the advancements in the Greek wine industry ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.sacbee.com |
Shares of the biggest bank in Greece are down 5% today, bringing the decimated stock's year-to-date decline to 50%. Investors are still stewing over ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT blogs.barrons.com |
Greek equities remained weak throughout the session, thought they pared just a third of morning the morning losses. Banks, techs and healthcare ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT english.capital.gr |
The Geek and The Greek chugged along with identical 8-7 records in Week 8, keeping The Athenian One safely on top (73-47-1, seven up on The ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT blogs.theprovince.com |
If Golden didn't help other LGBT members of Greek life then, he is now as the Department of Fraternity and Sorority Life's LGBT liaison, a title he ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.diamondbackonline.com |
The IMF said Thursday that Greece is not ready to rely solely on commercial markets for financing, after Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said the country might exit its bailout early. With more than one year left in its rescue loan program for the country,... ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
by Associated Press Greece probes civil servants who sent cash abroad Associated Press - 30 October 2014 13:43-04:00 ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities are investigating more than 5,000 civil servants for potential tax offenses after they allegedly sent large cash sums out of the country during Greece's acute financial crisis. The public administration reform ministry says the civil servants under investigation sent a total 1.45 billion euros ($1.83 billion) — on average, 275,000 euros each — abroad since the crisis erupted in 2009. The ministry said Thursday tax officials will focus on checking the declared incomes of 415 people — mostly doctors and educators — who left the civil service since the probe started. Despite a radical increase in taxation as part of austerity measures taken to secure international bailouts, Greek authorities are still struggling to cope with deeply ingrained tax evasion. News Topics: Business, General news, Civil service, Government and politics People, Places and Companies: Greece, Western Europe, Europe Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.neurope.eu |
Greek authorities are investigating more than 5,000 civil servants for potential tax offenses after they allegedly sent large cash sums out of the country during Greece's acute financial crisis. The public ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT news.yahoo.com |
5,260 Greek civil employees are to be investigated by the country’s authorities for transferring almost 1.5 billion euros to foreign banks between 2010 and 2014. According to the figures presented by the Administrative Reform Ministry, half of the civil servants and their relatives to be examined were involved in the education sector, with the vast majority of them being members of academic institutions. The rest were in the health, defense, finance and public construction sectors. Administrative Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis issued an order for the Inspectors-Controllers Body for Public Administration (SEEDD) to conduct an investigation as it appeared that 117 million euros were transferred solely by 415 out of the 5,260 employees. The average amount of money transferred abroad by employee was 283,000 euros, while the aforementioned 415 left the public sector during the last four years for a number of reasons. According to a statement released by the Ministry, the investigation will cover almost the entire civil service sector, except certain categories such as judges and security forces personnel, as these do not fall under its jurisdiction.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
Greece's producer prices decreased annually for a third straight month in September, figures from the Hellenic Statistical Authority showed Thursday. The producer price index in industry dropped ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com |
2014-10-30 15:35:52 – Recently published research from Business Monitor International, “Greece Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Report Q4 2014″, is now available at Fast Market Research The pharmaceutical and healthcare industry in Greece will continue ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT etvfutures.com |
ALAN IRVINE has backed Georgios Samaras to bounce back from being dropped by Greece boss Claudio Ranieri. By: Brendan McLoughlin.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.express.co.uk |
He has struggled to make an impact at The Hawthorns since a free transfer from Celtic in the summer and has paid the price with Greece. But, ahead ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.birminghammail.co.uk |
A scholarship fund at Greece Olympia is being created in memory of former boys basketball coach Steve DeRooy. Greece Olympia plans to host an ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.democratandchronicle.com |
Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis said on Thursday that a tripartite ministerial meeting between Cyprus, Greece and Egypt on energy issues will ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT incyprus.philenews.com |
The tripartite meeting held yesterday between the foreign ministers of Egypt, Greece and Cyprus was not aimed at forming an alliance against Turkey, ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.middleeastmonitor.com |
One year has passed since the merger of Aegean Airlines and historic Olympic Air and the former presented its plans for the future. Among others, Aegean Airlines Vice President Eftihis Vasilakis underlined that the company is entering a new growth orbit, investing 300 million euros for the purchase of seven brand new Airbus 320s within the next two years. Speaking at a press conference on the occasion of one year since the merger with Olympic Air, Vasilakis said that the two companies covered a network of 120 destinations in 33 countries with 13 million available seats, 1.2 million more compared with the pre-merger period. He also said that the airline currently owns a 50 aircraft fleet, two technical hangars, employs 2,400 people and recorded a passenger traffic of 9.8 million. The Greek airline has also scheduled a radical renewal of its fleet through an international tender, with priority to be given to aircraft bought in 2007. The company aims to raise its fleet to 70 aircraft by 2023, covering 350 destinations, with a passenger traffic of 15 million. Furthermore, Vasilakis confirmed Aegean Airlines’ interest in Cyprus Airways commenting that: “We are interested in the development of Cyprus and the development of Greece through Cyprus.” The company’s annual turnover is 920 million euros and its contribution to the state economy through taxes and air duties on 2014 reached 280 million euros, from 248 million euros in 2013. As Vasilakis noted, the airline company also made a large contribution to the country’s promotion and growth of tourism. According to a research on Greek tourism conducted by the Anna Euro Foundation earlier this month, Aegean Airlines tended to be the airline of choice for tourists entering the country and sold 216,771 seats just in August.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
International bond markets are very skeptical over the Eurozone‘s future, noted German newspaper Die Welt, as almost 12% of investors expect that at least one country will leave the common currency area, implying Greece. This skepticism can be the reason why there are negative trends in European bond markets, the newspaper suggested. Skepticism is reflected at the Euro-Break-Up Index (EBI) that is published each month by rating firm Sentix. The index has skyrocketed to 53% in October alone. This is the index’s largest increase since March 2013, when there was a threat that Cyprus would leave the Eurozone, the German newspaper noted. Ever since, the index had never exceeded 8%. According to the newspaper, Greece remains the constant candidate to be the next to exit the Eurozone, while it further added Cyprus due to its proximity to Russia. Spreads of government bonds in indebted countries have went up, Die Welt noted, referring to Greek and Italian government bonds. However, what the newspaper reported as the most ‘striking’ news is that, according to European Central Bank’s official data, more than 17 billion euros have been taken off the Eurozone market in fear that the crisis will lead to further fluctuations in financial markets. Die Welt’s article came just after a recent interview of Greek Administrative Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Bloomberg, who suggested that the dilemma of whether Greece should remain in the Eurozone or return to its own currency, the Drachma, will be posed again if the country is driven to early general elections along with the upcoming Presidential election in March 2015.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
By Michael Nienaber BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government on Thursday denied a Greek media report that Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and his Greek counterpart Gikas Hardouvelis had reached an ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT finance.yahoo.com |
The Geek and The Greek chugged along with identical 8-7 records in Week 8, keeping The Athenian One safely on top (73-47-1, seven up on The Geek) heading into the season’s second half. Now they disagree on four games in Week 9, so who’s gonna bust ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT blogs.theprovince.com |
Now that Greece has said it will seek a credit line from the eurozone’s bailout fund once its rescue program runs out at the end of the year, the difficult negotiations on how to make the new aid palatable to both Athens and other European capitals have ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT blogs.wsj.com |
International bond markets are very skeptical over the Eurozone‘s future, noted German newspaper Die Welt, as almost 12% of investors expect that at least one country will leave the common currency area, implying Greece. This skepticism can be the reason why there are negative trends in European bond markets, the newspaper suggested. Skepticism is reflected at the Euro-Break-Up Index (EBI) that is published each month by rating firm Sentix. The index has skyrocketed to 53% in October alone. This is the index’s largest increase since March 2013, when there was a threat that Cyprus would leave the Eurozone, the German newspaper noted. Ever since, the index had never exceeded 8%. According to the newspaper, Greece remains the constant candidate to be the next to exit the Eurozone, while it further added Cyprus due to its proximity to Russia. Spreads of government bonds in indebted countries have went up, Die Welt noted, referring to Greek and Italian government bonds. However, what the newspaper reported as the most ‘striking’ news is that, according to European Central Bank’s official data, more than 17 billion euros have been taken off the Eurozone market in fear that the crisis will lead to further fluctuations in financial markets. Die Welt’s article came just after a recent interview of Greek Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Bloomberg, who suggested that the dilemma of whether Greece should remain in the Eurozone or return to its own currency, the Drachma, will be posed again if the country is driven to early general elections along with the upcoming Presidential election in March 2015.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
In around 450 B.C., the Athenian general Pericles tried to consolidate his power by using public money, the dues paid to Athens by its allies in the Delian League coalition, to support the city-state’s artists and thinkers. Most of all, Pericles paid ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.history.com |
West Brom striker Georgios Samaras has been dropped by Greece West Brom head coach Alan Irvine believes Georgios Samaras' Greece snub can benefit the Baggies. The striker has been axed by Greece for their Euro 2016 qualifier with the Faroe Islands and ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.independent.ie |
"We deny media reports that Germany and Greece agreed yesterday about future aid for Greece once its ongoing bailout programme is over," a ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.reuters.com |
The federal detention hearing for a woman accused of having a role in a Greece home invasion has been postponed. Jessica Moscicki is now ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.democratandchronicle.com |
... the squad for the Euro 2016 qualifier against Faroe Islands. Irvine said: “He will be really disappointed because he is captain of the Greece side.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.dailystar.co.uk |
Important trading powers, such as Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea and Brazil, are failing to enforce national laws that call for criminal prosecution of companies from their countries that bribe foreign government officials and politicians. Indeed, only four countries, which between them represent almost one-quarter of global exports, are fully enforcing their own laws to curb corporate corruption -- the United States, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom -- according to a new report, "Exporting Corruption," published by Transparency International. The widespread failure by many important exporting countries to curb business corruption can only be explained by their belief that boosting exports is far more important than reducing corruption. By turning a blind eye to the bribe paying by companies from their countries, these governments expect their enterprises will win trade deals that bring profits home and create jobs as well. The current situation is scandalous. The non-enforcement of corporate anti-corruption laws encourages foreign government politicians and officials to seek bribes when negotiating government contracts with multinational enterprises. The corporate bribery, of course, distorts global market business competition. No major trading nation takes a tougher line on corporations paying bribes to foreign officials than the United States, but this may well place U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage in world trade. Anti-Bribery Laws This was certainly the case from 1978 to 1998 when the U.S. alone had a "Foreign Corrupt Practices Act" (FCPA) that made it a crime for a U.S. company to pay bribes to foreign government officials. The unlevel playing field that U.S. corporations confronted was meant to change, however, in 1998 when the Anti-Bribery Convention of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) came into force. The Convention mostly replicates the details of the FCPA and 41 countries have signed it. However, there seems to be a major gulf between signing a law and enforcing it when trade deals are in play. The victims are honest companies that refuse to pay bribes. Just as importantly, the victims are also the world's poor. When government officials see the opportunity for kickbacks from contracts then, all too often, they are willing to overpay for imports and purchase shoddy products. The citizens of their countries suffer as a result. It is time that the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention was fully enforced. Just how bad matters are is revealed in the "Exporting Corruption" report. It assesses countries in four categories relative to their enforcement of the OECD pact: Active Enforcement: just four countries, although they represent fully 23.1 percent of world exports -- U.S., Germany, U.K. and Switzerland. Moderate Enforcement: five countries with 8.3 percent of world exports -- Italy, Canada, Australia, Austria and Finland. Limited Enforcement: eight countries with 7.6 percent of world exports --France, Sweden, Norway, Hungary, South Africa, Argentina, Portugal and New Zealand. Little or No Enforcement: 22 countries with 27 percent of world exports -- Japan, Netherlands, Korea (South), Russia, Spain, Belgium, Mexico, Brazil, Ireland, Poland, Turkey, Denmark, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Chile, Israel, Slovak Republic, Colombia, Greece, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Estonia. The U.S. Department of Justice has long been the largest and toughest enforcer of corporate anti-corruption laws. According to the new Transparency International report, between 2010 and 2013 there were at least 99 investigations initiated, 14 cases commenced (12 of which were major cases) and 132 cases concluded (67 were major cases that concluded with substantial sanctions). For many years the Germans, who pre-1998 allowed corporations to deduct their foreign bribes from their taxes, failed to enforce the OECD Convention. Then prosecutors discovered that Siemens, the largest engineering company in Europe, had a sophisticated global bribe-paying system in place involving vast payments. The Siemens disclosures created a public furor in Germany and encouraged prosecutors to take Germany's commitments under the OECD treaty seriously. In the last four years they have initiated investigations into 74 companies. Silver Lining The U.S. Department of Justice's ability to bring cases since the OECD Convention came into effect has been increased by the willingness of a growing number of foreign prosecutors from many different countries to cooperate and provide evidence. For example, last year, the U.S. prosecuted four executives from France's Alstom SA company for paying bribes in a deal with an Indonesian public utility -- the case was made in part because of information provided by Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission. Fritz Heimann, a former lawyer at General Electric and one of the founders of Transparency International, has long been engaged in monitoring the OECD Convention's enforcement. He argues that it would now be helpful if the OECD collected and published data on mutual legal assistance requests relating to foreign bribery. This would add clarity to which governments are, and are not, cooperating with the U.S. on enforcement actions. A Level Playing Field The non-enforcement of corporate anti-corruption laws by many countries dare not be a pretext for watering down U.S. laws, as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce would like to see. In fact, it should instead be an encouragement for even greater prosecuting zeal by the U.S. Justice Department. This is certainly the way the Obama Administration appears to approach the issue. The number of cases being investigated and prosecuted now by the U.S. authorities is high and the scale of punishments is mounting. The key is that the U.S. authorities have cast a wide net, not just going after U.S. companies, but also foreign firms that have U.S. operations or are listed on U.S. stock exchanges. A comprehensive listing of anti-corruption enforcement actions against multinational companies is constantly being updated by Trace International that plays important roles working with honest businesses to strengthening their anti-corruption compliance systems and approaches.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.huffingtonpost.com |
Rolling business and financial news: US growth buoyed by trade and defence spending while Spain also enjoyed decent growth for the third quarter and Germany posted a surprise fall in unemployment... but stock markets concerned that US rate hikes could come sooner after upbeat Fed statement 3.42pm GMT Following a meeting between Greek and German finance ministers, there seems some confusion about what went on. Reuters snaps: 3.22pm GMT The European Central Bank has appointed four managers for its asset-backed securities purchase programme.The contracts with the executing asset managers contain a number of provisions to mitigate conflicts of interest, such as the separation of teams working for the ECB and those engaged in any other activities. This will be subject to checks by external auditors. 3.02pm GMT After falling to an all-time low against the dollar, the ruble has jumped more than 3% amid rumours of intervention from the central bank.The Russian currency has been the worst performing emerging market currency over the past month, down 7.1% against the dollar and 7.3% against the euro before today, according to William Jackson at Capital Economics. He said:While this can in part be pinned on the fall in oil prices, the ruble has dropped by more than the previous relationship between the currency and oil prices would suggest. This has raised concerns that Russia could be on the cusp of a self-fulfilling currency crisis.Market moves today suggest that the central bank has tried to get ahead of the curve. The ruble has rallied by around 3% against the US dollar from its trough earlier in the day. Its not quite clear what lies behind this movement (the central bank has refused to comment), but the most obvious explanation is that policymakers have intervened heavily on the foreign exchange market.We had already been expecting a 100 basis point rate hike at the Russian central banks MPC meeting tomorrow. However, in addition to a sizeable jump in rates, theres a possibility that the central bank brings its shift to a fully-floating exchange rate to a halt, instead using foreign exchange intervention to maintain a tighter grip on the currency. In spite of this, we expect the ruble to remain weak over the coming years. This...looks like indirect indications by the central bank to the local banking community that enough is enough and/or a substantial one-off FX intervention by the central bank. 2.34pm GMT European stock markets are still down, amid growing concerns that the US Fed could hike rates sooner than expected after last nights upbeat statement which ended its quantitative easing programme. The Fed would have seen in advance todays strong GDP numbers which showed the economy grew by 3.5% in the third quarter. The dollar has rallied against the pound and the euro.Markets have also been spooked by comments from the European banking regulator that banks need to do more work, even those that passed the stress tests. 2.04pm GMT Returning to the European confidence data, ING economist Peter Vanden Houte says the European Commission business and consumer survey turned out be a pleasant surprise. The overall economic sentiment index rose from 99.9 to 100.7, confounding the consensus expectation for a small drop. The business climate indicator increased to 0.05 from 0.02 in August.The increase in overall sentiment in September was across the board, with all sectors seeing an improvement in confidence. The export-sensitive industrial sector showed a more optimistic view on both expected production and order books. The weakening of the euro exchange rate is finally giving some breathing space to European exporters, leading to more optimism.Confidence in the more domestically oriented services and retail trade sector also both improved, while consumer confidence staged a slight increase on the back of better employment perspectives. Finally the construction sector saw a significant boost in confidence. Capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector increased to 80%, typically the level where investment expenditure starts to pick up. 2.03pm GMT US stocks dipped at the open, but the Dow Jones is now trading 0.3% higher at 17,25.24 while the S&P 500 has slipped 0.1% and the Nasdaq is down 0.6%. 1.15pm GMT Carsten Brzeski at ING has looked at the German jobless numbers in detail.Did anyone say crisis? The German labour market remains solid as a rock, defying all woes from a weakening industry. Unemployment decreased by a non-seasonally adjusted 75,000 in October, bringing the total number of unemployed down to 2.733 million. In seasonally-adjusted terms, unemployment dropped by 22,000, leaving the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate unchanged at 6.7%. The revival of the German labour market is gaining momentum. In fact, the October improvement was the best October performance since 2011, indicating that the story on the possible vacation impact on the German economy in August and September could have been for real. Now that finally all Germans are back from vacation, the labour market is accelerating. The labour market remains the backbone of the German economy. Thanks to earlier reforms, ageing and immigration from crisis-battered Eurozone countries, the German labour market seems to have decoupled from the real economy. Or to be more precise, the economy currently needs much less growth than in the past to at least stabilize the labour market. While in the 1990s and early 2000s, it needed GDP growth of at least 1.5% to reduce unemployment, this threshold has come down to below 1%. Looking ahead, the labour market should remain solid, supporting private consumption. Earlier today, the statistical office reported that employment had reached a new all-time-high in September. Moreover, vacancies are increasing again and have almost returned to their all-time high of November 2011. Interestingly, the current split of the German economy into healthy domestic activity and faltering external activity is also reflected in companies recruitment plans. Employment expectations in the manufacturing sector have been negative since March, while at the same time employers in the service sector are still hiring and have actually increased their recruitment plans in recent months. 1.12pm GMT To recap, todays economic news has been pretty good. Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics, shares the Feds optimism about the economy: Admittedly, consumption growth was a relatively modest 1.8% in the third quarter. But the conditions are in place for a pick-up in the pace of consumption growth. Real personal disposable incomes increased by a healthy 2.7% in the third quarter and, with the prospect of further big gains in employment and the impact of the slump in energy prices, real incomes should enjoy an even bigger gain in the fourth quarter.Business investment growth was also relatively healthy at 5.5%, led by a 7.2% gain in investment in equipment. Residential investment only increased by 1.8%, but we still expect more gains in home building over the next couple of years because the level of housing starts is still running well below population requirements. 1.05pm GMT More breaking news: German inflation unexpectedly slowed to 0.7% this month, the lowest reading since May. 1.02pm GMT Fed chair Janet Yellen is speaking at a diversity conference at the central bank, but wont touch on monetary policy or the economic outlook, according to the text of the speech, Reuters reports. 12.58pm GMT Futures are pointing to a lower open on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones set to fall 24 points. Over here, the FTSE 100 index is now trading down less than 40 points at 6414.61, a 0.6% drop. Germanys Dax has lost 1% and Frances CAC has shed 0.4%. 12.55pm GMT US Q3 GDP grew 3.5%q/q (annualized). Consumption, investment, government & net exports all made healthy contributions pic.twitter.com/JKZGolh8MrContributions to Percent Change in U.S. GDP: pic.twitter.com/1ska6qDR5RIf Fed was comfortable with sustainable US growth based on defense spending does this mean a Fed "war put"? 12.51pm GMT Heres some instant reaction to the US GDP data from ING economist Rob Carnell. No wonder the FOMC statement erred on the upbeat side on Wednesday. That said, the components of the GDP total make less impressive reading. Consumer spending rose by only 1.8%, down from 2.5% in 2Q14, and fixed investment, though not bad at 4.7%, and faster than overall GDP growth, was also down from the second quarter reading. Structures, equipment, and residential investment spending growth all slowed. What seems to have delivered most of the growth, and offset a substantial (0.57% GDP) drag from inventories, was a reasonable export performance (7.8%QoQ), coupled with a decline in imports (-1.7%), and a big surge in the erratic defense component of government spending. This last element alone added 0.66% to the GDP total. It is unlikely to be repeated any time soon. Having said all this, we suspect the market will be prepared to see through the detail and focus on the better looking total. Following yesterdays FOMC statement, investors will likely be looking for clues that may see the Fed hiking rates sooner than expected. This data certainly leans in that direction. Though with big falls in inflation looming, we would not be rushing to any hasty conclusions on rates just yet. 12.44pm GMT US economic growth was fuelled by a smaller trade deficit and a surge in defence spending in the third quarter. It was the fourth quarter out of the last five that the economy has expanded by at least 3.5%.The trade position improved because of a sharp fall in imports the biggest since the end of 2012, driven by a drop in oil imports. Trade added 1.32 percentage points to overall economic growth of 3.5%. 12.40pm GMT Spot gold dropped nearly 1% to hit a session low of $1,199.90 an ounce. 12.39pm GMT The dollar, already buoyed by last nights upbeat Fed statement, extended gains against the pound on the strong US GDP data. Sterling hit the days low of $1.5950. 12.34pm GMT The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits rose for a second week last week, but remained at levels consistent with a recovering labour market. Jobless claims rose 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 287,000, the Labor Department said. 12.31pm GMT The US economy grew at a 3.5% annual rate in the third quarter, better than the 3% expected by Wall Street. 11.43am GMT Ranko Berich, head of market analysis at Monex Europe, says ahead of the US GDP data: The FOMC now believes that holes in the labour market are gradually diminishing and solid gains are being made in job creation. These changes all point in one direction rate hikes in 2015.However, rate hikes do remain conditional with key conditions being the continued improvement in inflation and the labour market. For this to happen, the economy itself needs to grow strongly, making todays first reading of US third quarter GDP even more critical. Should GDP growth meet these high expectations today, the Feds hawkishness will only increase and the dollar could find itself ascendant in 2015. 11.16am GMT In just over an hour, we will get the first estimate for third-quarter GDP growth in the US. Wall Street economists have pencilled in a healthy 3% annual rate between July and September. It would mark the fourth quarter in the past five in which the economy has grown by at least 3%.In the second quarter, the economy expanded by 4.6%, but this was a sharp bounceback from the first quarter when it shrank by 2.1% largely due to a harsh winter that disrupted much economic activity. 10.54am GMT The FTSE 100 index has tumbled 75 points to 6378.93, a 1.16% fall, while Germanys Dax is down nearly 100 points, a 1% drop and Frances CAC has slid 0.6%. It looks like the prospect of higher interest rates in the US is weighing on markets, after the Fed painted a brighter picture of the economy last night. In London, miners and commodity stocks have taken nearly 25 points off the Footsie.Brent crude oil prices have fallen below $87 a barrel, pressured by the stronger dollar.The story is not over, even for the banks who passed it. 10.22am GMT John Hardy, a currency strategist at Saxo Bank, has told Reuters:Its really nothing to do with sterling, its all dollar strength at the moment on the back of the FOMC meeting last night not because the statement was particularly hawkish, but because the market was positioned for a very dovish one. 10.16am GMT The pound has dropped below $1.60 for the first time in a fortnight after the Fed adopted a slightly more hawkish tone in its latest statement last night, when it ended quantitative easing. This has lifted the dollar against other currencies.Ed Knox, Currency Analyst at currency exchange company Caxton FX, says:The dollar surged against its major peers after the Fed statement, and has helped the greenback to push below 1.60 against the pound and below 1.26 against the euro. The QE announcement as well as causing a widespread dollar strength, also included an unexpected reference to an improving labour market the trigger for raising rates. Analysts still expect to see the US raise interest rates before the UK and the demise of QE and the rallying response of the dollar certainly strengthens these expectations. An improving economy for the states then, with the absence of QE. This has already brought about some much needed volatility and the US dollar is now firmly in the driving seat. 10.09am GMT After the surprise fall in German unemployment in October, the eurozone confidence figures have also come in better than expected.Eurozone economic confidence Oct 100.7 vs 99.7 exp http://t.co/FEnwXHO2ZG 9.49am GMT In the City, office rents have hit a new record at the Cheesegrater, eclipsing a deal struck at the Shard earlier this year.British Land and Oxford Properties have agreed a deal to let the 41st floor of the Cheesegrater to insurance company FM Global at almost £85 per square foot, Propertyweek writes.A floor spanning around 7,700 sq ft at the Leadenhall Building is now understood to be under offer to the US-based insurer.The price eclipses a deal done by Arma Partners in Irvine Sellars Shard earlier this year, at what was hailed at the time to be a record at £80/sq ft. 9.40am GMT More reaction to Barclays Q3 profits and provision for market-rigging. Simon Chouffot, spokesperson for the Robin Hood Tax campaign, says:Half a billion pounds is a colossal sum, but the real shock is the regularity with which banks put aside such provisions for their scams. In what other sector would this be acceptable?Banks shouldnt be putting money aside to pay for their bad behaviour, they shouldnt be doing wrong in the first place. A Robin Hood Tax would help curb the greed is good culture in banks and make them contribute positively to society. The fact their profits are once again rising while the rest of the economy suffers shows they can afford it. 9.38am GMT Lets have a look at other corporate news. French drugmaker Sanofi, which ousted its chief executive Chris Viehbacher yesterday, has got in touch with AstraZeneca boss Pascal Soriot to sound out his interest in the CEO job, Bloomberg writes. But Soriot, a Frenchman who used to run the pharmaceutical business at Roche, apparently said he wasnt interested. Shell CFO says demand weaker, esp in emerging markets. "That is having quite a significant impact in addition to new sources of supply."We are in an entirely different position than we were two years ago. This is a self-help story, but there is still very much more to do. 9.23am GMT Returning to Spain, ING economist Martin van Vliet says the comeback kid lives up to its name. He notes that the Spanish economy retains significant forward momentum, despite some slowdown in the third quarter.The nature of Spains economic recovery has clearly changed in recent quarters. For a long time, net exports were the only source of growth, but now that financial conditions have sharply improved and the labour market is turning around, domestic demand is taking over the growth baton. Nevertheless, bank lending is still contracting and unemployment remains extremely high (24.4% in August), which, together with the ongoing (albeit much slower) adjustment in the property sector and the need for further public-sector deleveraging limits the scope for stronger domestic demand growth in our view. Moreover, export growth may lose some of its sparkle in the wake of weak eurozone growth and slowing demand from emerging markets. Indeed, the latest trade reveal that growth in exports to non-EU countries has already stalled. 9.17am GMT Stock markets have turned negative, despite the good economic news out of Germany and Spain. Perhaps its the new hawkishness from the US Fed? European stocks erased earlier gains and the FTSE 100 index in London is now trading 0.5% lower at 6422.66, a fall of over 30 points. Spains Ibex has lot 1% and Italys FTSE MiB is 0.8% lower. 9.05am GMT The number of unemployed people in Germany, seasonally adjusted, fell by 22,000 to 2.887m this month, according to the countrys Federal Labour Office. 8.57am GMT The German unemployment data are much better than expected.German #unemployment falls by 22k in October, beating consensus of a 5k rise. Unemployment rate steady at 6.7% 8.51am GMT Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the worlds largest lender by assets, reported its biggest jump in bad loans since at least 2006 as the property market slumped and the economy cooled, Bloomberg writes. Nonperforming loans rose 9% in the third quarter from the previous three months, the Beijing-based bank said in an exchange filing yesterday.A struggling Chinese economy is weighing on ICBCs share price and is poised to drag the company to its weakest full-year profit growth since at least 2001 as more borrowers default. Challenges at home may encourage the bank to add to an overseas expansion that already spans Asia, South America and Europe. 8.34am GMT Spain became the first large EU member state to report Q3 GDP figures this morning. Its preliminary estimate confirmed the Bank of Spains forecast of growth of 0.5%, just a tad weaker than the 0.6% seen in Q2. Robert Kuenzel at Daiwa Capital Markets says:That is likely to make the country the only significant source of GDP growth this quarter in the euro area. 8.28am GMT In London, Standard Chartered shares have lost 6.7p, or 0.675%, to 985.4p. Meanwhile Barclays is up nearly 2% at 224.7p after posting better-than-expected results, despite a £500m provision related to ongoing investigations into currency rigging.Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, says: The beleaguered British bank has come out fighting, with an update which has both beaten expectations and given further confirmation of a recovery story which is beginning to get traction. Inevitability, there are pockets of disappointment within the numbers, such as the performance of the investment bank, the additional provisions for Forex and PPI, and continuing pressure on margins. However, the update is positive on a number of fronts, not least of which is the 5% increase in pre-tax profits (indeed, up 31% in the year to date). This has been largely driven by ongoing strength in the Personal and Corporate Banking and Barclaycard areas, and typified by lower impairments and costs, some material positive releases (Lehman and interest rate hedging) and an improvement in the core capital ratio in the quarter from 9.9% to 10.2%. The sector certainly has issues, and Barclays has been far from exempt from these in terms of profits and reputation, such that the share price has dipped 17% over the last year, as compared to a 5% drop for the wider FTSE100. Nonetheless, the throng of believers in the companys recovery is growing, with the market consensus recently having strengthened to a strong buy. 8.21am GMT European markets have taken the end of QE in the US in their stride. The FTSE 100 index opened 0.4% higher and is now up some 3 points, while Spains Ibex rose 0.6%, and Germanys Dax 0.2%. Frances CAC and Italys FTSE MiB advanced 1%.In France, stocks are getting a lift from upbeat corporate results. Renault upgraded its European car market growth forecast, telecoms equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent improved its gross profit margin in the latest quarter and oil services group Technip posted better-than-expected profits. 8.16am GMT The third-quarter US GDP data due later today will shed more light on how well founded the Feds optimism about the economy is. Out at 12.30 GMT, the figures are expected to show an annual growth rate of around 3%, down from the weather-related bounceback of 4.6% in the second quarter.Weekly jobless claims, after hitting a 14-year low earlier this month, are expected to rise a tad to 285,000 from 283,000. Soon after that, Fed chair Janet Yellen will give a speech in Washington on diversity in the economic profession. 8.01am GMT And Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, says:The committee also played down the risk of below target inflation while also stating that the amount of spare capacity appeared to be gradually diminishing, suggesting that if the data continued to improve then we could well see a rate hike sooner than expected. As always the Fed insisted that any move on rates would be data dependant, but given some of the recent chatter from various FOMC voting and non-voting members alike the tone of the statement was all the more surprising for its hawkish tone, particularly given that there was no mention of the problems in Europe, the slowdown in China or concerns about a strong US dollar keeping inflation low. 7.59am GMT Markets are still digesting last nights news of the end of QE3 in the US. The Federal Reserve, headed by Janet Yellen, ended its $4.5 trillion quantitative easing programme after more than five years. The announcement had been expected, but the statement issued by the Fed was more hawkish than some had anticipated.Marc Ostwald, strategist at ADM Investor Services International, says:There was always a very substantial risk that QE addicted markets were pinning too much hope on another very dovish statement, which in the event were disappointed, and to compound matters the FOMC adopted a rather more emphatically balanced view of the policy outlook, though as we have stressed, the Fed has been carefully carving out room for manoeuvre since June. Perhaps the irony is that while (gratuitously? Ed.) retaining a considerable time, the policy outlook was reformulated in a very balanced fashion: if incoming information indicates faster progress toward the Committees employment and inflation objectives than the Committee now expects, then increases in the target range for the federal funds rate are likely to occur sooner than currently anticipated. Conversely, if progress proves slower than expected, then increases in the target range are likely to occur later than currently anticipated. 7.44am GMT In other banking news, Barclays has given an indication the scale of the potential fines looming across the banking industry by setting aside £500m to cover the cost of the on-going investigations into rigging currency markets.Our City editor Jill Treanor writes:The provision is larger than the £290m of total fines that the bank received for manipulating Libor in 2012 and is being revealed as the Financial Conduct Authority attempts to agree a settlement with six major banks over their activities in the £3.5tn a day foreign exchange markets. The regulator is working towards revealing the outcome of this investigation and the scale of the penalties on the industry next month.Barclays announced the provision as it announced its figures for the third quarter of the year in which it also took an extra £170m hit to cover the cost of the payment protection insurance misselling scandal. 7.38am GMT Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and the business world.Weve woken up to the news that prosecutors in Washington and Manhattan have reopened an investigation into Standard Chartered. In August, it already warned of fresh fines from US authorities for breaching money laundering rules. Two years ago, Standard Chartered was fined $667m (£396m) for scheming with Iran to hide billions of pounds of transactions from the US authorities.The prosecutors are questioning whether Standard Chartered, which has a large operation in New York, failed to disclose the extent of its wrongdoing to the government, imperiling the banks earlier settlement.A mixture of new issues and lingering problems could violate earlier settlements that imposed new practices and fines on the banks but stopped short of criminal charges, according to lawyers briefed on the cases. Prosecutors are exploring whether to strengthen the earlier deals, lawyers said, or scrap them altogether and force the banks to plead guilty to a crime. Continue reading...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com |
Greece coach Claudio Ranieri has dropped striker Georgios Samaras from the national team after a dismal start to European Championship qualifying. The post Samaras Dropped From Euro 2016 Try appeared first on The National Herald.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thenationalherald.com |
The initiative is part of the Greek government's drive to encourage foreign investment in its property market, with incentives of particular interest to ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.propertyshowrooms.com |
by Associated Press EU holds largest-ever cyber security exercise Associated Press - 30 October 2014 11:27-04:00 ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A European Union cyber-security agency was in Athens to conduct the largest exercise ever held on the continent to prevent attacks on Europe's public utilities and communications networks. The director of the European Network and Information Security Agency, Udo Helmbrecht, told The Associated Press that Thursday's one-day exercise involving 29 countries and 200 agencies dealt with attack scenarios against "critical infrastructure." Helmbrecht said European countries were working to improve their coordination between national security agencies and to further standardize protective software and methods. Examples of serious past incidents, he said, include a wave of cyber attacks against Estonia in 2007 that severely affected the country's banks and government agencies, and the Stuxnet computer virus that was used to target energy and industrial sites in Iran. News Topics: General news, Computer and data security, Computing and information technology, Technology People, Places and Companies: Europe, Athens, Greece, Western Europe Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.neurope.eu |
Greek financial investigators are looking into the transfer of about 1.5 billion euros that civil servants sent to foreign bank accounts since 2010. The post Greece Probing Foreign Bank Transfers appeared first on The National Herald.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thenationalherald.com |