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UK's cure for slow economy: drive faster
September 30, 2011--The British government has come up with a literal cure for economic slowdown - it wants drivers to drive faster on the nation’s motorways.
“Now it is time to put Britain back in the fast lane of global economies and look again at the motorway speed limit which is nearly 50 years old, and out of date thanks to huge advances in safety and motoring technology,” Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said.
The speed limit on Britain’s motorways is 70 miles per hour (120km), lower than in many countries in continental Europe.
“Increasing the motorway speed limit to 80 mph would generate economic benefits of hundreds of millions of pounds through shorter journey times. So we will consult later this year on raising the limit to get Britain moving,” Hammond said.
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Source: FIN24
Euro inflation jumps sharply to 3.0%
September 30, 2011-Eurozone inflation soared to 3.0 percent in September, official figures showed Friday, just days before outgoing European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet chairs his last policy meeting.
The EU said the annual rate of price rises across the 17-nation currency area in September was 3.0 percent, a dramatic rise from 2.5 percent in August after Brussels said it had peaked, and well above the ECB's target of below but close to 2.0 percent.
An increase was expected after major economy Germany announced a spike to 2.8 percent but the figure was still a surprise just two weeks after the European Commission said inflation "seems to have peaked in the second quarter of 2011."
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Source: EUbusiness
German vote on euro fund fails to dispel unease
September 30, 2011--Unease over the eurozone's ability to chart a course out of its debt crisis lingered Friday, despite an overwhelming vote by German lawmakers to boost the bloc's bailout fund.
Stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic greeted the news with relief as Chancellor Angela Merkel survived a vote that proved a hard-fought test of her political authority as the world looks to her to defuse the debt problem.
But Asian markets were gloomy Friday, with analysts saying the German move had not assuaged doubts that European policymakers were on track to surmount the crisis that threatens to hobble the global economy.
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Source: EUbusiness
EU says Turkish economy successful during global crisis
September 30, 2011--The European Union will declare that Turkey's economic policies have proven successful during the crisis in her annual report, to be released on Oct. 12. The economic part of the progress report, seen by Today's Zaman, will praise the performance of the Turkish economy while the EU, the world's largest economy, is still struggling to contain the Greek crisis in a bid to save her ailing economies.
“Overall, the economy expanded rapidly in 2010 and in the first quarter of 2011, mainly driven by strong domestic demand,” said the draft. Despite the strong showings of the Turkish economy, the draft says Turkey's gross domestic product (GDP) per inhabitant stands at 48 percent of the EU average in 2010.
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Source: Todays Zaman
ESMA publishes updated list of measures adopted by competent authorities on short selling
September 29, 2011--ESMA today published an update regarding the measures taken by EU competent authoritites regarding short selling.
This update includes measures taken by France, Greece, Italy and Spain.
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Source: ESMA
EU launches legal action against states over energy markets
September 29, 2011-- The EU said Thursday it has launched legal action against 18 of its 27 member states over a failure to implement bloc law domestically in a bid to open up gas and electricity markets.
Infringement proceedings against the 18 were launched for a failure to sufficiently liberalise gas distribution markets and ensure open access to pipelines in order to lower prices for businesses and consumers.
The same first step towards court action was taken against 17 of these countries for restrictions in access to electricity grids.
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Source: EUbusiness
Europe presses ahead with controversial financial tax
September 29, 2011--Europe went ahead with landmark proposals to tax the financial sector on Wednesday, ignoring US opposition in a move also sure to provoke a row with London which fears capital flight from the City.
On the drawing-board for more than a year, the idea was given fresh impetus last month when given the nod by Europe's power couple, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The plan will go before all 27 European Union heads of state and government at an October 17-18 summit, and also be put to a summit of G20 leaders in Cannes on November 3-4.
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Source: EUbusiness
Chorus of boos greets European Commission's draft 'Tobin tax'
September 29, 2011--The European Commission's recent proposal for a 'financial transaction tax' – or 'Tobin' tax, after Nobel Laureate economist James Tobin – has been greeted by a chorus of boos from industry experts, who have questioned the plan's focus, feasibility, consequences, scope and motives.
On Thursday, the Commission published a draft proposal to make the financial sector "pay its fair share", reduce "competitive distortions" and discourage "risky trading activities".
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Source: IP&E
Esma: ETFs 'deserve more scrutiny'
September 29, 2011--Complex exchange-traded funds "deserve more scrutiny" about their potential ability to destabilise financial stability, the head of Europe's securities watchdog has warned.
Transparency measures "should be improved" to aid investors in both ETFs and structured Ucits products, Steven Maijoor, chairman of the European Securities and Markets Authority, told a conference in Vienna on Thursday.
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Source: Global Financial Strategy
Did the Euro Crisis Affect Non-financial Firm Stock Prices through a Financial or Trade Channel? -IMF Working paper
September 29, 2011--Summary: This paper analyzes through what channels the euro crisis has affected firm valuations globally. It examines stock price responses over the past year for 3045 non-financial firms in 16 countries to three key crisis events.
Using pre-crisis benchmarks, it separates effects arising from changes in external financing and trade conditions and examines how bank and trade linkages propagated effects across borders. It finds that policy measures announced impacted financially-constrained firms more, particularly in creditor countries with greater bank exposure to peripheral euro countries. Trade linkages with peripheral countries also played a role, with euro exchange rate movements causing differential effects.
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