Business/Business Views

By Guy Dammann I’ve long thought we should get rid of our coppers. I don’t mean by this that we should pension off our police, although as a schoolboy anarchist I of course used to think this too. But no, the coppers we really need to ditch are ...

By Paul Krugman Last week, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, a British thinktank, released a startling chart comparing the current slump with past recessions and recoveries. It turns out that by one important measure – change...

By Jeremy Kroll Four different hedge funds were implicated in the insider trading ring involving Dell Computer shares, a case that brought down Anthony Chiasson and shuttered his firm Level Global. But only one of those hedge funds, Diamondback Capi...

By Hugo Dixon Investors are feeling more optimistic about the euro crisis. So are policymakers. That much was evident last week at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos. There was much satisfaction over the early performance of the S...

Public opinion was adamantly against. The government, sensing the strength of public feeling, urged him not to accept it. Labour, spotting an opportunity, opposed him getting it at all. So did those who used to work for him and have now been laid of...

By ralph nader What is it that Cisco CEO John Chambers and his executive corps don’t get about their patient, loyal shareholders? It is called an appreciation of shareholder value. As the owner of 18,000 Cisco shares, I’ve recently taken a clos...

By John Harris Where next for the story of Stephen Hester’s bonus? On Sunday, two papers reported that the now-infamous £963,000 is only a fraction of his treasure-chest. Partly thanks to something called a “long-term incentive plan”, by thi...

Not for the first time, the eurozone is set to make a huge mistake. Actually, make that two: one political, the other economic. At its summit today European leaders will discuss proposals to force heavily indebted countries to gain EU agreement for ...

By Florence Tan The shutdown in Sudanese oil supply could drive up already record premiums on spot crude markets as top Sudan customers China and Japan scramble for alternatives even as they weigh the impact on oil flows of international sanctions o...

by Gordon Kerr Both sides of the political divide are in agreement that bailing out the UK’s failed banks in 2008 (and Northern Rock in 2007) was the right decision. Taxpayers were told that the worst of all possible worlds would have occurred had...

By Jonathan Weil If you and I were in a bar together, and you suffered a nasty bump on your head when I accidentally whacked you with a pool cue, there probably would be no disputing that my action caused your harm. But for my careless swing of the ...

by Will Hutton Great news. All three party leaders are now talking about responsible capitalism. But we need much more than invocations to John Lewis (Nick Clegg), a boost to the Co-operative movement (David Cameron) or a redress against predatory p...

By Stella Dawson It’s up to the consumer to drive the US economy and lift world growth in 2012, and the outlook is far from encouraging. Over the past three and half years, growth in US consumer spending has averaged a paltry 0.2pc adjusted for i...

By John Grahl The start of 2012 marks the second time the euro has reached its 10th birthday. From a technical and financial point of view, the single currency was launched on January 1, 1999, when all financial claims in the currencies of the first...

America’s triple-A rating is vulnerable. Two of the three major rating agencies, Moody’s and Fitch, have given it a negative outlook, signalling real possibility of a downgrade. By Mohamed El-Erian Remember America’s triple-A credit rating? ...

Ten years after declaring the biggest debt default ever, Argentina has emerged from the crisis by rejecting the austerity measures now being put in place to shore up the eurozone. It was a period of tremendous upheaval for the key South American cou...

By Richard Hubbard European shares and the euro rose on yesterday on unexpectedly good news about the German economy’s prospects, but concerns about problems policymakers are having in tackling the euro zone debt crisis limited gains. German busine...

By Nita Bhalla For six months of the year, Bangladeshi rice farmer Raj Mia and his wife suffered as the annual monsoon rains flooded their fields, leaving them unable to feed their five children. “For months, we had to find some other way to make...

By Alex Kowalski The economy expanded less than previously estimated in the third quarter, reflecting a drop in inventories that points to a pickup in growth as 2011 comes to a close. Gross domestic product climbed at a 2pc annual rate from July th...

By Jacques Delors, Pervenche Berès, Yves Bertoncini and Daniel Cohen Unless the sovereign debt crisis is addressed at its root, it is going to threaten the eurozone, which was conceived for stability in the midst of global disorder. Whatever the de...

By Ole S. Hansen (Senior Commodity Strategist) The dramatic rally in riskier assets continued last week with stocks and commodities rallying hard while bonds sold off. Improved US economic data has given traders enough confidence to believe that a r...

By Brian Winter Creativity and improvisation have long been the most celebrated trademarks of Brazilian soccer teams. For governments, though, those traits are less desirable. President Dilma Rousseff’s willingness to make sudden, unexpected chan...

By Howard Schneider Top world finance ministers began meeting here Friday amid fresh reminders of the instability gripping Europe’s economy: another credit downgrade for Spain, fear over the strength of European banks and a political battle over a...

By Daniel Bases Leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez heads off to Cuba for a check-up on his cancer this weekend, leaving investors to wonder if his health will be a help or a hindrance to the value of the nation’s debt. In June, when the 57-...