August 9, 2016
EU waives budget deficit fines for Spain and Portugal
The European Union has formally agreed to waive fines for Spain and Portugal over their excessive budget deficits. Under EU rules, member states are not supposed to run annual deficits greater than 3% of their total economic output. Last year,…
August 9, 2016
William Hill rejects Rank and 888’s £3.16bn bid
Bookmaker William Hill has rejected a £3.16bn takeover offer from online operator 888 and casino giant Rank. The bid, in shares and cash, was called "highly opportunistic" by Gareth Davis, chairman of William Hill, who said it did not reflect its…
August 8, 2016
Barclays pays a further $100m in the US over Libor fraud
Barclays bank has paid a further $100m (£77m) to settle a claim by 44 US states that it rigged the Libor rate system between 2005 and 2009. Libor - or London inter-bank offered rate - is used by banks to set the cost of lending money to each other.…
August 8, 2016
Walmart to buy Jet.com for $3.3bn
Walmart has announced plans to buy e-commerce site Jet.com for $3.3bn (£2.5bn) in a move that could help boost its online retail sales. Walmart has been struggling to compete against online retailers like Amazon. Jet.com has soared in the e-commerce…
August 5, 2016
US jobs growth beats forecasts in July
The US economy added a stronger-than-expected 255,000 jobs in July, fuelling speculation that interest rates could rise before the end of the year. The figure was below June's upwardly revised figure of 292,000 jobs, but was far higher than…
July 28, 2016
Lloyds cuts a further 3,000 jobs and doubles branch closure plan
Lloyds has accelerated its job-cutting scheme, axing a further 3,000 roles, even as it reported a 101% increase in pre-tax profits. It has also doubled its planned branch closures, with 200 more set to vanish from High Streets by the end of 2017.…
July 27, 2016
Apple sees iPhone sales drop again but beats forecasts
Apple has reported a second consecutive quarter of falling iPhone sales, but the 15% drop was not as bad as analysts had feared. The US tech giant sold 40.4 million iPhones in its third quarter, slightly above forecasts of 40.02 million. Apple chief…
July 26, 2016
AB InBev raises offer for SABMiller
The offer was raised by £1 a share to £45 a share, valuing SABMiller at about £79bn, up from £70bn previously. SABMiller said the two firms had discussed the deal last week "in light of recent exchange rate volatility and market movements". The…
July 22, 2016
IMF’s Lagarde to face trial over payout court confirms
The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, will stand trial over a state payout to the French tycoon Bernard Tapie, an appeals court has ruled. She is charged with negligence over the award to Mr Tapie of €404m ($445m; £339m) in…
July 18, 2016
Turkish shares close down 7% after coup attempt
Shares in Istanbul closed down by 7.1% following Friday's attempted coup in Turkey. But the Turkish Lira, which initially fell by nearly 5%, recovered some of its lost ground and rose by 1.4% on Monday. Over the weekend the government moved to calm…