Joseph Stiglitz

Paul Fisher Head of Markets at the Bank of England told the economic worriers of the UK that the BoE would not pull the stoppers out on the economic stimulus plan in the UK and that the “macroeconomic outlook here is not as bright as in the US, therefore we are some way behind them in terms of return to anything like trend growth”. Has Mr. Fisher been to the US recently?

Milton Friedman once said that “if you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there’d be a shortage of sand”. I think if he were around still, he would need to revise that.

Goldman Sachs has suggested that there may be up to 349 Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) taking place in China this year. But, it’s not the Chinese capital markets that those companies will be wanting. Chinese firms are still hell-bent on getting floated on the world’s biggest and best stock exchange, and rightly so.

Here are the worst IPO fails of all time in the world. The ones that we thought would be unfailingly good. The ones that we thought we could bet our bottom dollar on and still strike it rich.

• S&P Revises U.S. Credit Outlook To "Stable" From Negative

• Fed's Bullard Details How QE Can Be Cut

• Fed Retreat From Bond Buying Expected By Fourth Quarter - Poll

• U.S., Japan Leading Recovery In Major Economies - OECD

Privatization is back on the political stroke economic agenda this morning after a report commissioned by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in the UK looks like he will be set to return bailed out banks to the private sector.

Looks like the sun has gone behind the clouds in China for a bit! Not only are the solar panels creating friction between China and the EU, but now it turns out that last month saw Chinese export growth unexpectedly decrease.

The uncertainty about when the Fed will begin tapering its programme of asset purchases has increased volatility, both pushing and pulling on global financial markets. “at this juncture, the markets are more concerned about tapering than about weak [US and global] growth,” says MIG Bank’s Chief Economist, Luciano Jannelli.

Here are some of the most recent top insider dealing stories in the USA. The biggest in terms of fines!

There are times when some people bite their own nose of just to spite their face. According to a report that has just been published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the people working in the financial sector in 120 different countries in the world think in the overriding majority of cases that they are paid far too much for what they do. Were they serious?

If we are to believe what they said, then this is the year. 2013! It’s going to happen.. The stock-market is ready to crash yet again this year and this time it’s going to be a big one. Let’s take a look at what was said, when, why and by whom.

It never ceases to amaze that we vote people into positions. Those people that we have voted in elect in turn (or just go ahead and appoint without an election, making it all look very transparent) other people who are not as important but who will have the possibility of choosing (apparently in an “open, merit-based, and transparent manner”) someone who will be more important than they are, but less important than the first person that is in the voting/appointment chain. 

The UK Prime Minister, David Cameron has convened a meeting with ministers from overseas territories (Bermuda, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands) in London it has been announced.

Looks like France is waking up with a hangover this morning and will be in need of some hair of the dog to get through China’s statement today that there will be an anti-dumping probe carried out by the latter on wine exports from the EU. France’s Trade Ministry is worried and has made a public call on the rest of the EU27 to take a collective decision.

Talks are still on-going between the IMF and Egypt over future loans worth up to $4.8 billion to get the country back on its feet. Arab aid from the IMF in the entire region has hit the $10 billion mark in the last year alone. But, if there is not action taken pretty soon, Egypt will fall into uncontrollable depths of inflation and unemployment and see unrest increase in the country.