Group items tagged

price fixing

BP, Shell and Norway's Statoil

European Commission

collude

prevented others from participating in the price assessment process

the market vulnerable to abuse

Consumers need to know that the prices they pay for their energy or petrol are fair, transparent and not being manipulated by traders

High oil prices are crushing families across Britain

market transparency

Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said that, as drink had become cheaper, alcohol-related hospital admissions had quadrupled and half of prisoners said they were drunk when they committed offences.

alcohol

Labour said minimum pricing could generate profits of more than £125m for alcohol retailers

A study into a 50p minimum alcohol price by Sheffield University said the policy would see a 5.5% cut in drinking - with harmful drinkers' consumption falling by more than 10%, compared with a 2.5% fall for moderate drinkers.

ideal for industrial and scientific uses.

value of impact diamonds is added

98 per cent of which was exported to Belgium, Israel, South-east Asia and the USA.

rising unemployment and concerns about the euro-area debt crisis undermine consumer confidence

“Even though optimism about how the economy will perform” has improved, “it is still significantly down on where it was this time last year.”

consumer confidence rose in May for the first time in four months as Britons became more optimistic about the economy.

the number of U.K. mortgage approvals climbed in April, they remained about half the monthly average in the decade to 2007 before the financial crisis struck.

This investment, allied to strong market growth

New heat recovery technology is also being introduced to make stills 25% more efficient.

The company is to reopen a mothballed distillery in Banffshire and expand four existing distilleries as part of its plans for the year.

£40m investment programme for the year was in line with average amounts spent annually over the past few years.

"We doubt it will be enough to get the economy on the right track. It's only a matter of time before speculation begins as to when the Fed will raise its purchases from $40bn a month."

the central bank buys bonds to keep the long-term cost of borrowing down.

The unemployment rate in the US has been above 8% since January 2009, but the current 8.1% is down from the recent high of 10% in October 2009.

US presidential election.

Ben Bernanke also lowered the Fed's growth forecast for the US economy to 2% this year, down from the 2.4% it predicted in June

"The committee is concerned that, without further policy accommodation, economic growth might not be strong enough to generate sustained improvement in labour market conditions,

Federal Reserve to buy more debt to boost US economy

expected to remain unchanged at 65.2 per cent

15,500 to 11.501 million

THE unemployment rate is likely to spike in May as wea

ing global and economic conditions take their toll

on the jobs market.

weaken

the domestic economy, as well as global market instability

we had the mining boom which has now morphed into an investment boom

two exceptionally strong months of jobs growth, which just doesn't gel with all the anecdotes we've been hearing about layoff

he expected the participation rate to have risen,

but this would not have a negative impact on unemployment.

"We still think the labor market is quite strong and an unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent is close to the definition of full employment.

While the earlier drug price control order covered only 74 bulk drugs and formulations

As per the new price control order, the ceiling price of an essential drug will be the simple average of all brands with a market share of at least one per cent.

But, large companies will get a monopoly in pricing as they can manipulate price structure together.

The experts in the industry point out that the small players in the field will eventually be wiped out when the new price control regime will come into effect.

Japan's exports fell for the fifth straight month in July as th

Japan's exports fell for the fifth straight month in July as the country contends with a strong yen and the ongoing impact of the March earthquake and tsunami.

Japan's exports fell for the fifth straight month in July as the country contends with a strong yen and the ongoing impact of the March earthquake and tsunami.

Japan's exports fell for the fifth straight month in July as the country contends with a strong yen and the ongoing impact of the March earthquake and tsunami.

y as the country co

Exports are a key driver of the world's No. 3 economy, and the country is hoping that overseas demand will help it bounce back from the March 11 disaster.

A surging yen, which has recently tested record highs against the dollar, is painful for Japan's exporters. It reduces the value of their foreign earnings and makes Japanese goods more expensive in overseas markets.

The yen is hurting the bottom lines of companies like Nintendo Co., which makes 80 percent of its sales outside of Japan. It is also forcing manufacturers like Panasonic Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. to consider shifting more production overseas.

Japan intervened in currency markets earlier this month to try to reverse the yen's climb. The decision to sell the yen and buy the dollar worked initially, sending the greenback toward ¥80. But the dollar has been weighed by the dimming outlook for U.S. economy and is back down to mid ¥76levels.

speculators for the yen's sharp gains and described recent moves as "violent."

1.9 percent in the first quarter, instead of the 2.2 percent pace initially estimated last month.

Fresh jobs indicators for May on Thursday suggested that second-quarter economic conditions would do little to spur recovery in the sick labor market.

0.4% in first three months of this year, after shrinking by 0.3% in the final quarter of last year.

Spanish retail sales were down 3.7% in March from the same point a year ago, the 21st month in row sales have fallen.

The rate has risen sharply since April 2007, when it stood at 7.9%.

The new government has announced reforms to the labour market, including cutting back on severance pay and restricting i

nflation-linked salary increases, that it hopes will ease the problem.

The government has also introduced drastic spending cuts designed to reduce its debt levels and meet deficit targets agreed with the European Union. These cuts are contributing to Spain's economic contraction.

S&P predicts the Spanish economy will shrink by 1.5% this year, having previously forecast 0.3% growth.

"We believe that the new government has been front-loading and implementing a comprehensive set of structural reforms, which should support economic growth over the longer term," S&P said. "In particular, authorities have implemented a comprehensive reform of the Spanish labour market, which we believe could significantly reduce many of the existing structural rigidities and improve the flexibility in wage setting."

The yield on 10-year bonds rose to 5.96%, up from 5.81%, suggesting investors were becoming more wary of Spain's ability to repay its debts.

Subsidies paid by the US government make it financially viable for textile manufacturers to buy expensive US cotton rather than cheaper, third-world cotton

Oxfam estimates that poor African cotton-producing countries missed out on almost $400m (£230m) in revenues between 2001 and 2003. About 10 million Africans depend directly on the crop for a living.

World Trade Organisation.

the nation’s employers added the fewest jobs in a year and the unemployment rate actually rose,

serious vulnerability for President Obama as he faces re-election

The unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent in May from 8.1 in April, though largely because more people began looking for work.

another recession.

The report on American jobs added to the global pall that has deepened with Europe’s debt crisis and slowing growth in China and India.

Yields on United States and German government bonds also slumped as investors bid up the bonds’ prices looking for safety.

The underlying pace of the domestic economy is a slog, driven by manufacturing and restrained by slackening global demand.

“Manufacturers are very concerned about Europe because a blowup in Europe means a global slowdown,”

diverse,

Obama’s economic policies.

The May jobs report showed gains in health care, transportation and warehousing, and wholesale trade, while construction jobs fell by a seasonally adjusted 28,000. Even some bright spots, like booming auto sales, failed to meet expectations or to bolster manufacturing employment by much — only 12,000 jobs.

crude

Futures

75 cents to $85.04

Brent oil for July settlement gained 26 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $99.10 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.

New York crude is set to rebound based on a technical indicator that shows a decline of more than 20 percent fro

bear market conditions

Futures

Futures

“The inventory decline doesn’t change the overall outlook much, but at least it’s headed in the right direction,”

There have been concerns that Australia's resources-led boom may be hurt by falling demand due to a slowdown in global growth.

ere have been concerns that Australia's resources-led boom may be hurt by falling

ave been concerns that Australia's resources-led boom may be hurt by falling

There have been concerns that Australia's resources-led boom may be hurt by falling demand due to a slowdown in global growth.

In China, one of the biggest markets for Australian commodity exports, both the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors have seen the pace of growth slow in May, raising concerns about a slowdown in its economy.

Meanwhile there have been fears about the recovery in the US economy losing its pace after it reported weaker-than-expected jobs data for May.

However, there has been a slew of weak economic data that has come out since then.

accommodative stance

The country's housing market has seen prices fall and continues to remain subdued despite earlier cuts to the cost of borrowing

higher oil prices raise costs and threaten profitability

Oil prices initially rose on Thursday as the euro rallied and a Nigerian union threatened to shut down output, but they later eased on a report that the European Union could delay a ban on Iranian exports by six months. U.S. February crude oil was down 1.6 percent at $99.26 a barrel after earlier reaching above $102.

European law requiring airlines to pay for aircraft emissions.

d a $3 surcharge each way unveiled by Delta on fares purchased in the United States for flights between the United States and Europe

as the cost of gasoline spiked,

Consumer Price Index rose 0.4 percent in February after advancing 0.2 percent

Gasoline accounted for more than 80 percent of the rise.

Consumer purchasing power

going to remain pressured by rising gasoline prices,

he said a trend toward lower inflation was still in place.

Consumer prices rose 2.9 percent last month from the same period a year ago, unchanged from January but down from a peak of 3.9 percent in September.

Consumer expectations for inflation

did not expect the steep climb in gasoline costs to last.

$4 gasoline has lost its shock value,

among lower-income households

Investor expectations of inflation

also been on the rise

Production at the nation’s mines, factories and utilities held steady last month after a 0.4 percent gain in January

expand moderately

Manufacturing output rose 0.3 percent

automakers cut production by 1.1 percent after two big monthly gains

Carmakers had raised production to meet demand for popular models in short supply

The consumer price report showed gasoline prices soared 6 percent last month, the largest increase

risen 0.9 percent

cushion against rising gas prices at the pump, salaries are not keeping up.

strengthening jobs market is providing

arnings, adjusted for inflation, fell 0.3 percent last month after slipping 0.1 percent in January

Food costs held steady

some price relief for households.

, airline tickets and used cars and trucks.

declines in the prices of tobacco

motor vehicle prices recorded their first increase

Consumer prices grew by 3.6% in March from a year earlier, up from 3.2% in February. Analysts had forecast an increase of 3.3%.

set a target of 4% for 2012.

central bank to hold back on monetary policy easing for now.

stronger-than-expected inflation could slow down the pace of monetary policy relaxin

China's economy grew by 8.9% in the three months

slowest pace of growth in more than two years.