Anti-prostitution campaigners have made grand statements about the effectiveness of Sweden’s hugely influential approach to prostitution. However, researchers say the claims are grossly exaggerated and the law has put sex workers in greater danger.
Strong employment and earnings data in the UK lifted sterling to the upper end of its recent range near $1.5450. A break would quickly target the $1.5500-$1.5600 area. The claimant count fell by 38.6k, which is about 50% more than the consensus expected, and the December decline revised up to 35.8k from 29.7k. The unemployment rate fell to a new cyclical low of 5.7% (ILO measure).
The turmoil of 2014 was a timely reminder to businesses that they need to be prepared and have contingency plans for global conflict. The crisis in Ukraine brought Russia and the West to the brink of military confrontation; relations between Japan and China became more fraught; and the year ended with the US and North Korea in something approaching what headline writers like to call “cyber war”.
David Cameron has told company bosses that firms should give their staff a pay rise. Certainly a raise in wages would be long overdue. The small average wage increase over the past year or so (1.8% between September and November 2014, compared with the same months a year earlier) has had no real impact on those at the bottom.
Given the scandals, bonus increases and plummeting lending to small and medium-sized British businesses, reform of the banking system is likely to be a hot topic in the run-up to the general election. It is not surprising then that Labour has launched its plan on banking reform, which proposes measures to improve competition within the banking sector, lending to smaller businesses, and the culture of banking itself.
A new government crackdown is targeting lawyers abusing an investment visa program.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission announced it is pursuing an investigation against business owners and lawyers who the SEC claims are running “fraudulent investment scams” to exploit a little-known visa program that awards U.S. residency to wealthy foreigners.
The US dollar’s upside momentum, sparked by the strong January jobs report, and anxiety over the brinksmanship politics in Europe over Greece (and Ukraine), faded last week. The weaker than expected US retail sales and some optimism over another ceasefire in Ukraine and suggestive signs from negotiations with the new Greek government gave the dollar bulls cause for pause.
Credit Rating Agencies have been a lot in news ever since the US Subprime Mortgage Crisis 2007. Later, Europe blamed them for making matters worse for individual countries by downgrading Greece and Cyprus to ‘junk’ status. Over a period of time, over-reliance on ratings has been a cause of worry to many. The biggest players in the credit rating market are known as the Big Three: Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch. They form a large share in the global credit rating market (roughly 95% in 2013)
Two government reports released on Thursday indicate the U.S. recovery might not be as strong as previously believed.
Retail sales fell 0.8% on a month-to-month basis in January, the United States Department of Commerce reported. On a year-over-year basis, January retail sales rose 3.3% compared to the same period in 2014, a disappointing increase. Economists expected much stronger growth in retail sales, as low activity a year ago provided an easy basis for growth in 2015.
After over a gloomy decade of inconclusive talks, a small but important step was taken in early December 2014 to finish the Doha Round negotiations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In 2015 and beyond, actions to arrive at a Doha Round Agreement should be accompanied by embracing new plurilateral trade agreements within the WTO. This move can benefit growth and development in Asia. This article reviews the outlook for the WTO Doha Round and examines the case for plurilateral trade agreements for Asia.
