According to Boris Johnston, London is the best city in the world to do business, Boris, the current Mayor of London Johnson who during his visit to New York, enjoyed the privilege of ringing both the opening bell at NASDAQ and the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange, stated the case to leading American high tech and industrial concerns to locate in London. He emphasized that London remains the top global destination for digital innovation.

In a series of financial services and business meetings today, Mayor Johnson reminded New Yorkers to remember the greatness of London’s past, and to prove to the world that both New York and London are as confident as ever of their dominant roles in World business.

London’s newspaper publishing community were reportedly in a state of shock with the announcement that the Evening Standard was to become a free sheet. The move by the paper’s Russian owner Alexander Lebedev, was described by industry analysts as “more of a gamble than a calculated risk” when the news broke on Friday. Lebedev recently acquired the Evening Standard from the Daily Mail & General Trust. (DMGT).Lebedev decision makes the Standard one of the first leading titles in Europe to drop its cover price and rely entirely on advertising. Forecasts are that the move will see the paper’s current circulation of 250,000 rises to close to 600,000. The move comes after News International, part of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, announced that they will be ceasing to publish its free sheet, The London Paper. News International has been involved in distribution battle with a rival free sheet, London Lite, which is still owned by DMGT. DMGT, who have retained a 24.9 per cent stake in the Standard, are liable to close down the London Lite.

French utility Electricite de France announced on Friday that as part of a plan to reduce debt by at least 5 billion Euros, they are considering options for selling its U.K. electricity distribution business. EDF Energy is the largest electricity distribution network operator in the U.K., serving London as well as the South-East of England.

Shares in Domino’s Pizza rose as much as 5 percent to an all-time high of 307 pence after Britain’s biggest pizza delivery chain announced that it is on track to beat market expectations for the year following sales growth of 10.8 percent in the third quarter.

The FTSE 100 maintain a moderate collapse, after a long run of constant increases. On Friday it dropped 4.31 points to close on 4993.01.

Before weekend, the FTSE 250 continued to drop, below the 9,000 points barrier drop, down 49.85 points to close on 8906.62.

Despite a minor increase against the dollar, the pound remained below the $1.60 mark as trading closed down for the weekend, as it continued to stutter against the leading currencies.

• Pound/US dollar 1.5969
• Pound/Euro 1.109081
• Pound/Japanese Yen 143.2797
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6473

In spite of aggressive measures to stimulate the economy, the US unemployment rate climbed to 9.8 per cent in September, making for a fresh 26-year high. Official figures released on Friday showed that non-farm payrolls dropped by 263,000, making it the 21st consecutive month that the US economy has shed jobs. The data were worse than economists predicted, with a 175,000 drop in payrolls, following a decline of 201,000 jobs in August.

These figures go a long way in re-iterating recent statements from World Bank president Robert Zoellick that US economic power is declining as a result of the financial crisis. Until recently regarded as the world’s largest and most dynamic economy, The US has been in the grips of a bitter recession for almost two years, while emerging economies like China and Brazil have grown. Zoellick predicts that a long-term rebalancing of the world economy may well be under way..

Despite hints of a recovery the Dow Jones index continued to adjust downwards, closing 21.61 points down at 9,387.67. The NASDAQ index fared slightly better, falling only 9.37 points to 2,048.11.

financial

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Tags: Alexander Lebedev, Banking, Boris Johnston, British Economy, British Pound, Credit Crunch, Currency, DMGT, Domino's Pizza, Dow Jones, Economics, EdF, Electricite de France, Employment, Evening Standard, Financial News, FTSE, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, New York Stock Exchange, News Corp, Recession, Robert Zoellick, Rupert Murdoch, Stock Markets, The Daily Mail & General Trust, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Unemployment, US economy, World Bank

One of the most painful aspects of the long drawn out economic slump is the effects that it has had on UK tax revenues. In June, Britain reported its highest budget deficit for a month for sixteen years, a massive 13 billion pounds, which was an increase of almost 50% from the same month in 2008.

To support these shortfalls, the Treasury has no option but to borrow, and this they have been doing, and in some style. In the first quarter of the UK financial year, which started in April, public sector borrowing reached £41.2 billion, the highest quarterly figure since records began in 1946.

China Investment Corp, (CIC) China’s sovereign wealth fund has acquired 1.1 per cent of the Diageo drinks group for £221million, which makes the fund the UK-based groups’ ninth-largest investor. Shares in Diageo were up 2.4 per cent to 906p after the announcement

CIC manages $200 billion of the country’s $2,132bn held in foreign exchange reserves also holds a 0.5 per cent stake in Tesco, Britain’s largest retailer.

Domino’s Pizza reported a double-digit increase in sales and profits for the six months to the end of June and raised its interim dividend by almost a third.

Continuing to be one of the few consumer-facing companies to defy the recession, the Domino’s Pizza chain, the UK’s largest pizza delivery service with more than 500 outlets, said it expected to beat full-year profit forecasts thanks to unrelenting demand for their takeaways. Domino’s Pizza U.K. & Ireland advanced 7.2 percent to 235.25 pence.

On the FTSE U.K. pub owner and brewer of Old Speckled Hen ale Greene King Plc, added 3.1 percent to close on 432.75 pence.

Food retailers were also among the rising stars shares in Wm Morrison Supermarkets up 8.2 per cent to 274pence after the announcement that they expected full-year profit to exceed current guidance as it reported strong volume growth over the first half.

Sainsbury also added 3.1 per cent to 326p, while Tesco climbed 1.4 per cent to 375p.

The retail sector showed mixed results with fashion retailer Next despite raising their profit forecast for the first half, retained a cautious outlook. On the news shares in Next fell by 1.6 per cent to 1618 pence.

Shares in the Home Retail Group, owners of Argos and Homebase, gained 1.3 per cent to close on 293 pence

London equity markets overcame an early bout of profit taking on Tuesday to extend their winning run to seven sessions.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 38 points to 4,481.17, while the FTSE 250 gained 75.95 points to 7,742.58.

The pound lost ground on Tuesday as concerns grew over the health of the UK government’s finances.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6422
• Pound/Euro 1.1578
• Pound/Japanese Yen 153.8127
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.7553

Testifying before the House Financial Committee in his twice-yearly report on monetary policy, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke announced that US interest rates are likely to remain "exceptionally low" for some time. He went on to explain that low interest rates and a stimulus plan had buoyed the economy.

US stocks lost some of its Monday’s impressive gains on Tuesday, after rising during the morning, but then falling back as Ben Bernanke, addressed Congress about the future of US Federal Reserve policy.

On Wall Street , the Dow Jones continued its steady rise, rising 45.05 points to 8893.2 while the NASDAQ rose 3.55 points to 1912.84.

Sharply falling tax revenues are also beginning to have their effects across the US. Of the 50 states45 reported budget shortfalls and overall tax collections dropped by 11.7 per cent, the largest fall on record.

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Tags: Argos, Bank, Banking, Ben Bernanke, Britain, British Economy, British Pound, China Investment Corp, Credit Crunch, Diageo, Domino's Pizza, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Financial News, FTSE, Global Credit Crisis, Greene King Plc, Homebase, House Financial Committee, Money, Money Management, Money Markets, Morrison Supermarkets, NASDAQ, Old Speckled Hen, Recession, Sainsbury, Tax, tax revenue, Tesco, Treasury, US Federal Reserve, Wall Street