With an earlier than expected rise in inflation, which soared to 2.9% in December, interest rates could be rising sooner than expected in 2010.

The reading for the consumer prices index (CPI) came in well above the expected 2.4% figure making for the largest ever rise in inflation over a single month, according to figures issued by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Reasons given were reduced s discounting from retailers in the run-up to Christmas and fuel prices remaining unchanged compared with sharp falls a year earlier.

The Bank of England had already expressed fears that inflation would rise this year, but this high figure will curtail the bank’s efforts to store up inflationary pressures while kick-starting the economy out of recession.

The Bank’s target for CPI inflation for 2010 is 2% and the jump to 2.9% puts its policymakers in a delicate position. While higher than expected inflation would force them to raise rates before the economy has properly recovered.

The head of the International Monetary Fund head has again warned that the global economy could yet experience another downturn, known in financial circles as a double dip recession.

Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said countries should rush to exit from stimulus packages that have bolstered growth through huge amounts of government spending and that it is too early for policy makers to withdraw stimulus that’s driving the global recovery.

“The global economy is recovering, even if its recovery is fragile,” Strauss-Kahn said in a recent speech. "While a plan to withdraw emergency measures “should be designed today” it should not yet be “implemented” because world economies are still dependent on government support and private demand remains weak" Strauss-Kahn has previously voiced his opinion that the world’s economic recovery is occurring “sooner and stronger” than anticipated. More than $2 trillion in government spending around the world has spurred growth, pulling economies out of a recession spurred by a meltdown in the U.S. housing market. Separately, Germany and France raised their growth forecasts for the year. Strauss-Kahn went on to add that China and Asian economies are leading the recovery.

British Airways cabin crew is to vote again on possible strike action, according to a recent announcement from the Unite union.

A spokesman for Unite predicted that a fresh ballot of its members would be held in the near future. The move came after recent talks with BA failed to find a resolution to a long-running dispute. BA announced in reply that they were "saddened but not surprised" by the decision, whilst promising to make every effort to allow talks to continue. If talks fail, a strike could begin as early as March if cabin crew vote in favour of industrial action.

BA had already planned a 12-day strike for Christmas last year which was blocked by a court injunction.

The long protracted takeover of Cadbury by US food company Kraft now appears to be going forward after the Cadbury board approved a new increased bid. Cadburys will now advise their shareholders to accept a new offer of 840 pence a share – valuing the company at £11.5 billion ($18.9 billion). Shareholders will also receive a dividend of 10 pence a share.

The additional cash represents a 90 per cent premium to the Cadbury share price before the deal was announced and a 50 per cent premium to Cadbury’s undisturbed share price of 568 pence before Kraft approached Cadbury in late August

Spokespersons from both Cadbury and Kraft jointly announced that details of the agreement were still being finalising and would make a statement later.

Many city pundits were surprised that the deal eventually went through so smoothly after months of animosity between the two companies.

It is expected that Kraft’s final offer consisting of 500 pence in cash, with the rest made of Kraft shares made the deal much sweeter for Cadbury shareholders. To finance the takeover Kraft will require borrowing around £7 billion ($11.5 billion)

Shares in Cadbury topped the FTSE 100 on Tuesday.

Sterling was among the few currencies to rise against the dollar and the Euro on Tuesday after UK inflation jumped in December, increasing the possibility of monetary tightening and increases in interest rates being brought forward. The pound closed at 1.636 against the dollar, with the Euro being traded at 1.1459

The FTSE 100 index rose 41.6 points to 5,496.9, while the FTSE 250 index added 33.4 points to 9,571.6.

In the US, Citigroup announced losses of $7.6 billion for the last quarter of 2009, large due to their efforts to repay US government bail-out funds, and coming after three consecutive profitable quarters. Citigroup’s ’s loss was in line with Wall Street analysts’ expectations and would amounted to a loss of $1.4 billion, had it not been for its repayment of the $20 billion in funds it received from the troubled asset relief programme. For the same period of a year ago, Citigroup reported a loss of $17.3 billion. In 2009 as a whole, Citigroup made a loss of $1.6 billion on $80.3 billion turnover.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose sharply on early trading after being closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Day. The index rose 115 points to close on 10,725.43. The NASDAQ Composite was also on the up, 32 points to 2320.4

Computer giant IBM has announced that after cost-cutting work helped to increase its earnings by 9% in the last three months of 2009.

They have raised their profit target for 2010. IBM made a net profit of $4.8 billion (£2.9 billion) for the fourth quarter, up from $4.4 billion from the same period in 2008, with turnover for the quarter increased by 1% to $27.2 billion

Crude prices fell to a three week low on Tuesday, with prices averaging around $77.00 a barrel. Traders pointed out the implications in the oil market of the bankruptcy of Japan Airlines, as the Tokyo-based carrier made extensive use of oil derivatives to hedge its cost and the bankruptcy is likely to force investment banks to unwind the hedges.

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Tags: Bank, Bank of England, Banking, British airways, British Economy, British Pound, Cadbury, Citigroup, consumer prices index, Crude oil, Currency, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Financial News, FTSE, IBM, Inflation, Interest Rates, International Monetary Fund, Japan Airlines, Kraft, Money, Money Management, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Office for National Statistics, Recession, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Unite, US Government

The planned merger, between British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA, which is expected to get regulatory backing and be concluded by the end of next year, will create the world’s third largest airline.

According to Willie Walsh, British Airways (BA) chief executive the planned merger with Iberia is "great news for British Airways, our customers and our shareholders". His comments came after British Airways Plc agreed to the $7 billion merger ending more than a year of talks on a tie-up, largely aimed at fighting a slump in travel and closing the gap with competitors.

Under the all-share deal, British Airways investors will own about 55 percent of the business. The merger due to be completed by late 2010 is still subject to cancellation by Iberia if BA fails to resolve their pressing pension deficit issues.

UK engineering firm Rolls-Royce have announced that they have been awarded contracts to produce aircraft engines to the value of £1.2 billion, The engines will be used to power Airbus planes for Air China and Ethiopian Airlines. Rolls Royce made the announcement the first day of the Dubai Airshow on Sunday. The engines are scheduled to be delivered in stages from 2011 to 2017.

According to representatives from one of the UK’s most powerful unions, Unite, the leading banks have still to absorb the reasons behind the current credit crisis, and continue to set unrealistic sales targets for their staff in order for them to earn their salaries. Instead they continue to apply pressure

On staff to promote financial products, often to those who can ill afford them.

The union says that legislation forcing banks to pay theory staff higher basic salaries and placing less emphasis on bonuses should be implemented. The new breed of British bank should instead focus on high standards of customer service and pay fair wages for all staff. The British government will announce legislation next week giving regulators the power to stop bankers from pocketing big bonuses that could destabilize the financial system, a newspaper reported Saturday. Treasury chief Alistair Darling told the Sunday Telegraph that the new Financial Services Bill will allow financial watchdogs to cancel pay packages that reward undue risk-taking. The bill is due to be announced Wednesday as part of the Queen’s Speech, in which the government lays out its plans for the next session of Parliament.

Darling was quoted as saying that the legislation would give the Financial Services Authority the power to cancel contracts that breach a banking remuneration code agreed by the Group of 20 nations earlier this year. The regulator could fine banks that fail to comply.

Liberty International, the U.K.’s biggest shopping-center owner, added 3.9 percent to 504 pence. British Land, the U.K.’s second-largest real estate investment trust, rallied 2.8 percent to 498.2 pence. Land Securities Group Plc, the largest real estate investment trust, added 2.3 percent to 726.5 pence.

Investment Property Databank Ltd. today said the average value of U.K. stores, offices and warehouses rose 1.9 percent in October, a third month of gains, and the steepest advance since December 2005.

The total return for commercial real estate, which measures the change in capital values and rental income, rose by 2.5 percent in October.

U.K. supermarkets are getting a record amount of sales from promotions as they attempt to lure shoppers before the holiday season. At big supermarkets, 35 percent of sales by value are on promotion, compared with 26 percent a year ago. This year’s level is a record high

Recent figures released show a continued improvement in recruitment activity in October, within the UK financial services sector. Job offers in the month increased by approximately 4%, which is accredited to a significant increase in recruitment activity by stock brokers. On the downside, investment banks are reported to be reducing their intake of new people.

Sterling retreated on Friday before the strengthening dollar, gaining only against the Yen.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6668
• Pound/Euro 1.1201
• Pound/Japanese Yen 149.3497
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6883

The FTSE closed at a 14-month high, aided by gains in property shares. At end of trading Friday the guide was up 20 points to 5,296.55. The FTSE 250 also rose, up 83 points to 9,373.74.

It is now official- The French and German economies, the Eurozone’s two largest, are out of recession.

Figures recently release show that both economies show both grew between July and September, Germany by 0.7% and France by 0.3%. However, both the French and German economies grew by less than analysts had expected.

Lagging behind is the UK, still apparently bogged down in their longest economic contraction since World War II.

Recent figures show that the US trade deficit unexpectedly widened by the largest amount in 10 years in September.

The trade gap, the difference between US imports and exports, grew 18.2% to $36.5 billion (£21.9 billion) from August.

Imports or the same period rose by 5.8%, the strongest increase since 1993, providing yet another indication that consumer spending is recovering.

The Dow Jones made a late rally on Friday, closing for the weekend up 52.30 points to 10280.22. The NASDAQ was seen to be holding its own, up just three points 2160.96.

Hewlett-Packard has announced that they are to acquire the 3Com company for $2.7 billion. A spokesman for HP projected that the acquisition will give HP an added edge in the data centre networking sector. The deal will give HP capabilities in a number of areas in which the company was lacking, he said. Both 3Com and HP have been strong in the small and mid-size business networking space, However analysts predict that the addition of 3Com to their stable will create for HP an enterprise data switch portfolio to better compete with main rivals, Cisco.

Leaders of the 21 nation Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation group(Apec) who are meeting have gathered in Singapore for the annual meeting of the have proclaimed that Asia is leading the world out of recession. Their claims may be backed by the announcement last month from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the Asian economy is expected to grow by 2.75% in 2009 and 5.75% in 2010. These projections compare very well with the flat to negative growth in the US and Western Europe. Statistics which can be seen to reflect the shifting balance of power between the US and Asia.

Gold prices were receding before the weekend, after rising above the $1,100 mark in the previous session. On the other hand crude oil prices were steadying after dropping more than $2 a barrel, which analysts interpreted as being because of fears of reduced US demand.

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Tags: 3Com, Alistair Darling, Apec, Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation group, BA merger, Bank, Banking, British airways, British Economy, British government, British Land, British Pound, Cisco, Credit Crunch, Crude oil, Currency, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Employment, Financial News, Financial Services Authority, Financial Services Bill, FTSE, Gold, Hewlett-Packard, HP, Iberia, Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA, International Monetary Fund, Investment Property Databank Ltd, Land Securities Group Plc, Liberty International, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Queen's Speech, Recession, Retail, Rolls-Royce, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Unite, Willie Walsh

Sweeping spending cuts and tax increases will be required across the industrialized world over the next decade to bring public finances under control following the economic crisis, the International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday. The IMF projected that on current trends, even assuming some discretionary fiscal tightening next year, government debt in the advanced G20 economies would reach 118 per cent of gross domestic product in 2014.

The Fund warned against assuming that current low borrowing rates for these nations in the bond market would prevail forever, releasing research suggesting that the projected increase in government debt would result in a roughly 2 percentage point increase in government bond yields.

HSBC is to shed another 4 per cent of its UK workforce as pressure mounts across the banking industry to cut costs. The global bank said it would cut about 1,700 jobs in back-office functions, affecting mainly collections and credit card operations, in the next 12 to 18 months. The jobs would mostly be lost from regional centres in southern England. It also aims to add 400 to 500 jobs in Birmingham in that time. HSBC had previously announced the loss of 1,200 jobs in March and 500 in December last year. Of these, the bank said it had redeployed some 500 staff and would hope to redeploy a similar proportion from the latest round of job cuts.

Legal & General (LGIM) sought to defend itself against the idea of a break-up of its businesses as it reported its lowest level of quarterly sales figures for at least seven quarters on Tuesday.

The life and pensions said that keeping its annuity, protection and asset management businesses under one roof brought valuable “synergies” across all three.

Tim Breedon, chief executive, said that about 30 per cent of its new business either came from cross-selling or was business the company would not have won if it did not have all three elements.

Mr Breedon highlighted stronger-than-expected cash flow at the group and the performance of LGIM, the group’s asset management arm, which attracted net inflows of £12.2 bn ($20bn) over the first nine months, outstripping the £11.1 bn seen at M&G, Prudential’s asset management arm.

Marks and Spencer has confirmed it will start selling branded goods at its stores across the UK.

It will mean 400 household brands, such as Kellogg’s and Coca-Cola, will be sold alongside M&S’ own products in areas such laundry, beer and pet food.

The decision comes after successful trials in stores in the north-east and south-east of England.

The announcement came as M&S reported profits of £306.7 million for the six months to September.

The figure was little-changed on the profit of £307.8 million made in the same period last year.

Associated British Foods (ABF LN): The maker of Silver Spoon sugar reported a 12 percent rise in full-year group revenue. The company also said it’s cautious about the outlook for the U.K. consumer. The shares gained 5.5 pence, or 0.7 percent, to 833.

Aviva Plc (AV/ LN): The U.K. insurer raised 1.02 billion euros ($1.5 billion) selling stock in its Dutch insurance unit Delta Lloyd NV, pricing the shares near the low end of its forecast range after insurance companies slumped.

The U.K.’s biggest insurer by market value sold 63.5 million Delta Lloyd shares at 16 euros each. Aviva had sought 15.50 euros to 19 euros a share. Delta Lloyd will begin trading today in Amsterdam.

The shares rose 5.5 pence, or 1.4 percent, to 389.1.

British Airways Plc (BAY LN): Europe’s third-biggest carrier may face its first cabin-crew strike since 1997 before the end of the year as the union representing flight attendants at Europe’s third-largest airline prepares to vote on a walkout.

Members of the Unite union will meet on Dec. 14, by which time union leaders aim to have the results of a strike vote. The stock dropped 1.9 pence, or 1 percent to 179.9.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK LN): The U.K.’s largest drugmaker received a letter from Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal saying he was investigating allegations of price gouging, according to a faxed statement. The shares fell 3 pence, or 0.2 percent, to 1,247.

Cadbury Plc (CBRY LN): The U.K. confectioner is targeting an “unrealistic” price as a starting point for talks about a merger with Kraft Foods Inc., the Sunday Telegraph said, citing people it didn’t name. Kraft will probably make a hostile takeover bid if Cadbury’s management doesn’t support a tie-up. Reports have it that Kraft is preparing another bid for Cadbury which will be put to investors within the next 10 days. The newspaper did not say where it obtained the information. The stock fell 2.5 pence, or 0.3 percent, to 770.5.

DUTCH parcel firm TNT, which is trying to cash in on the disruption caused by the UK’s postal strikes, yesterday posted better-than-expected quarterly results due to cost-cutting and highlighted signs of revival in its business parcels arm. TNT, which has lobbied the government to allow it to launch a door-to-door postal service to challenge the strike-hit Royal Mail, said third quarter profits dipped 14.4 per cent to €179m (£162m), although margins recovered to nearly match last year’s levels. The group uses the Royal Mail for the so-called “final mile” of its British postal network, but has been trialling its own door-to-door letter deliveries in several areas including Merseyside, using orange-clad postmen. TNT said UK business-to-business parcel volumes had increased about 10 per cent in the few couple weeks since the strikes by the Communication Workers Union kicked in, but a spokesman said the rise had come too late to affect the third quarter numbers.

General Motors (GM) has cancelled plans to sell a majority stake in its European car business Opel, including its UK brand Vauxhall.

The US giant said in a statement that its board had made the decision because of "an improving business environment for GM over the past few months".

GM had agreed to sell Opel and Vauxhall to Canadian car parts firm Magna.

It added that it would now be seeking aid for Opel from the German government and other European states. GM added that it had also come to its decision because of the importance of Opel and Vauxhall to its global strategy. General Motors (GM) has confirmed that it plans to cut 10,000 jobs across its European car unit Opel, which includes the Vauxhall brand in the UK. The announcement comes a day after GM said it was cancelling its deal to sell Opel to Canadian car parts firm Magna. Unions in Germany said workers would begin walk-outs from Thursday in protest at GM’s decision.

The German government, which had backed the sale of Opel, demanded GM repayment of a 1.5bn euro ($2.2bn; £1.3bn) loan.

The pound fell for a second day against the dollar and snapped a five-day gain versus the euro on speculation that forced asset sales by banks may weaken the country’s financial institutions.

Billionaire Warren Buffett’s investment firm is to take control of the second-biggest US railroad, in what is said to be his biggest deal yet.

Berkshire Hathaway agreed to buy the 77.4% of Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) it does not already own for about $26bn (£16bn) in cash and stock.

BNSF is the biggest US hauler of products such as corn and coal.

Mr Buffett said that the deal was "an all-in wager on the economic future of the United States". Including past investment and the assumption of $10bn of BNSF debt, the deal is valued at $44bn. Warren Buffett on Tuesday struck the biggest deal of his life with the $26.6bn purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe, one of the largest US railroad operators, in what the billionaire investor called an “all-in wager” on America’s economic future. The cash-and-shares deal by Mr Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, which already has a 22.6 per cent stake in BNSF, caps a long search by the legendary investor for an “elephant” deal to deploy his vast cash pile. The takeover deepens Mr Buffett’s exposure to the US-focused old-economy sectors that have long been the backbone of his empire alongside financial services, and underlines his confidence in a rebound in domestic growth

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Tags: Associated British Foods, Attorney General, Aviva PLC, Bank, Bank of England, Berkshire Hathaway, BNSF, British Airways Plc, British Economy, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Cadbury Plc, Coca-Cola, Credit Crunch, Delta Lloyd, Economics, Economy, Employment, Financial News, General Motors, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, GM, HSBC, International Monetary Fund, Kellogg's, Kraft Foods Inc, Legal & General, LGIM, M&G, M&S, Marks and Spencer, Money, Opel, Prudential, Recession, Retail, Richard Blumenthal, Royal Mail, Silver Spoon, Sunday Telegraph, Tim Breedon, TNT, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Unite, Vauxhall, Warren Buffett

The weaker Pound and an insurge of wealthy foreign shoppers wishing to take advantage of the satiation have contributed to a major revival in retail sales in the shopping centres of London during September. The British Retail Consortium who are involved in producing the London Retail Sales Monitor, have announced that retail sales in central London were up by 7.5 percent on September 2008. The largest month-for-month increase in 12 trading months. Even more encouraging, were sales figures released by the New West End Company, who monitor sales from retailers based around the highly exclusive Bond Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street region in the West End of London. There retailer were reporting an increase of 25 percent jump in sales in September when compared to August, as well as a 4.6 per cent increase on September 2008.

Britain’s banks could be in line to pay windfall taxes that could reach punitive levels. if they are unable or unwilling to provide acceptable guarantees that they will discard their long running practices of tax avoidance. In a recent statement, officials of the UK Treasury described speculation that tax raids on the banks under their spotlight was imminent is being unfounded, as well as reports that higher levels of corporation tax would be imposed as “not being currently under consideration”. The major UK banks have been negotiating with the Inland Revenue and the Treasury for some time to ensure that their tax payments adhere “to the spirit of the law rather than the letter”. The “powers that be” are looking for a new approach from the banks, and on that will be in contrast to their approach before the bail out of the financial system late last year, that was largely funded by the British taxpayer..

The Treasury is working on a new tax code with the banks, with a final verdict expected ahead of the chancellor Alistair Darling’s forthcoming pre-Budget report. One Treasury official said: “If the banks were not participating we would need to look at other channels, but at this stage they are playing ball

Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways has announced that he has held "open and frank" talks with union leaders, in order to prevent cabin crew balloting for strike action. Both sides have been involved in a long running conflict regarding BA’s plans to cut 1,700 jobs as well as making further changes to pay and conditions for other members of the BA staff. The union representing the airline’s employees, Unite, has stated that they will have little option but to ballot for industrial action if BA’s changes are imposed on their members. A representative of BA announced that Mr Walsh had written to unite joint leader Derek Simpson after the meeting, while the union declined to comment.

The pound continued its steady rise, despite faltering slightly against the Euro and the Swiss Franc.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6425
• Pound/Euro 1.10969
• Pound/Japanese Yen 147.9728
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6587

The FTSE 100 had a good day, up 91.34 points to 5281.54 The FTSE 250 rose strongly on the day’s trading, up 138.44 points to close on. 9564.64.

Chairman of the US Fed Ben Bernanke announced on Monday that the US and Asia adopt policies that prevent a revival of global economic imbalances as the financial crisis ebbs, and such a move was “extraordinarily urgent”. Bernanke went on to warned that global imbalances, meaning the large gaps between national saving, consumption and investment rates that were reflected in large trade deficits and surpluses needed to be bridged. The US must establish “a sustainable fiscal trajectory anchored by a clear commitment to substantially reduce federal deficits over time”. he continued

The Dow Jones index recovered strongly on Monday’s trading; climbing again above the 10,000 points mark, as encouraging US bank results fuelled optimism for the global economy. The Dow Jones was up .96.28 points to close on 10092.19 The NASDAQ Composite index also recovered all of Friday’s losses, up 19.52 points to close for the day on 2,176.32.

Annual car production in China has topped the 10 million mark for the first time in the industry’s history, with car makers boosting output to meet the ever growing demand. Despite the global downturn in demand for new cars for most of the major car makers, demand for cars is bucking the trend with state incentives, such as tax cuts on small cars, going a long way to boosting sales

The price of oil has continued to rise, mostly on the back of the weak US dollar reaching a new high for 2009. US crude settled up $1.08 at $79.61 in New York trading, while London Brent rose 78 cents to at $77.77

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Tags: Alistair Darling, BA, Bank, Banking, Bond Street, British airways, British Economy, British Pound, British Retail Consortium, British taxpayer, corporation tax, Credit Crunch, Currency, Derek Simpson, Dow Jones, Economy, Financial News, FTSE, Inland Revenue, London Retail Sales Monitor, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, New West End Company, Oxford Street, pre-Budget report, Recession, Regent Street, Retail, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, tax avoidance, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, UK treasury, Unite, Weak Pound, West End, Willie Walsh