Business Comment

Stephen Foley: How the hysteria over Toyota's tribulations spiralled out of control

US Outlook: Call it "The $5bn Injustice". For the best part of two years, Toyota has been fighting a tide of innuendo about the safety of its cars.

Inside Business Comment

Stephen Foley: Government faces up to mortgage reform

Saturday, 12 February 2011

US Outlook: The Obama administration is finally getting down to the great unfinished business of the credit crisis, namely the question of how to recast US government help for the mortgage market.

David Prosser: How quickly the lessons of the dot.com collapse have been forgotten

Friday, 11 February 2011

Outlook It is more than a decade since the dot.com boom turned to bust in such spectacular fashion – quite long enough, it seems, for investors to have forgotten all the lessons of an episode that, with the luxury of hindsight, was madness.

The case for higher rates: A better supply of more expensive money is needed

Friday, 11 February 2011

Hamish McRae: Two things have to get back to normal: interest rates have to rise and we have to unwind the flood of money caused by quantitative easing rates.

David Prosser: Alarm bells ringing again in Portugal

Friday, 11 February 2011

Outlook The eurozone crisis is back. The yields on Portuguese government bonds hit their highest ever level since the launch of the single currency yesterday.

David Prosser: The Merlin magic exposed already

Friday, 11 February 2011

Outlook This bonus restraint seems to be spreading. Only 24 hours after George Osborne secured a pledge from British banks that bonuses would be lower this year, Credit Suisse yesterday said it was cutting its "variable compensation" – bonuses, that is – by 25 per cent.

David Prosser: The London Stock Exchange struggles to stay with the pace

Thursday, 10 February 2011

Outlook For those who do not follow the relatively arcane world of international stock exchanges, the news that the London Stock Exchange, the grand-daddy of them all, is no longer a Premier League player in its industry may come as a surprise. But that is the truth of the matter: assuming the deal with TMX goes through, the combined operation would still only be the world's seventh-largest bourse.

David Prosser: Exporters need all the help they can get

Thursday, 10 February 2011

Outlook They seek it here, they seek it there, but the support for Britain's faltering economic recovery remains elusive. Yesterday's trade figures were somewhat skewed by December's cold weather, but there is no escaping the conclusion that the export sector is not yet up to the job of carrying the rest of the economy on its shoulders.

David Prosser: Don't sneer at Nokia's chief executive

Thursday, 10 February 2011

Outlook Stephen Elop: a paragon of leadership or a David Brent for our time? Well, let's put it this way: the extended "burning platform" metaphor with which the Nokia boss has been regaling his staff was so excruciating in places that technology bloggers at first assumed it was a spoof, rather than a genuine leak. No prizes for literary prowess.

David Prosser: A pyrrhic victory in the Chancellor's battle with the banks

Wednesday, 9 February 2011

Outlook That's told them. Those naughty banks, still refusing to sign up to new lending targets despite their role in plunging Britain into recession, now know who is boss. The punishment for their failure to agree to the Project Merlin deal on lending is another £800m of bank levy tax.

David Prosser: Sky TV continues its losing streak

Wednesday, 9 February 2011

Outlook Keen followers of broadcasting regulation must wonder why Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp is so keen on getting full control of BSkyB. This appears to be a company that is almost always on the wrong end of regulatory rulings.

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