Business Comment

David Prosser: How long before the ECB gives in to theinevitable in Greece?

Outlook So who is right about Greece? The European Central Bank's leading lights insist that a restructuring of the country's debt, let alone a full-scale default, is unthinkable – the ECB's Christian Noyer described the idea as a "horrorstory" earlier this week. Politicians across Europe, however, have begun talking about "soft restructurings" and "reprofilings". And economists such as Nouriel Roubini say a restructuring is not only desirable, but not necessarily even of great consequence – he derided the ECB as "dogmatic" yesterday.

Inside Business Comment

Continued growth in US and Europe is crucial to Britain's prospects

Friday, 27 May 2011

Hamish McRae: My own feeling remains that the economy is growing faster than the figures suggest, but growth does remain disappointingly slow.

David Prosser: Plan B is simply a slower Plan A

Friday, 27 May 2011

Outlook One of the mantras of George Osborne in insisting on seeing through his deficit reduction plan is that it commands enormous support internationally. Well, it has not been the best 48 hours for that argument. First the President of the United States pointedly turned down the invitation to publicly endorse the Chancellor's economic experiment. Then the OECD – hardly known for its wishy-washy liberal views on borrowing – suggested Mr Osborne might have no choice but to slow down.

David Prosser: So much for banks quitting the UK

Friday, 27 May 2011

Outlook For all the talk about Barclays or HSBC turning their backs on the UK, it would appear that London is more likely to acquire a major new bank than it is to lose one. The Wall Street Journal suggested yesterday that UBS plans to split is investment bank off from its retail operation and to relocate the former out of Switzerland. London is on the shortlist of destinations.

David Prosser: Lagarde is wrong: her nationality is both handicap and advantage

Thursday, 26 May 2011

Outlook Her nationality is neither "a handicap nor an advantage", claimed Christine Lagarde as she launched her candidacy for the role of managing director of the International Monetary Fund yesterday. The French Finance minister has many excellent qualities but in this analysis, she is surely mistaken on both counts.

David Prosser: Thank heavens for government spending

Thursday, 26 May 2011

Outlook Let us say this about the revised data published yesterday by the Office for National Statistics on the performance of the UK economy during the first quarter of the year: it rather nails the argument that government austerity is hastening the demise of the recovery. As it turns out, the only thing that has prevented a double-dip recession over the past six months has been higher government spending.

Stephen Foley: Yandex, the well-oiled search engine

Wednesday, 25 May 2011

Outlook There didn't seem much interest from short-sellers in laying bets against LinkedIn shares yesterday, despite it being the first day after the social network's flotation last week that shorting was allowed. Too little stock is available to borrow and, with all the signs pointing to a second dot.com bubble, placing large wagers on the shares falling is probably a mug's game.

Business Diary: Cheating bankers stray in house

Wednesday, 25 May 2011

Bankers became public enemy number one during the credit crisis. They can expect even more opprobrium at home after an extraordinary survey carried out for Here is the City. From the poll of almost 2,000 male and female bankers, 72 per cent admitted to having "at least one affair", the overwhelming majority of which involved a work colleague. The survey found that, surprise surprise, a male banker was four times more likely to cheat than a female counterpart. Among the other choice nuggets, 37 per cent of the men decided on an affair as it was "cheaper than a divorce", and 24 per cent said they strayed because their wife now reminded them of their mother.

Stephen Foley: Regulating the internet is a big business – but don't forget the smaller ones

Wednesday, 25 May 2011

Outlook: If President Nicolas Sarkozy thought he could use France's chairmanship of the Group of 8 to advance his campaign to regulate the internet and to hand back power to giant corporate copyright holders, his plan seems to have backfired. On the evidence of yesterday's e-G8 gathering of technology leaders in Paris, he has managed to enrage and embolden his opponents.

Stephen Foley: The sale of Cadbury to Kraft was a sweet deal whatever MPs say

Tuesday, 24 May 2011

Outlook: The UK is best served by having an open economy, where even strategic industries can obtain foreign capital that UK investors may not be able to provide