http://www.businessinsider.com/opening-bell-sept-17-2014-2014-9
Two new polls have the Scottish independence referendum almost neck and neck. Both the polls by ICM and Opinium have the No campaign very narrowly ahead, with 52% to 48% for the Yes campaign. But both polls show a significant number of people still undecided, and everything is left to play for in Thursday’s vote.
The UK labour market is still powering ahead. Unemployment figures beat analyst expectations, and the rate dropped to 6.2%. British businesses hired 774,000 people on net in the year to July. Despite the labour market strength, Bank of England minutes this morning show no rush to raise interest rates, with only two of the nine monetary policymakers pushing for a hike.
Eurozone inflation is a little higher than we thought. Inflation in the Eurozone came in at 0.4% for August, slightly up from the 0.3% recorded in the flash estimate. Turns out services price pressure was a little higher than Eurostat thought. So instead of being the lowest inflation reading since 2009, August’s print is just the joint-lowest inflation reading since 2009.
Sony is not having a good 2014. The electronics colossus is forecasting annual losses 300% higher than it previously had. It’s now expecting to be in the red by about $2.14bn in the current fiscal year. Previously the Japanese giant thought losses would run to about $50m.
Microsoft hiked its dividend 11% and appointed two new board members. The massive computer firm raised its per share quarterly dividend to $0.31. Teri List-Stoll, Kraft CFO, and Visa CEO Charles Scharf will both join the board in October.
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