Wikinews:Briefs/Business/December 13, 2005

December 13, 2005

These are short blurbs about current events in the business world.

UK's Marks and Spencers wins tax rebate case
The UK's retailing giant, Marks & Spencer, has won their case at the European Court of Justice. The court's ruling allows losses made in foreign operations to be offset against taxes to be paid in the UK. It is expected that this ruling will require that the UK treasury pay out significant amounts as a number of firms are poised to bring their own cases to take advantage of this ruling.

U.S. Fed continues trend
In a widely expected move, the U.S. Federal Reserve bumped the interest rate a quarter percent to 4.25%. This is the 13th consecutive rate hike since June of 2003. The central bank left open the possibility of additional rate hikes, but analysts are predicting the trend is probably near a close.

The Fed also rewrote its 2 year old explanatory statement by removing language that viewed interest rates to as adding to growth. Because many financial decisions are effected simply by what, and when, the Fed speaks the Fed wanted to remove any associations between policy actions and any set timetable or speed of their delivery.