The Bank of England is trending on the news section of a well-known search engine … with a little help from fans of David Bowie.
It's not so much a case of “Ashes to Ashes” as “Ashes to Cash” as fans of the recently deceased rock legend are urging the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street to put Bowie's image on the £20 note.
To which the natural response is: which image?
The classic Ziggy? The iconic Aladdin Sane, perhaps incorporating a multi-coloured security strip across Bowie's forehead? The Thin White Duke?
Hmmm, perhaps not the Thin White Duke, given that Bowie was in his German phase then, and a rather unpalatable historic German phase at that.
Meanwhile, the Bank of England has just announced that interest rates will be left unchanged, at least for another month, with the vote in favour of the status quo (that's enough musical references – Ed.) as it was last month: 8-1.
The Bank is also in the news with its plans to get tougher on banker bonuses, targeting a recovery of bonuses of rule-busting bankers who move to a new employer before their misdemeanours are uncovered; these types are apparently known as “rolling bad apples” - worst Sixties R&B band name ever.
The proposals seek to ensure that individuals are not rewarded for bad practice, according to a statement from Andrew Bailey, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England.
Amen to that, and good luck with it as well, as banks and bankers have proved remarkably adept at circumventing obstacles to getting their snouts in the trough.
Always crashing in the same car
Renault, the French car maker, has seen around €2bn from its stock market value after French anti-fraud detectives raised several of the company's production sites.
Les flics en bleu were especially interested, apparently, in raiding the engine control plants, suggesting this might all have something to do with possible emissions testing transgressions.
Breaking Glass
Strewth! Aussie conglomerate Wesfarmers is in the box seat to buy DIY chain Homebase from Home Retail Group (LON:HOME).
This may actually be good news for Sainsbury's (LON:SBRY), which has been mulling a bid for Home Retail, as it probably did not want the Homebase bit anyway, seeing as it sold it to Home Retail donkey's years ago.
Home Retail is valued at £1.15bn and is in advanced talks to sell Homebase to Wesfarmers for £340mln.
Sound and Vision
Among the small caps, the acquisition by Sound energy (LON:SOU) of Maghreb Petroleum Exploration's 25% working interest in three onshore gas permits in Morocco is attracting a lot of interest.
The Sidi Moktar licences cover 2,700 square kilometres in the Essaouira basin, central Morocco and contain a material existing gas discovery in the lower Liassic, which sounds like a part of the back or a body organ, but presumably is a geological term.
The acquisition was flagged back in October of last year.
“Sound has announced that the option structure originally suggested was deemed unnecessary and it has directly acquired the interest,” noted Cantor Fitzgerald.
“We believe that by engaging with the other partners and accelerating progress, its proximity to infrastructure and existing discoveries mean that Sound could see cash flow from the licence in a relatively short time. In addition the company has bolstered its management team,” the broker added, as it restated its 'buy' recommendation and 31p target price.