Only after that will winning bidders be notified opening the way to regular trading on the New York Stock

Only after that will winning bidders be notified, opening the way to regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange.The Google IPO remains the single most exciting development in tech stocks since the dot meltdown of 2000. Because of its complexity, however, the arrangement could give rise to unforeseen complications. If it lasts more than 15 days, the company has promised that would-be investors will have the chance to submit new bids, complicating the process further.Once Google has made an initial assessment of the opening share price, it must seek approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The best guess of financial analysts is that it will take place next week, once the bids have been assessed and an initial share price – which the company expects to be between $108 and $135 – has been calculated.The IPO of 25.7 million shares is expected to raise about $3.1bn, giving Google a market capitalisation comparable to that of Sony or McDonald’s.The Dutch auction approach is intended to give a fairer shake to individual, as opposed to institutional, investors. The final countdown to Google’s hotly anticipated share flotation began yesterday after the company, the internet’s most popular search engine, set tomorrow afternoon as the final deadline for bids in its unusual Dutch auction. The Bank of England’s efforts to cool the UK housing market have worked, according to a survey yesterday which claimed the boom in house prices was over.
Homeowners were told that the housing market had reached a “plateau”, with the property website Hometrack forecasting that prices will stagnate for the rest of the year.The first fall in house prices in a year last month, a surge in the number of new properties on the market and a decrease in the number of new buyers over the past 12 months all pointed to the end of double-digit annual house price inflation, the report said.John Wriglesworth, at Hometrack, played down fears of a house price crash.

He said: “With the steep climb over, the market has reached a plateau but is in no danger of tumbling into the abyss.”. The ONS said the widening was driven by a fall in the oil surplus. At £22m, the oil surplus was the smallest since August 1991, when there was a deficit of £20m.Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said: “These record figures reflect the deep imbalances in an economy fuelled by consumer debt and the house price boom.”But David Page, at Investec Securities, said: “With continued hopes for gradual recovery in the eurozone and signs of ongoing improvement for the UK manufacturing sector, we maintain some optimism that the trade deficit should start to narrow over the course of the second half of this year.”. The impact of these falls was partly offset by a rise in the cost of cable television subscriptions, the price of package holidays in Europe and a sudden 22.5 per cent month-on-month jump in the cost of airfares.”The inflation data will certainly reduce the pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates again [in September],” Mr Carrick said.Separate figures showed Britain’s goods trade gap with the rest of the world widened unexpectedly in June to a fresh record of £5bn, from £4.8bn in May. Analysts had predicted a gap of £4.5bn.That widening brought the quarterly goods and services gap to a record £10.8bn from £9.2bn in the previous quarter. James Carrick, an economist at ABN Amro, said: “The slowdown in furniture came a lot sooner than we expected. This might indicate that demand for houses from buy-to-let investors is slowing.”Prices of furniture and furnishings fell 4 per cent on the month, the biggest July fall since records began, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The British Retail Consortium said yesterday that despite heavy discounts furniture retailers “struggled” last month.Elsewhere, goods prices were also “pegged back by food” the ONS said, with prices dropping in July compared with a year ago. Although inflation remains below the Bank of England’s target of 2.0 per cent, policymakers are concerned that inflationary pressures are building and will push up the consumer price index in the months ahead.The attention of UK markets will focus on the Bank’s Inflation Report today for further clues to the next rates move. “More important for monetary policy strategy is the medium-term outlook for inflation,” said Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec.”We expect this to present a similar outlook to that expressed last time around: that unless interest rates continue to rise from their current level, inflation is set to rise above the 2.0 per cent target over the next two years.”Economists said fervent price discounting by furniture retailers could signal that the UK’s housing boom was finally slowing. M&S needs a chairman who can spend a lot of time there – a full three days a week. It needs someone who can get far more involved and who can keep Stuart [Rose, the chief executive] on a tightish rein.”Mr Myners’ remuneration at M&S will increase from £50,000 to the equivalent of £200,000 a year, but he will not be eligible to receive a bonus or any share options.

Yesterday he stepped down from the board of mmO2, the mobile phone retailer, and gave up his role as trustee of the Charities Aid Foundation, although he remains chairman of Guardian Media Group and the Tate.Mr Myners denied his other roles would distract him from the task of chairing M&S. “During the bid, which ran for 52 days, I was in the office for 47 days, which shows I have the ability to flex my timetable to meet requirements,” he said, adding his chairmanship would be about “quality rather than quantity”.. Shares in the group rose 2.25p to 350.5p.One top 10 shareholder said: “We would like someone else in there but this gives them the breathing space to find someone. However, he still has another three chairmanships and a number of non-executive posts.Investors gave a cautious welcome to the news, which frees the board to concentrate on reviving tumbling clothing and food sales, but they urged M&S to press ahead with the search process. Marks & Spencer yesterday bought itself some more time to find a permanent replacement for Luc Vandevelde when it said Paul Myners, its interim chairman, would remain in his post for up to another year.
Mr Myners, who played a crucial role in helping the troubled retailer defeat Philip Green’s advances, has relinquished two directorships from his burgeoning portfolio to focus on M&S. Fuel prices in the South-west remained the highest in the country, averaging 80p over the past year.Analysts also warned yesterday that the UK was likely to rely increasingly on oil imports. North Sea oil production has been in decline since 1999, although oil is still showing a surplus in the trade figures because of the quality of the crude.