Mansion House, Sainsbury and Tower Hamlets: Five charts summing up the week
There were a series of huge announcements out of a black-tie dinner at Mansion House, struggling supermarkets Sainsbury said it was seeing the first signs of a revival, Labour won the Tower Hamlets mayoral election and the IMF walked out of Greek debt talks.
Here are five charts summing up the week:
UK will have to run a budget surplus in "good times"
Earlier this week, chancellor George Osborne announced plans to introduce laws which will require future governments to run an overall budget surplus in "normal times" during a speech at Mansion House.
Nevertheless, the chart below shows just how hard this has been to achieve.
George Osborne unveils his "great government sell-off"
The chancellor also said the government will start selling off its 81 per cent stake in RBS in the coming months – starting with a small sale to institutional investors, and potentially followed by another sale to retail buyers.
Shares in RBS opened higher on Thursday.
Sainsbury's sales shrank for the sixth consecutive quarter
High street supermarket Sainsbury's sales fell 2.1 per cent in this first quarter of this year amid food price deflation and an increasingly competitive retail landscape – nevertheless shares rose after it said it was seeing the first signs of a revival.
And in other news, its chief executive was acquitted by an Egyptian court of all charges in a legal case linked to the supermarket's investment in a business in the country 16-years ago.
Labour clinched the Tower Hamlets mayoral election
Labour's John Biggs won the Tower Hamlets mayoral elections – although he garnered fewer votes than he'd received when he stood against Lutfur Rahman last year.
Greek stocks sank after IMF walkout
Shares in the Athens Stock Exchange sank after negotiators from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) walked out of talks last night.