FTSE 100 plunges despite Fed’s coronavirus ‘bazooka’ March 16, 2020 The FTSE 100 has plunged despite the US Federal Reserve slashing interest rates to near zero in an emergency move to curb the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The blue-chip index was last down seven per cent as traders reckoned with the ongoing spread of coronavirus and shrugged off the Fed’s surprise intervention. Airlines and [...]
Uber ban: London business groups mourn ‘dark day’ November 25, 2019 Business groups have slammed the decision to not grant Uber a new operating licence in London, with one think tank calling it a “total disgrace”. Transport for London (TfL) announced this morning it had not renewed Uber’s licence, after a long-running battle over the company’s safety record. Read more: TfL bans Uber from London after [...]
UK manufacturers gloomy but consumers more upbeat July 31, 2019 Optimism among UK manufacturers has fallen rapidly but British consumers have become more positive, two surveys showed today, in the latest sign of a big divide in the economy. Read more: UK mortgage approvals rise but consumer lending slows Business optimism among small and medium-sized (SME) UK manufacturers fell at its fastest pace in three [...]
Card Factory delivers sales rise despite challenging consumer market August 13, 2019 Greetings card retailer Card Factory said sales grew 5.5 per cent in the six months to 31 July, despite a “challenging consumer environment”. The company said like-for-like sales were up 1.5 per cent and total group sales up 5.5 per cent. It opened 26 net new UK stores in the period and said it is [...]
Exclusive: Treasury to unveil equivalence vision for City in white paper February 10, 2020 The government will insist on the right to diverge from EU financial services regulation as part of a post-Brexit trade deal with Brussels based on equivalence. Writing in City A.M. today, chancellor Sajid Javid says the City “will no longer be a rule-taker” and reveals that ministers are working on a white paper setting out [...]
Coronavirus: ITV shares fall as travel firms pull advertising March 5, 2020 Coronavirus has hurt 2020 demand for ITV advertising as travel operators stopped booking ads with the broadcaster, but it has posted better than expected earnings for 2019. MGM and Universal’s decision yesterday to delay the release of the next James Bond movie, No Time To Die, from April to November due to the coronavirus outbreak, [...]
Rishi Sunak Summer Statement: All the Chancellor’s spending pledges July 8, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak today announced a raft of measures in his Summer Statement in a bid to help the UK economy recover from the worst effects of coronavirus. The Treasury boss revealed massive public spending to bolster the UK economy in what people are calling his mini-Budget. While he did not extend the government’s furlough [...]
Davos 2020 day two live: Europe is tougher than China, says Trump January 22, 2020 Please manually refresh this page for our latest Davos 2020 updates. The World Economic Forum at Davos is focusing on climate change this year. Today, Chancellor Sajid Javid will speak on a panel on the future of financial markets. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will address the world and Prince Charles will make [...]
Job losses mount as no-deal Brexit fears hit UK manufacturing output October 1, 2019 The UK manufacturing sector could be sliding into recession as output remained in the red and job losses piled up in September, according to a closely-followed industry measure. Factory activity hit 48.3 on IHS Markit’s UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) last month, data revealed today. Read more: ‘Grim’ reading: Eurozone manufacturing sector hits seven-year [...]
We can make this the decade of purpose-driven capitalism January 6, 2020 As we enter the 2020s, capitalism is suffering a crisis of confidence. Populists around the world are putting a simple spin on globalisation as against the interests of ordinary people. By contrasting the growth in developed economies with a simultaneous squeeze on living standards, they argue that the link has been severed between a profitable [...]