Will pressure on Chinese tech firms spark renewed interest in value stocks? February 26, 2021 The flotation of Ant Group in December last year was supposed to be a landmark event. The initial public offering (IPO) was set to raise $37 billion, valuing Ant at over $313 billion and making it the biggest IPO ever. It was due to list in Hong Kong and Shanghai, rather than having a US [...]
£54bn pandemic export hit: UK losing market share in US, Germany and China March 8, 2021 The UK’s goods exports slumped by £54bn in 2020 and Britain lost market share to its main competitors as Covid-19 hammered global trade, according to new research published this morning. The findings, from Aston University’s Lloyd’s Banking Group Centre for Business Prosperity, showed that Britain suffered a 14.7 per cent drop in goods exports, one of [...]
Trust me, I’m a chief executive February 19, 2021 Public trust in government is waning, as the 2021 Edelman Barometer of Trust revealed recently. Between January and May 2020, trust in government rose in almost all countries: people all over the world put faith in their leaders as the global pandemic took hold. But, interestingly, this trust has subsequently eroded, in some cases to below pre-pandemic [...]
Russians flee en masse to escape Putin’s mobilisation with few flights out of Moscow costing £10,000 September 27, 2022 Tens of thousands of Russians are fleeing their country to escape the mass military mobilisation that is currently underway. As a result, international flights out of Moscow now cost more than £10,000 per seat for a single ticket. The Kremlin ordered last week that up to 300,000 reservists across Russia should report for duty in [...]
Retirement planning? Sorry, we’re too busy watching Netflix May 19, 2021 The Covid-19 pandemic has led many people around the world to reassess their priorities and goals. Many countries have seen infection rates soar through various waves of the virus, resulting in widespread lockdowns with large parts of their economies closed and people forced to remain at home. In a more uncertain world, people have also [...]
Mobile surge coming as reserve currencies reach life expectancy April 27, 2021 Mobile devices will economically empower the masses, says Dr Chris Kacher, as reserve currencies bow out.
FTSE firms ‘woefully inadequate’ at climate risk disclosure, sparking greenwashing fears February 4, 2021 The overwhelming majority of top listed companies in the UK are “woefully inadequate” at disclosing in corporate reporting how climate change will affect their business – with many potentially breaching the law. More than 90 per cent of companies’ financial accounts and associated audit reports made no reference to climate-change related factors, despite UK law [...]
Myth-Busting: Money printing must create inflation May 11, 2021 London ranks ninth on the UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index for residential properties. Like in many other countries, property prices in the United Kingdom reached an all-time high in 2020. A global pandemic with sudden mass unemployment should have forced UK citizens to sell their homes, but the furlough policies, stamp duty holidays, and record-low interest rates [...]
Workers of the world unite! How the post-pandemic recovery is increasing the bargaining power of labour August 23, 2021 More than 114 million people lost their jobs over 2020, according to the International Labor Organization. Even more saw their working hours and wages cut. The worst affected industries were accommodation and food services where global employment declined by over 20%, followed by retail. These sectors were particularly hard hit by lockdowns, forced closures and plummeting tourism. Women and younger workers were badly affected. You could be [...]
Wearing face masks can adversely affect attitudes towards social distancing, a new study shows October 20, 2020 People felt comfortable sitting or standing closer to others while wearing a mask, a team of behavioural scientists at Warwick Business School found. They also indicated that they would maintain a smaller distance from others who wore masks. Those who believed face masks were effective at preventing the spread of COVID-19 were more likely to [...]