Study shows low market volatility leads to banking crises August 22, 2016 Beware the calm before the storm. A new report has found periods of low volatility in the financial markets increase the chance of a banking crisis. Researchers from the London School of Economics (LSE), the University of Chile and the US Federal Reserve studied more than 200 years of economic history across 60 countries, finding spells of more predictable [...]
EEF warns Brexit vote will leave manufacturing sector in recession until 2017 July 19, 2016 EEF issued a stark warning about the impact of the Brexit vote on Britain's manufacturers today, as its forecasts now suggest the sector will stay in recession until 2017. The industry body predicts it will shrink by 0.3 per cent this year, and 1.1 per cent in 2017. This compares to previous predictions for it to remain flat [...]
Singapore bank UOB suspends London property loans following Brexit vote June 30, 2016 Singaporean bank UOB has become the city state's first lender to suspend loans for London properties citing uncertainty caused by the result of last week's EU referendum. "We will temporarily stop receiving foreign property loan applications for London properties," a UOB spokeswoman said in an email. "As the aftermath of the UK referendum is still [...]
Why slashed interest rates could provide another M&A boost after Brexit August 5, 2016 UK deal activity could be boosted by the Bank of England’s interest rates cut, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) experts have suggested. As well as cutting interest rates from 0.5 to 0.25 per cent on Thursday, the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) also unleashed an extension of quantitative easing which could pump an extra £170bn of newly-printed [...]
Saudi Arabia’s bonds have broken the record for an emerging market issue, but are they good value? October 25, 2016 With three huge sovereign bond debuts, this has been a bumper year for emerging market government debt issues. First came Argentina, with a record-breaking $16.5bn (£13.5bn) sale in April, followed the next month by a $9bn issue from Qatar – double the amount it had originally planned for. Both were overawed last week, however, when [...]
Toyota slashes outlook as Asia sales plummet 13 per cent November 5, 2015 The world’s largest car maker has been forced to cut its sales outlook for 2015 on sliding car sales. The figures Toyota reported net revenue of 14.09 trillion yen for the six months to 30 September, an increase of 8.9 per cent against the same period last year. Net profit was up 11 per cent from [...]
Moody’s says UK banks don’t need EU passporting rights September 19, 2016 Leaving the EU Single Market and losing passporting rights would be far from a disaster for the City of London, leading analysts at Moody's have found. The new research comes amid ongoing wrangling between the UK and Europe, between government ministers and across different industries all competing to put their views about what deal Theresa May should [...]
Nigeria finally drops dollar peg but will this revive the country’s fortunes? June 20, 2016 After several decades, Nigeria has finally abandoned its currency peg to the US dollar. Hampered by low global oil prices, the African economy has lost some lustre. But will a devaluation be enough to turn its fortunes around? The Central Bank of Nigeria’s decision to allow the naira to float freely has been welcomed by [...]
Trump versus Hillary: How to make money whoever wins the US presidency November 8, 2016 This presidential campaign has been nothing if not unpredictable. Less than a fortnight ago, a victory for Hillary Clinton looked all but certain. Then it emerged that the FBI was investigating a new set of emails connected with her private server. Now, she has been cleared, but Donald Trump is arguing that her latest exoneration [...]
Foreign currency: With sterling down against the euro and US dollar, here’s how to make your holiday money go further this summer July 12, 2016 Unless you’re holidaying in South Africa, Brazil, Russia or a number of other countries whose currency has fallen more steeply than sterling this year, you should brace yourself for considerable increases in the cost of hotel rooms, car hire and dining out. Market uncertainty around Brexit has led sterling to fall against a basket of other [...]