Christine Lagarde issues hard-hitting defence of global economy September 28, 2016 The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has doubled-down on warnings against reversing the tide of globalisation. Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, told a conference in Chicago this afternoon policies that restrict trade between countries and seek to protect economies from foreign competition will hit the world's poorest citizens, branding such ideas [...]
Yanis Varoufakis has some advice for the UK, Theresa May and Labour September 28, 2016 Academic, EU-tormenter, former Greek finance minister and leather-jacket-wearing big thinker Yanis Varoufakis has blasted George Osborne and told the UK to get a move on with triggering Article 50. In an interview with the Today programme, Varoufakis, who resigned from the Syriza-led government last summer after he helped prime minister Alexis Tsipras take Greece to the [...]
The UK is the seventh most competitive economy in the world September 27, 2016 The UK has surged to seventh place in a highly-influential ranking of the world’s most competitive economies. The World Economic Forum (WEF) said the UK had overtaken Hong Kong, Japan and Finland to climb three places in this year’s global competitiveness index, more than reversing last year’s embarrassing fall to 10th place. The WEF hailed [...]
US consumer confidence hits nine-year high September 27, 2016 Consumer confidence has hit a nine-year high in the US just six weeks before the country will elect its next President. According to The Conference Board, optimism jumped to 104.1, its highest level since the recession, from 101.8 one month ago, on an index where 100 represents the long-term average. Analysts had expected the index would dip [...]
Clinton and Trump’s dismal debate performances laid bare America’s perilous divisions September 27, 2016 “I have a son who’s 10, he’s so good with computers.” – Donald Trump, when asked about US cybersecurity weaknesses (The American Republic is) “under siege by a moron.” – Bruce Springsteen, when asked about Donald Trump Well, it was just as weird as had been anticipated. The estimated 100m Americans who tuned into the [...]
Global trade growing at slowest pace since financial crisis September 27, 2016 Trade is growing at its slowest pace since the financial crisis amid crumbling commodity prices and a globalisation backlash, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has said. The body which sets the standards for global trade said the total value of exports and imports will rise by just 1.7 per cent this year, a massive reduction from its [...]
US Presidential Election 2016: How did financial markets react to the first debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump? September 27, 2016 Financial markets have decided Democrat Hillary Clinton came out on top in the first US presidential debate last night, as stock markets rallied and key currencies soared. In a pattern which should sound familiar to UK market-watchers over the last few months, markets have started to move back-and-forth in response to developments on the campaign trail. [...]
Leave the EU’s Customs Union for a serious trade and aid policy September 26, 2016 It will not be enough to leave the EU’s Single Market. We need to leave its highly corrosive Customs Union too. Indeed, as a new report from Global Britain into the links between international trade and development aid shows, leaving the Customs Union is a prerequisite for making globalisation of benefit to the whole world – [...]
Getting an Opec output cut won’t be a piece of cake September 26, 2016 With the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan rate decisions out of the way, focus could now shift elsewhere. Like towards the expected weaker US durable goods orders (which are, according to Credit Suisse, set to drop to -2.3 per cent in August compared to 4.4 per cent in July), or the oil [...]
Syria must burn itself out: It is time for the West to do nothing September 26, 2016 (The best policy is) to float lazily downstream, occasionally putting out a diplomatic boathook to avoid collisions. Lord Salisbury, 1877 In one of the least shocking policy outcomes of the year, the US-Russian brokered ceasefire in Syria did not last the week. Speaking as a longstanding sceptic of intervention there, being right analytically gives me [...]