Met Office issues snow warning for London and the South East this weekend March 14, 2018 The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for snow in London and the South East this weekend. Snow showers are likely throughout Sunday, and where these converge some snow may well accumulate and could then prove disruptive, the weather forecasting service said. “There is a small chance of travel delays on roads with some [...]
Broadcom drops bid for Qualcomm after Donald Trump blocks deal on national security concerns March 14, 2018 Broadcom has dropped its bid for Qualcomm, after Donald Trump blocked the deal citing national security concerns. Singapore-based Broadcom, which manufactures microchips, made its first offer for Qualcomm last year, with a proposed deal worth $130bn (£93bn). However, the US chip-maker knocked back the bid, and all Broadcom’s subsequent approaches. Trump put a stop to [...]
IFS: Tax rises of £30bn per year needed to keep spending level and still balance Budget March 14, 2018 The government would have to raise taxes by £30bn a year to keep government spending level while also hitting the chancellor’s targets, according to the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Chancellor Philip Hammond yesterday struck an optimistic tone in the first Spring Statement, a pared-back update on the economic forecasts created by the Office [...]
Jupiter vice chair Edward Bonham Carter says asset managers are on the cusp of a revolution, as regulation remains a worry according to a PwC survey March 14, 2018 The vice chairman of London-listed Jupiter Fund Management has said the asset management industry is on the “cusp of a significant change”. Speaking at an event this morning hosted by Byhiras, a fintech firm which provides accountability and transparency across the industry, Edward Bonham Carter said that financial technology and machine learning would play a [...]
Google follows Facebook clamping down on cryptocurrency ads March 14, 2018 Google is to follow Facebook and take action against cryptocurrency ads in a crackdown on “unregulated or speculative financial products”. The move follows an earlier decision by Facebook which banned such ads in January after finding that too many of its customers were being misled by cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. In a blog post published [...]
Dealmakers, investment bankers and lawyers expect to see M&A continuing to rise this year, as global activity starts 2018 with a bang March 14, 2018 Most investment bankers and lawyers expect to see mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and equity capital markets continue to boom in 2018. A huge 77 per cent of respondents to a Thomson Reuters survey said they expected to see M&A activity increase over this year, while 21 per cent predicted it would escalate by more than [...]
Creative industries export £46bn worth of goods and services including music and games March 14, 2018 The UK’s creative industries exported £46bn in goods and services last year, new research has revealed today. British music, art, advertising and digital technology all contributed to the value of the sector, according to a report by the Creative INdustries Federation. The research indicates that the value of the creative industries is larger than previous [...]
Samsung’s brand perception is at a high after the release of new S9 device March 14, 2018 At the annual Mobile World Congress last month Samsung unveiled its new phone models, the S9 and S9+. Using YouGov brand tracking data, we can see how excitement around the launch has gathered pace, and how it has recovered its reputation following its exploding device debacle in 2016. In fact, our brand health metrics show [...]
Someone explain to Donald Trump, trade deficits aren’t actually a problem March 14, 2018 Do trade deficits matter? President Donald Trump certainly thinks they do. Since his campaign, he has tweeted frequently about his unhappiness with America’s trade deficit, and last week he announced tariffs on imported steel and aluminium. Trump once observed that the problem was that there were a lot of Mercedes-Benz in New York and not [...]
Spring Statement: Spring is finally in the air, but the chancellor is right to play it safe March 14, 2018 The Spring Budget may have been downgraded to a mere Statement – with all fiscal announcements reserved for the November Budget – but yesterday’s speech by the chancellor still gave some useful insights into what to expect during 2018. So too did the revised forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) that accompanied the [...]