Gradual or glacial: When will the next Bank of England interest rate hike come? | City A.M. August 2, 2018 What does “gradual” mean? This is one of the key pre-occupations of forecasters right now, given central banks are emphatically emphasising that any normalisation of policy will be gradual. And yet the meaning seems to differ wildly. For the US Federal Reserve gradual appears to signify 0.25 percentage points of tightening per quarter. According to [...]
Nasdaq website shows Apple hitting a $1,000,000,000,000 valuation | City A.M. August 2, 2018 The Nasdaq’s website showed Apple finally hitting a $1 trillion valuation on Thursday afternoon – but some analysts warned it still has a little way to go to reach the landmark. Apple’s share price is trading at $205.52 at the time of writing, taking it over the trillion-dollar mark by more than $10bn, according to [...]
Turkish lira (TRY) drops to a new record low | City A.M. August 2, 2018 Turkey’s financial markets were under intense pressure on Thursday following the US decision to freeze the assets of two of the country’s government ministers. The Turkish lira dropped to its weakest ever level against the US dollar, hitting $5.09 before recovering to around $5.05, according to Bloomberg data. This was a drop of around 1.1 [...]
Tesla’s share price soars in double-digit increase on an apologetic Musk | City A.M. August 2, 2018 Buoyed by promises to be cashflow-positive by the end of the year, Tesla’s share price has risen more than 10 per cent on the open this afternoon. The electric carmaker, spearheaded by its charismatic chief executive Elon Musk, reported quarterly revenue above analyst expectations in a results reveal last night at $4bn (£3.05bn). Despite its [...]
China urges US to ‘calm down’ as trade dispute escalates over new tariff threats | City A.M. August 2, 2018 China has urged the US to ‘calm down’ after Donald Trump threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on $200bn (£153m) worth of goods as punishment for it not offering trade concessions. Trump’s trade adviser Robert Lighthizer said the US president had taken the decision to up the levy from an original 10 per [...]
Starbucks confirms partnership with Alibaba in a bid to increase China sales | City A.M. August 2, 2018 Starbucks is officially partnering with Alibaba in an effort to boost its delivery and online Chinese presence. The tie-up comes after an abrupt drop in Starbucks’ China sales in June, which was pinned on a crackdown on third-party delivery firms that had helped propel orders in its stores. Starbucks chief executive Kevin Johnson told reporters: [...]
DEBATE: Should London’s Congestion Charge exemption for private hire vehicles be removed? | City A.M. August 2, 2018 Should London’s Congestion Charge exemption for private hire vehicles be removed? Jack May, a columnist for Progress, says YES. London’s air is toxic. Just one month into 2018, London breached the year’s legal air pollution limit. Britain is being taken to the European Court of Justice as a result, and could be landed with a [...]
BMW ‘closely monitoring’ trade war tensions as it reports lower profits for second quarter | City A.M. August 2, 2018 BMW has warned that rising political tensions between the US and China could take a toll on its profits in the coming months, as the car maker revealed reduced sales and profits for the first half of this year. In a call with reporters following the release of its first half results, Chief Financial Officer [...]
Barnier stands firm: Accept FTA or face no deal | City A.M. August 2, 2018 The European Commission is standing firm over its Brexit position, telling the UK today it must accept an off-the-shelf free trade agreement or acknowledge there will be no deal. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier today stressed that despite the UK planning to leave the Single Market, Theresa May’s Chequers proposals “would undermine our Single Market which [...]
Property price growth for the world’s most expensive residences hits five-year low but London slowdown improves | City A.M. August 2, 2018 Transparency measures and a clampdown on foreign buyers has pushed the world’s most expensive properties to their lowest levels of growth in more than five years, while London’s slowdown shows signs of improvement. Prime property has suffered its weakest rise in growth since the end of 2012 over the last three months, according to the [...]