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 [...]
Bank of England raises interest rates with unanimous vote | City A.M. August 2, 2018 The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC) has voted unanimously to raise interest rates for the first time since before the financial crisis. Governor Mark Carney led the first unanimous vote to raise since May 2007, with bank rate, the main interest rate, moving up by 0.25 percentage points to 0.75 per cent, while [...]
Former Obama economic adviser to take the lead on UK tech | City A.M. August 2, 2018 The UK government has hired Obama’s former chief economic adviser to tackle competition between UK tech firms and American giants. Jason Furman, now a professor at Harvard, will chair a panel of experts to analyse whether the emergence of tech superpowers like Google and Facebook has come at the expense of smaller startups looking to [...]
Rise in weather related claims makes dent in Aviva’s first half profits | City A.M. August 2, 2018 Insurer Aviva said profits took a slight dip in the first half of 2018 as business was hit by divestments, weak earnings in its Canada division and a rise in weather related claims. The figures Operating profit was down two per cent to £1.4bn – excluding disposals it rose four per cent to £1.4bn. It [...]
Equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube records strongest ever quarter | City A.M. August 2, 2018 Exeter-based Crowdcube has had its strongest quarter ever, driven by record activity levels. In the second quarter of 2018, a record £47.4m was raised for 58 businesses. This takes the total pledged on the platform to over £490m. Revenue increased by 43 per cent from the second quarter of 2017, at £1.46m. Along with a [...]