Retailers under pressure as the online revolution causes profit warnings to double to seven-year high | City A.M. July 22, 2018 The number of FTSE-listed companies issuing profit warnings rose by 13 to 58 in the second quarter, an increase of 29 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to an EY report published today. The rise was led by the retail sector of the FTSE index, where profit warnings for the first [...]
IMF: Trump’s trade war is significantly harming world economic health | City A.M. July 21, 2018 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) today said recent trade tariffs being enforced by US President Donald Trump risked seriously impacting global growth. IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said she will give a report on how the global economy has been impacted by the trade tariffs to G20 finance ministers and central bank governors at a [...]
Facebook suspends another data analytics firm over surveillance concerns | City A.M. July 21, 2018 Tech giant Facebook has suspended another analytics firm during its own investigation into data sharing and collection on the social media platform. Crimson Hexagon, a US company offers “consumer insights” and works with government agencies around the world. The Wall Street Journal also reported that the firm had contracts “to analyse public Facebook data for [...]
Cos homeware collaboration with Hay: We speak to creative director Karin Gustafsson | City A.M. July 20, 2018 What makes a creative collaboration work? From 1960s jazz (Ellington x Coltrane) to pop (Beyonce x Sheeran) to fashion (Skepta x Nike Air Max), partnerships not only keep artists fresh, but allow us to appreciate both in a new context. Although it’s now the turn of homeware collaborations (witness D&G x Smeg; Fendi x Campana; [...]
Lloyds Banking Group and Halifax customers hit by IT problems | City A.M. July 20, 2018 Customers of Lloyds Banking Group have been struggling to move their money today after problems with the bank’s faster payments system. The system is used to process telephone, mobile, internet and standing order payments. Read more: TSB customers hit by further mobile banking outages In a Twitter post the bank said: “We are currently experiencing [...]
Brexit: EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier kills customs plan – but opens door on backstop | City A.M. July 20, 2018 Michel Barnier has effectively cut down Theresa May’s hoped-for customs deal – but indicated there may be some wiggle room on the Irish backstop. Speaking after a lengthy discussion on the UK’s Brexit white paper with ministers of the EU27, Brussels’ chief negotiator refused to reject the proposal entirely, saying there were “some positives and [...]
Donald Trump “ready to go” on applying tariffs on all Chinese imports | City A.M. July 20, 2018 Donald Trump has said he is “ready” to push tariffs on all Chinese goods coming into the US as the President continues his stand off against Beijing. The US already has tariffs on $34bn-worth of goods coming in from the country, which has received tit-for-tat measures. But Trump told CNBC he was “ready to go [...]
Massive cyber attack in Singapore steals details of 1.5m including Prime Minister | City A.M. July 20, 2018 A huge cyber attack on Singapore’s government health database stole the personal information of about 1.5m people, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the government said today. The “deliberate, targeted and well-planned,” attack aimed at patients who visited clinics between May 2015 and 4 July this year, the Health Ministry said in a statement. “It [...]
Why Mike Ashley’s retail gambles are a mistake | City A.M. July 20, 2018 When the fishes swim one way, I swim the other,” said Sports Direct supremo Mike Ashley last year describing his investment strategy. Despite this billionaire bombast, some of his investments are sinking and weighing down Sports Direct at the same time. The sportswear chain reported a sharp drop in annual profits yesterday, partly because of [...]
DEBATE: Could it be a bad thing that young people today are behaving more ‘sensibly’ than past generations? | City A.M. July 20, 2018 Could it be a bad thing that young people today are behaving more ‘sensibly’ than past generations? John Oxley, a conservative commentator, says YES. “Generation sensible” or “generation straightjacket”? Under-25s smoking, drinking, and screwing less than ever will be cheered by public-health puritans, but really we should be concerned by our temperate teens. Youthful indiscretions [...]