Shops failing to cash in on low inflation as British Retail Consortium sales monitor shows no growth in March April 12, 2016 Retail sales flat-lined in March, according to the latest sales monitor from the British Retail Consortium (BRC), in an early sign that a wobble in the consumer-led recovery could be on the cards. Total retail sales were unchanged on March 2015, compared to a 4.7 per cent annual increase registered in this month last year. [...]
Central and eastern Europe should adopt the euro to boost their credit ratings April 11, 2016 Adopting the euro would be good news for central and eastern Europe, according to credit ratings agency Fitch, which has said that joining the Eurozone could help lower government debt costs and help attract external financing. Croatia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania could all see their credit scores move up a notch or two if they [...]
Deutsche Bank and Moody’s predict rising corporate defaults April 11, 2016 Corporate defaults could be about to rise, according to two leading financial institutions, Deutsche Bank (DB), and ratings agency Moody's, who have both warned this morning that the business cycle could be about to take a turn for the worse. Analysts from Europe and the United States at the DB today launched their closely-watched annual default [...]
Weak Chinese inflation points to more government stimulus April 11, 2016 At the start of a data-heavy week for the Chinese economy, the latest inflation figures, released this morning, provided few clues about the health of the world’s second largest economy. Prices for Chinese households grew by 2.3 per cent on the consumer prices index (CPI) measure of inflation over the 12 months to March, “a [...]
City workers warned over looming job losses, bonus cuts, and hard times in the square mile April 11, 2016 Workers in the square mile should brace for deep cuts to both bonuses and jobs with economists warning that faltering deals, stalled IPOs and market difficulties will take an extreme toll on the City over the coming months. No fewer than five separate bodies have issued downbeat forecasts about the state of London's dominant banking [...]
Qatar invites all Opec members to April talks April 10, 2016 Qatar has extended invitations to all members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) to join talks over freezing output at January levels. The meeting, set for 17 April, will also be attended by non-Opec Russia, with other major producers also invited. “The need has become an urgent matter to bring back balance [...]
IMF: Global economy needs negative interest rates, despite massive side effects April 10, 2016 Negative interest rates are the right policy for the world economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said, though it has warned central bankers and policymakers to stay vigilant about the potential for the “unprecedented” policy to cause significant side effects. A study published ahead of the IMF’s spring meeting in Washington DC alongside the [...]
Bank of England set to keep interest rates at 0.5 per cent – again – this week April 10, 2016 The Bank of England will keep interest rates on hold for the 85th month in a row when it meets on Thursday, economists and analysts have predicted. Interest rates, which are set by the nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), made up of governor Mark Carney, a number of senior Bank officials and some external figures, [...]
Bank of England insider appointed new chief executive of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) April 8, 2016 Sam Woods has been appointed the new chief executive of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the Bank of England announced this afternoon. Woods, who is currently executive director for the Bank's insurance division, will take over from the outgoing Andrew Bailey on 1 July 2016, and will have ultimate responsibility for supervising banks, building societies, insurers and investment [...]
Niesr: GDP growth set to shrivel this year as a smaller manufacturing sector weighs on UK economy April 8, 2016 Britain’s economy is growing at its slowest pace since 2012, according to the latest estimates of GDP from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr). Niesr estimated that the UK economy grew by just 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2016 – a marked slowdown from the 0.6 per cent growth clocked [...]