ECB chief Christine Lagarde calls for higher spending and climate action February 11, 2020 European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde has renewed her calls for government spending to help tackle the Eurozone’s slowdown and said the bloc has to “gear up on climate change”. In a statement to the European Parliament as it looks at the ECB’s 2018 annual report, the new president also defended the central bank’s ultra-loose [...]
UK economy registers zero growth in final quarter of 2019 February 11, 2020 The UK economy flat-lined in the final quarter of 2019, data has shown, as political uncertainty driven by Brexit and the December General Election weighed on activity. Britain’s services sector – which makes up about 80 per cent of the economy – eked out growth of 0.1 per cent, while manufacturing production slumped 1.1 per [...]
Two in five UK workers living payday to payday, says survey February 11, 2020 Two out of five UK employees are living payday to payday, a new survey has found, with women and younger workers more likely to be financially stressed. The figures, from insurance firm Willis Towers Watson (WTW), suggest that workers feel increasingly financially vulnerable even as unemployment has hit record lows. Last week, the Joseph Rowntree [...]
Consumer spending bounces in January but high street woes continue February 11, 2020 Brits ramped up their spending in January after a thrifty December, according to new data, in the latest sign that the UK economy may have bounced back at the start of 2020. Consumer spending grew 3.9 per cent in January, data from payment provider Barclaycard showed today, up from the one per cent growth witnessed [...]
Coronavirus dents Eurozone investor confidence February 10, 2020 Eurozone investor morale fell for the first time in four months in February, a closely-watched survey has shown, as fears rise about the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Sentix’s Eurozone investor sentiment index fell to 5.2 this month from 7.6 in January. Analysts had predicted a fall to 4.1. Sentix managing director Manfred Huebner [...]
Italian industrial production plunges as malaise continues February 10, 2020 Italy’s industrial output plunged at its fastest rate in almost two years in December, data has shown, in a worrying sign for the Eurozone economy. Production fell 2.7 per cent month on month, the biggest fall since January 2018 and far below the 0.5 per cent predicted by analysts in a Reuters poll. The data [...]
Business confidence rises across manufacturing and services sectors February 10, 2020 Business confidence rose across the manufacturing and services sector for the first time in 18 months during January. Accountancy firm BDO’s optimism index increased for a third consecutive month in January. The index, which weights macroeconomic data from the UK’s main business surveys, now stands at 95.84, slightly above the 95 mark which indicates growth. [...]
Top economist Sir Charlie Bean warns UK productivity crisis threatens capitalism February 8, 2020 The threat of Brexit to the economy is “small beer” compared to the UK’s decade-long productivity crisis, which could undermine consent for British capitalism, one of the country’s top economists has warned. In an interview with City A.M., former Bank of England deputy governor Sir Charlie Bean said the failure of productivity to meaningfully grow [...]
Sir Charlie Bean: Forget Brexit – the UK productivity crisis is a threat to capitalism February 8, 2020 Brexit has dominated conversations about the UK economy in recent years, just as it has hung over almost everything else. But over the last week or so, the country’s festering productivity crisis has come to the fore, with the Bank of England downgrading its growth predictions and studies describing the worst decade for productivity expansion [...]
What’s happened to GBP/EUR this week? February 7, 2020 | City Talk Sterling was on the back foot at the beginning of this week, but that wasn’t the whole story… After a positive end to last week thanks to the Bank of England holding interest rates, sterling was on the back foot at the beginning of this week due to the Prime Minister’s comments about the Brexit [...]