Exclusive: London consumer spending soars during cheap meal scheme September 10, 2020 The Eat Out to Help Out scheme gave London restaurants a huge boost in August, with spending jumping to just 10 per cent below its 2019 level, according to the latest data provided exclusively to City A.M. Food and beverage spending in London in July was a whopping 39.1 per cent lower than a year [...]
Coronavirus insolvency measures must be extended, says IoD September 9, 2020 The Institute of Directors is calling for an urgent extension to emergency insolvency measures to prevent a swathe of job losses and company collapses. In June, the government introduced emergency legislation to suspend the threat of liability for “wrongful trading” until 30 September 2020. Before the measures were introduced, the board of directors had a [...]
British companies planned 300,000 redundancies in June and July September 8, 2020 UK employers planned more than 300,000 redundancies this summer as the coronavirus pandemic continued to take its toll on the economy. Figures obtained by a BBC Freedom of Information request show 1,784 firms made plans to cut nearly 150,000 jobs in July, a near sevenfold increase on the year before. While in June, 1,888 employers [...]
German exports rise but stay below pre-Covid levels September 8, 2020 German exports jumped 4.7 per cent in July as the Eurozone economy’s gradual recovery continued, but trade remained far below its pre-crisis level. Imports grew by just 1.1 per cent, however, undershooting economists’ expectations of a rise of 3.3 per cent. Compared with a year earlier the figures were stark. Exports were down 11 per [...]
Exclusive: Merton leads London house prices higher as buyers seek space September 8, 2020 House prices in the south-western boroughs of Merton and Sutton rose at the fastest pace in London in the year to July as buyers looked for more space during the coronavirus pandemic, according to exclusive analysis by property website Zoopla for City A.M. Prices barely budged in the borough of Hillingdon on the western edge [...]
Brits ignore PM’s diet plea as spending on takeaways surges September 8, 2020 Worried about the nation’s weight, Prime Minister Boris Johnson launched an anti-obesity drive in July. But the latest spending data suggests Britons resoundingly ignored his advice. Spending on takeaways and fast food jumped 20.7 per cent year on year in August, according to Barclaycard data released today. That was the biggest rise since the measure [...]
Exclusive: BoE’s chief economist Andy Haldane warns against furlough extension September 7, 2020 The Bank of England’s chief economist has warned against extending the government’s job retention scheme, saying that such a move would prevent a “necessary process of adjustment” taking place. Amid growing calls from industry groups to keep the furlough scheme in place for certain sectors, Andy Haldane told the City A.M. podcast that the Coronavirus [...]
FTSE 100 jumps after global sell-off as pound slides September 7, 2020 The FTSE 100 and European stocks rose sharply as investors recovered their poise after a sharp sell-off in global stocks last week, with a falling pound boosting London’s blue-chip index. The FTSE 100 extended its morning rebound and was trading 2.46 per cent higher in afternoon trading. London’s FTSE 250 index of smaller firms also [...]
Eurozone investor morale rises for fifth month in a row September 7, 2020 Investors became increasingly confident about the Eurozone’s economic recovery in September, with a closely watched sentiment gauge hitting its highest level since February. The Sentix Eurozone economic index came in at minus eight this month, up from minus 13.4 in August. It was the fifth straight rise since the index slumped to minus 42.9 in [...]
Non-farm payrolls: 1.4m more Americans back in work in August September 4, 2020 A further 1.4m people entered employment in the US in August as the unemployment rate fell from 10.2 per cent to 8.4 per cent. The increase was marginally above economist predictions of a 1.35m rise. However, the figure was down on July’s increase of 1.7m amid fears the US’ economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic [...]