US employment growth hits five-month low but beats estimates November 6, 2020 The number of Americans finding new work slipped to its lowest level in five months in October as stimulus petered out and coronavirus cases rose, although the figures came in well above expectations. Last month 638,000 Americans found jobs, the US Labor Department said today in its monthly non-farm payrolls report. That was down from [...]
Rishi Sunak’s furlough extension ‘to cost £6.2bn a month’ November 5, 2020 The chancellor’s extension of the furlough scheme until March will cost around £6.2bn per month, the Resolution Foundation think tank has said. Sunak today announced a major U-turn, saying he would extend the scheme until the end of March rather than ending it this year. The job retention scheme – commonly known as furlough – [...]
Bank of England goes big with £150bn stimulus amid second lockdown November 5, 2020 The Bank of England will inject £150bn more stimulus into the UK economy to help it handle a new England-wide lockdown, and predicted that growth would go into reverse in the final three months of the year. The big increase in bond-buying – which came as the BoE left interest rates untouched at 0.1 per [...]
Bank of England to ‘look into’ suspected leak of stimulus decision November 5, 2020 The Bank of England will “look into” a suspected leak of its monetary policy decision to The Sun newspaper, which correctly reported its decision to pump £150bn into the economy before the BoE officially announced the position. There is no suggestion that The Sun acted improperly in its reporting of the story, which also said [...]
CBI predicts fourth-quarter contraction and urges long-term thinking November 5, 2020 The UK economy is likely to contract in the final three months of the year as the government’s new England-wide lockdown – put in place to slow coronavirus cases – hits businesses hard, the CBI has said. Britain’s economy faces a “bleak midwinter,” CBI chief economist Rain Newton-Smith told journalists. It came as the leading [...]
Eyes turn to the Federal Reserve as markets await US election result November 4, 2020 As markets nervously awaited the results of today’s chaotic presidential election, investors’ eyes turned to the US Federal Reserve’s meeting tomorrow. Traders were digesting the state of play so far, and seemed to think that the most likely outcome is a president who doesn’t have control of congress. It comes after President Donald Trump fared [...]
BoE brings forward rate decision ahead of Sunak’s statement on Covid support November 4, 2020 The Bank of England (BoE) has moved the announcement of its November interest rates decision forward to avoid it clashing with a statement on Covid-19 support from the chancellor. The Bank moved the announcement after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Rishi Sunak would make a statement on the government’s coronavirus support measures to Parliament at [...]
UK services sector ‘close to stalling’ as coronavirus cases surge November 4, 2020 The recovery in the UK services sector slowed sharply in October as a surge in coronavirus cases and new restrictions knocked the economy, a survey has shown. The IHS Markit/Cips services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) – a closely followed measure of the sector’s health – fell to 51.4 in October, down heavily from 56.1 a [...]
Four things to watch as the Bank of England sets interest rates November 4, 2020 The Bank of England’s group of interest rate-setters will announce their latest monetary policy decision tomorrow, albeit virtually. Since the last meeting in September, the government has announced a new month-long lockdown for England amid soaring coronavirus cases. Most analysts expect the Bank to launch more stimulus to support the economy during the winter. Here [...]
Lockdown 2.0: A creative destruction revolution, or the death knell of innovation? November 4, 2020 So Boris Johnson has failed to follow his own government’s guidelines on cost-benefit appraisal. Study after study by economists show that the costs of lockdown far exceed the benefits. The NHS — the “envy of the world” — has conspicuously failed to develop sufficient capacity to deal with a second wave, despite having had months [...]