What do the financial markets hold in store for 2020? January 7, 2020 After the festive break, everyone in the City is slowly settling back into work. The opening week of 2020 has been hectic already, with oil and gold prices rising and stocks falling in reaction to tension in the Middle East. But what else are the financial experts and asset managers keeping an eye on for [...]
US stock markets open lower amid Middle East tensions January 6, 2020 US stock markets have opened lower after an escalation of tensions in the Middle East following the assassination by the US of the top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.43 per cent shortly after the bell, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.26 per cent and the Nasdaq fell 0.38 per [...]
Eurozone investor morale hits highest point in over a year January 6, 2020 Eurozone investors started the new year in good spirits, a survey showed this morning, as morale grew for the third month in a row thanks in large part to positive developments in the US-China trade war. Research group Sentix’s morale index rose to 7.6 points in January from 0.7 in December, taking it to its [...]
UK services PMI: Sector flatlines but confidence surges January 6, 2020 The UK services sector picked up in December but still failed to expand, survey data has shown, marking the fourth month in a row without growth for the vital component of the economy. Services companies became much more positive last month, however, following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s thumping election victory which provided firms with the [...]
FTSE 100 falls sharply as Soleimani death rocks stocks January 6, 2020 FTSE 100 stocks fell steeply on the opening of London’s market today as tensions between the US and Iran escalated further following the killing of a top Iranian general. London’s blue-chip index sank one per cent to 7,545.4 points in early trading after the US-sanctioned assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani drove markets lower and [...]
We can make this the decade of purpose-driven capitalism January 6, 2020 As we enter the 2020s, capitalism is suffering a crisis of confidence. Populists around the world are putting a simple spin on globalisation as against the interests of ordinary people. By contrasting the growth in developed economies with a simultaneous squeeze on living standards, they argue that the link has been severed between a profitable [...]
DEBATE: Will this be a better year for the economy than 2019? January 6, 2020 Will this be a better year for the economy than 2019? Dr Victoria Bateman, lecturer and fellow in Economics at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, says YES. It’s the start of a new year, a time of hope and new beginnings, so I’m going to kick things off on an optimistic note While there was [...]
Lloyds Bank commits to £18bn of lending for UK companies January 6, 2020 Lloyds Bank has committed to lending £18bn to UK businesses over the course of 2020, the same amount as it promised in 2019 despite the uncertainties of the year ahead. The high-street bank said the money will be lent to companies across the spectrum, from “micro-businesses” to large multinationals. Read more: Barclays, Lloyds and RBS [...]
Public-to-private deals for UK firms jump 40 per cent January 6, 2020 The number of “public-to-private” deals rose by 40 per cent last year compared to a year earlier, new analysis has shown, as buyers took advantage of low interest rates and cheap valuations to snap up UK firms. There were 28 agreements reached in 2019 to take UK companies off the stock market and into private [...]
Investors brace for rocky week of geopolitical tension January 5, 2020 Investors are bracing themselves for a rocky week’s trading which will be dominated by heightened tensions in the Middle East and feature a key US jobs report and many companies’ financial results. Traders started 2020 in a buoyant mood on Thursday of last week, with equity indices rising considerably. The US’s assassination of Iranian general [...]