FTSE 100 stabilises after dire US jobless claims data April 16, 2020 The FTSE 100 stabilised today despite the news that another 5.2m US workers will become unemployed, taking the total number of jobless claims in the last month to over 22m. London’s blue chip index managed a 0.6 per cent rise, despite an earlier wobble, with traders sanguine despite the extraordinary figures. The gains, which left [...]
US stocks fall after dire jobless claims data April 16, 2020 US stocks have fallen in the wake of yet more shocking employment data and as states and the federal government debate lifting coronavirus measures. The Dow Jones index was down one per cent in early trading. The S&P 500 had dropped 0.5 per cent but the Nasdaq was 0.2 per cent higher. Stocks were volatile [...]
Coronavirus: More than 5m Americans made new jobless claims last week April 16, 2020 The number of Americans making new jobless claims topped 5.2m last week, official figures have shown, as the coronavirus crisis crashes the economy and sends unemployment skyrocketing. The figure compares to 6.6m new claims last week. It takes the number of people who have made new jobless claims in the last month to an astounding [...]
UK must beef up coronavirus economic response, says think tank April 16, 2020 The UK government must take “further radical policy steps” to tackle the economic fallout from coronavirus, a think tank has said, amid huge uncertainty over the length of the outbreak. The Resolution Foundation praised the government’s response so far, which includes £330bn of lending and a scheme to pay furloughed workers’ wages. Yet it said [...]
One in four UK firms temporarily closed due to coronavirus April 16, 2020 A quarter of UK firms have closed or paused trading as coronavirus ravages the economy, new figures have shown. For those businesses still open, on average more than 20 per cent of staff have been furloughed using the government’s job retention scheme, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. The figures, which cover the period [...]
Coronavirus: UK banks expect surge of business loan defaults April 16, 2020 The UK’s banks and building societies expect to see a surge of businesses defaulting on their loans in the coming months, survey data has shown, as coronavirus sends the economy into a deep recession. Small businesses are expected to be the worst hit, with expectations of defaults hitting their highest since the financial crisis for [...]
Coronavirus: Global stocks set to sink as economic reality bites April 16, 2020 Global stocks were set to fall today as “ugly” economic data and weak bank earnings suggest a recession is on the horizon. Asian stocks dropped today, with Japan’s Nikkei falling 1.2 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 0.7 per cent. That came after Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Citi all saw [...]
Coronavirus: Governments face huge but necessary debt increases, says IMF April 15, 2020 The “unprecedented” government spending to tackle coronavirus and its economic effects will send deficits past their post-financial crisis levels and cause debt levels to balloon, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said today. The IMF backed huge levels of spending, however, saying “a sizable increase in deficits this year is necessary and appropriate”. It said government [...]
US stocks slide after retail sales and factory output plunge April 15, 2020 US stocks have opened sharply lower after retail sales fell by the biggest amount on record and manufacturing output plunged. Wall Street’s S&P 500 index was 2.5 per cent lower shortly after the bell. The Dow Jones was down 2.2 per cent and the Nasdaq was also down 2.2 per cent. The falls came after [...]
Lending through UK coronavirus scheme hits £1.1bn after three weeks April 15, 2020 The UK’s coronavirus business loan scheme has picked up after firms complained it was not working, with £1.1bn lent out to 6,020 small and medium-sized companies as of yesterday. Banking body UK Finance today said total lending under the scheme has grown by £700m in the last week after criticism of the programme led the [...]