Soaring corporate debt levels threaten financial stability, IMF warns October 16, 2019 The global financial system is at risk from ballooning levels of corporate and emerging market debt caused by ultra-low interest rates, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned. Read more: IMF warns global growth will fall to lowest level since financial crisis The IMF cautioned that in a downturn half as severe as 2008, $19 [...]
Falling fuel prices hold UK inflation at three-year low October 16, 2019 UK price inflation stayed at a three-year low in September, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said today, below the Bank of England’s desired rate of two per cent. Read more: UK unemployment rises as Brexit fears hit jobs market The headline annual rate of price growth was 1.7 per cent last month, the same [...]
Sterling edges back as markets await outcome of Brexit talks October 16, 2019 Sterling has slipped against the dollar and euro as traders nervously wait to see whether Britain can secure a last-minute Brexit deal with the European Union. The pound was 0.12 per cent lower against the dollar by 8.10am UK time, buying $1.275. It had fallen 0.29 per cent against the euro to buy €1.154. Sterling [...]
This year’s Nobel economics laureates have made the world a better place October 16, 2019 This year’s Nobel Prize in economics, announced on Monday, was a ray of sunshine amid the prevailing media gloom. The Prize was awarded for the work the new laureates had done on the alleviation of global poverty. This is one reason to be cheerful about it. Another is that Esther Duflo became only the second [...]
German investor sentiment falls once again October 15, 2019 The mood among German investors darkened in October, a survey showed today, as concerns over the direction of Europe’s biggest economy continue to mount. Think tank ZEW’s economic sentiment indicator fell to minus 22.8 points in October from minus 22.5 in September. This was a smaller fall than economists had predicted, but highlights expectations of [...]
Bank of England’s Mark Carney defends move not to publish governor shortlist October 15, 2019 Bank of England governor Mark Carney has defended the application process to lead the central bank and suggested that too much transparency would discourage people from applying. Carney is due to step down in January and MPs and pressure groups have called on chancellor Sajid Javid to publish the short list of candidates to allow [...]
IMF warns 2019 global growth will fall to lowest since financial crisis October 15, 2019 Global economic growth will be just three per cent this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted, its lowest level since the financial crisis and a downgrade from the organisation’s April prediction. Read more: IMF chief says trade wars to cost global economy $700bn The “big four” developed economies of the US, China, the [...]
UK unemployment rate rises as Brexit fears hit labour market October 15, 2019 The UK’s unemployment rate rose in the latest quarter, according to data released today, coming off a long running 45-year low as Brexit hit the labour market. Unemployed workers rose by 0.1 percentage points compared to the previous quarter to 3.9 per cent between June and August, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures showed. Read [...]
Eurozone industrial output bounces back but outlook remains gloomy October 14, 2019 Eurozone industrial production grew in August thanks to increased investment in machinery, but analysts warned that the general outlook remained gloomy. Industrial output ticked up 0.4 per cent on the previous month, ahead of market consensus of 0.3 per cent, according to figures from Eurostat. Read more: Gloom thickens over Eurozone economy as Germany factory [...]
Trio wins economics Nobel Prize for work on poverty October 14, 2019 Economists Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer have taken home the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize for their experimental work on the fight to alleviate global poverty, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced today. Read more: Nobel Prize for literature awarded to Olga Tokarczuk and Peter Handke Duflo, who is from France, became the [...]