Stiglitz’s 2020 vision: Left-wing economist makes a pitch for the soul of the Democrats June 17, 2019 Who will take on Donald Trump in next year’s battle for the White House? At the time of writing, an absurdly long list of Democratic hopefuls is dominated by Joe Biden, the septuagenarian former vice president who currently enjoys a huge lead in the opinion polls. Read more: President Trump endorses Boris Johnson as next PM [...]
British Chambers of Commerce slashes UK 2020 growth prediction June 17, 2019 The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has today slashed its prediction for growth in the UK economy in 2020, blaming a slump in business investment and the unwinding of Brexit stockpiling. Read more: Pound falls as UK economy shrinks 0.4 per cent in April Growth in 2020 is now expected to be just one per [...]
EU officials fail to make significant progress on Eurozone budget size and funding June 14, 2019 Eurozone finance ministers have failed to make significant progress in their bid to establish a budget for the 19 countries using the euro currency during a meeting which ended today. Chairman Mario Centeno said that there had been some positive outcome, but insisted there was still a lot of work to do following the meeting, [...]
Why the world economy is like a wobbly bike June 14, 2019 | City Talk Three months ago we said “the easing in US-China trade tensions, more flexible central banks and the benefits of lower oil prices should stabilise activity later this year and support an upgrade in our global growth forecast for 2020”. However, two of those supports have now fallen away and we are more reliant on looser [...]
Treasury Committee launches inquiry into regional inequality June 14, 2019 The Treasury Select Committee (TSC) has today launched a new inquiry into economic imbalances between the regions of the UK, it said. Read more: Pound falls as UK economy shrinks by 0.4 per cent in April The Committee raised the prospect of the government producing economic forecasts for each region of the country. Currently the [...]
Eurozone industrial production continues to decline in April June 13, 2019 Industrial production in the Eurozone fell by 0.5 per cent in April month on month as Germany’s manufacturing woes continued, official statistics revealed today. Read more: Eurozone investors gloomy as trade war continues to rage In the European Union industrial production fell by 0.7 per cent compared to March, with the UK the biggest faller [...]
UBS apologises after economist’s ‘Chinese pigs’ comments spark public outrage June 13, 2019 Swiss banking giant UBS has apologised after its top economist’s comments referring to “Chinese pigs” caused public outrage. The bank’s global chief economist Paul Donovan made the comments in reference to a rise in Chinese consumer prices, which has been driven by surging pork prices after an outbreak of swine fever. Read more: UBS beats [...]
Germany and Portugal sell 10-year bonds at lowest ever yields June 12, 2019 Germany today sold medium-term government bonds, or Bunds, at the lowest yield on record as the stalling European economy drove investors towards the safe assets. Read more: German manufacturing output falls but services push economy to growth Europe’s biggest economy sold 10-year Bunds – IOUs which will pay out in 10 years time – with [...]
US inflation tepid ahead of Fed rates decision June 12, 2019 US consumer price inflation slowed in May, official data revealed today, in news that could add to pressure on the country’s central bank to cut interest rates. Read more: Trump attacks euro and repeats criticism of Fed The consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.8 per cent in May compared to a year earlier, down from [...]
ECB and IMF chiefs warn trade headwinds could damage European integration June 12, 2019 The president of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have today warned that global trade “headwinds” could damage growth in Europe. Read more: Eurozone investors gloomy as trade war continues to rage They cautioned that the vulnerability of Europe’s emerging eastern economies to the current global slowdown [...]