After a torrid time for sterling, is the UK economy heading for trouble? October 10, 2016 Andrew Sentance, senior economic adviser to PwC and former member of the Bank of England’s MPC, says Yes. It is not just Brexit which is undermining sterling at present. The UK has a large balance of payments deficit. The government still has a large deficit – and Philip Hammond seems more relaxed than George Osborne about [...]
MPs gear up for fight with Theresa May over Single Market access October 10, 2016 MPs are gearing up for a fight with Theresa May over access to the EU’s Single Market, as the government prepares for a series of legal battles over its right to take Brexit decisions alone. May has come under fire from senior backbenchers and business groups after a Conservative Party conference that saw the Prime Minister suggest [...]
How low can the pound go? All your questions about the flash crash answered October 10, 2016 Currency markets opened yesterday evening after a turbulent end to last week for the pound. Sterling has slowly trundled steadily south since Britain’s decision to leave the EU. But last Friday sterling plummeted by six per cent in just two minutes during the early hours of the morning – it was dubbed a “flash crash”. Read [...]
Flash crash and extreme trading slams sterling October 7, 2016 Sterling has been rocked by an extreme day of trading about a freak flash crash overnight rattled markets and sent investors running. After dropping at least six per cent against the dollar in a matter of minutes, the pressure failed to lift and sterling had its worst week of trading since the referendum. A fresh sell-off had the currency down [...]
Sports Direct to lose £15m in sterling flash crash October 7, 2016 As if Mike Ashley didn't have enough troubles to deal with at the moment. Fresh from his Sports Direct warehouses being likened to a "Victorian warehouse" and a gaffe-ridden open-doors day at the retailer's Shirebrooke factory, the firm has been caught up in the fallout from sterling's flash crash. A trading update from the firm issued [...]
What does the flash crash mean for UK interest rates? October 7, 2016 The flash crash in sterling has sent UK inflation expectations to a three-year high and caused bond yields to spike. Sterling sunk six per cent in a matter of minutes overnight before recovering some, but not all, of its losses. In fact, the pound is still down more than two per cent against the dollar [...]
Government announces final details of Lloyds share sale October 7, 2016 Shares in Lloyds Banking Group have dropped two per cent after the government announced it will press ahead with plans to offload its remaining stake in the part-nationalised lender. Chancellor Philip Hammond announced the plans during a trip to Washington this morning as part of his bid to reassure American financial companies that the UK [...]
Sterling barely shrugs against the dollar as US job openings disappoint in September October 7, 2016 The number of new job openings in the US edged up to 156,000 in September, figures published today showed. That's up from 151,000 in August, but lower than the 175,000 expected, suggesting the economy is holding up, despite jitters over the outcome of November's Presidential election. Meanwhile, the jobless rate rose to five per cent, up [...]
Where next for sterling after the flash crash? October 7, 2016 The flash crash rocked currency markets overnight and has spooked investors this morning. Despite some interesting theories as to its cause, the general consensus is it was a freak event triggered by some hasty algorithmic trading in a relatively dried-up markets. Nevertheless, that hasn't calmed nerves. Before the crash sterling was hovering between $1.25 and [...]
The Bank of England is investigating the overnight drop in sterling October 7, 2016 Mark Carney has asked the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) to investigate the cause of a sharp fall in the value of the pound in overnight trading in Asia. BIS, often dubbed the central banks for central banks, has global control for the currency markets, though with no hint of wrongdoing, it is unclear exactly how far [...]