Brexit will be unequivocally good for the UK economy in both the short and long term October 12, 2016 When questioned on Brexit by the BBC’s Andrew Neil at a conference earlier this week, I made what appeared to be a radical statement: “Brexit will be unequivocally good for the British economy.” Understandably, Neil came back at me sharply, demanding to know how my statement could be reconciled with City firms shifting their location [...]
London businesses remain upbeat about growth for next two years October 12, 2016 Almost three-quarters (73 per cent) of SMEs predict that they will experience moderate to considerable growth over the next two years, according to research out yesterday. Albion Ventures, a British venture capitalist investor, has found that only five per cent of small businesses believe they will shrink or fold in the same time period, with [...]
US Federal Reserve: Rate hike delay was “close call” October 12, 2016 The US dollar crept higher this evening after the Federal Reserve revealed it is on course to hike interest rates by the end of the year. Published this evening, minutes from the Fed's most recent meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), held in mid-September showed rate-setters acknowledged it was a "close call" not to [...]
Theresa May’s statism is the wrong way to build a more prosperous post-Brexit Britain October 12, 2016 Labour has lurched to the hard left and Ukip does not currently seem equipped to capture the significant number of voters on lower incomes who are worried about immigration and the impact of globalisation. So it is understandable that the Prime Minister is seeking to seize the coveted centre ground. For that purpose, Mrs May’s [...]
BoE deputy governor: London’s financial services firms could go to New York October 12, 2016 A top official at the Bank of England has warned New York could poach some of London's financial services firms if the UK does not secure a good Brexit deal. Jon Cunliffe, deputy governor with responsibility for financial stability, said while the threat from European financial hubs like Frankfurt, Paris or Amsterdam was unlikely to [...]
Is this as good as it gets for manufacturing in the Eurozone? October 12, 2016 The march of the Eurozone's makers sped up over the summer as industrial production rose across the single currency bloc. Manufacturing output jumped by 1.6 per cent in August, ahead of expectations and up from a stumble in July which saw activity slip. The four biggest members of the 19-member Eurozone all reported growing activity, [...]
Sterling hit its lowest level on record last night October 12, 2016 The pound fell to its lowest ever level during yesterday afternoon's brutal sell-off as the currency remains under intense pressure. Sterling, which has been suffering at the hands of nervy traders keeping both eyes on every utterance from Prime Minister Theresa May, hit its weakest mark on the Bank of England's "effective exchange rate index" [...]
Thousands of Londoners flee the capital in search of cheap homes October 12, 2016 Tens of thousands of people leave London for a new life in the sticks every single year, new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have shown. More than 310,000 Londoners moved away from the capital between 2011 and 2015, the ONS said, with most other major cities also seeing Britons flee in search [...]
Pound’s crash reflects poorly on Downing Street October 12, 2016 Former Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King spoke out on Monday regarding the previous week’s so-called flash crash in the value of the pound. “The whole thing has generated reactions which are over the top,” King said. Just 24 hours later and sterling was, last night, printing figures below $1.21 as foreign exchange traders in [...]
No wonder free trade is under threat: We are only just remembering its downsides October 11, 2016 It had been an article of faith among economists and policy-makers that free trade is a Good Thing. Trade liberalisation was a key feature of the world economic order enforced by the United States after the Second World War. For decades, the trend of removing trade barriers led to world trade growing around twice as rapidly as [...]