Doves back on top as key Fed member eases on US rate hike September 12, 2016 The chances of the Fed raising rates for the second time since the financial crisis next week has been dealt another blow as a key rate-setter said the case for a hike had fallen away. Lael Brainard, seen as one of the most cautious voices on the rate-setting federal open markets committee (FOMC), said the arguments in [...]
Bank of England corporate bond buying details unveiled September 12, 2016 Electricity companies are set to be big winners from the Bank of England's upcoming corporate bond buying programme, according to official documents published this afternoon. Threadneedle Street has unveiled the details of its £10bn money-printing programme which will see it buy high-quality company bonds, with one-quarter set to be channelled to electricity companies such as [...]
Buyers beware: Is the central bank credibility crunch point approaching? September 12, 2016 Market contrarians continue to close out their short positions on stocks, bonds and risk currencies as buying supports market levels, record low bond yields and emerging market assets. But can central banks continue to win the confidence game and herd investors into riskier trades, or will the credibility of Draghi, Kuroda, Carney and Yellen ultimately be [...]
City firms carry on hiring through Brexit uncertainty September 12, 2016 London’s firms are still taking on staff despite the uncertainty caused by June’s referendum, two new surveys of the capital’s businesses have found. Recruitment outfit Manpower said the number of employers planning to hire more staff in the final three months of the year has increased, taking London to second place on the nationwide league [...]
Standard & Poor’s says UK economy’s rebound in August may be a “mirage” September 12, 2016 Ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has warned that signs of a post-Brexit vote recovery in Britain's economy may prove to be a "mirage" as uncertainty about the country's relationship with the European Union weighs on business investment. "While the news is encouraging, we believe it has no bearing on the cloudy longer-term outlook for the [...]
Minouche Shafik is leaving the Bank of England to run the London School of Economics September 12, 2016 Deputy governor Minouche Shafik is leaving the Bank of England at the start of 2017 for a top position at the London School of Economics. She joined the central bank in 2014 as deputy governor for markets and banking and will also leave the monetary policy committee (MPC), financial policy committee (FPC) ,the board of the Prudential Regulation Authority [...]
Roger Bootle of Capital Economics talks Brexit, macroeconomics and making a market for research September 12, 2016 Is there ever a tension between being one of Britain’s most influential economists, writer of multiple best-sellers and an opinionated column in the Telegraph, and a businessman, head of Europe’s largest independent macroeconomic consultancy? “There is sometimes,” says Roger Bootle, founder and executive chairman of Capital Economics. “We saw it with the Brexit debate. I was [...]
Trade secretary Liam Fox has faced a fallout from some sloppy rhetoric. But he makes a very valid point about exporting September 12, 2016 Things haven't been going smoothly for the newly appointed secretary of state for international trade, Liam Fox. First, he became embroiled in an unseemly row with the foreign secretary about who stood where in the Whitehall pecking order. Then he got overexcited about the potential for a free-trade deal with Australia, only for our antipodean friends [...]
Business as usual after Brexit blip, declares accounting firm BDO as confidence edges back September 12, 2016 The economy suffered a “short, sharp fall” in the days after the EU referendum, before confidence rushed back and things returned to “business as usual”, a new survey has found. Like most other economic indicators, BDO’s confidence tracker has jumped back in August after hitting a three-year low in July. Firms told the accountants they [...]
Recession risks fade but Brexit still set to drag on growth September 12, 2016 Business activity rebounded in England and Wales last month, a new survey out today shows, confirming that the steep falls seen in the days immediately following the EU referendum have been reversed. The Lloyds regional purchasing managers index (PMI) found that business activity in every region of the UK except Scotland returned to growth in August. [...]