US GDP revised up, but it’s still the slowest growth in a year June 28, 2016 Growth in the US economy has been revised up on the back of strong export and investment numbers. The world's biggest economy grew by 1.1 per cent on an annualised basis in the first quarter of the year – up from the most recent estimate of 0.8 per cent and more than double the very first [...]
Cheer up, Friday was only the ninth worst day in the history of sterling June 28, 2016 Sterling has been hammered since Thursday night. When EU referendum polls closed, a single pound was swapping hands for $1.50. Now it will only get you $1.33. The fall on Friday of 7.6 per cent – on historically comparable calculations – was the sharpest since the pound has been a free floating currency in the [...]
EU referendum: UK will have to wait until after Brexit to strike new trade deals June 28, 2016 The UK will have to wait until it has formally left the European Union before it can even begin to negotiate its own trade deals, experts and academics have said today, as the debate over what route out of the EU the UK should take heats up. The EU has formal responsibility for negotiating trade deals [...]
Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open June 28, 2016 The Brexit rollercoaster is still going full tilt, unbalancing global markets, currencies and politics. Here's what you need to know before the US open at 2:30pm London time. Major US markets are pointing up ahead of the open, with the S&P up by 0.97 per cent in the pre-market. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is up by 0.99 per [...]
What’s behind the rise of anti-establishment politics? From Brexit to Trump and Bernie Sanders, frustration at inequality is rising – and some experts think central bank policies are to blame June 28, 2016 Anti-establishment sentiment is growing, with political leaders seen as “alternative” drawing support across the Western world – from the rise of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump in the US, to France’s National Front, Germany’s AfD, Italy’s Lega Nord and Syriza in Greece. The surprise triumph of the Brexit movement falls into this camp too. And a [...]
Mervyn King says Treasury’s exaggerated Brexit claims backfired June 27, 2016 The former governor of the Bank of England yesterday slammed George Osborne and his Treasury team over their Brexit campaign. And Lord Mervyn King said they would now need to row back from exaggerated claims that left him “baffled”. “I think the government said things it is not easy to sustain or support. If the [...]
S&P and Fitch downgrade UK after “seminal” Brexit vote June 27, 2016 Standard and Poor's and Fitch downgraded the UK's credit rating on Monday evening after last week's Brexit vote. S&P downgraded the UK's rating by two notches, from AAA to AA, with a negative outlook, describing the Brexit vote as "a seminal event". Fitch also downgraded the UK, from AA+ to AA with a negative outlook. "The UK vote to leave the [...]
At the close: Markets take a clobbering as sterling slides and uncertainty reigns June 27, 2016 Traders and investors were left bloodied by a volatile session on the markets today. The FTSE has closed down 2.55 per cent at 5,982.20, with a fifth of FTSE 100 companies racking up double digit price falls. The internationally focused blue-chip index outperformed mid-caps however as the FTSE 250 – mostly made up of companies that trade in the [...]
UK bond yields fall to a new record low, despite looming debt downgrades June 27, 2016 Borrowing costs for the UK government have dropped to their lowest on record as investors flock to the safe haven of government debt in the midst of Brexit uncertainty. Yields on the benchmark 10-year Treasury bonds plunged to 0.94 per cent, down an unprecedented 0.14 percentage points – or 14 basis points – since yesterday. It is [...]
Markets are pricing in a “significant chance” of the Bank of England introducing negative interest rates June 27, 2016 Markets are pricing in a 15 per cent chance of the Bank of England slashing interest rates below zero as financial markets continue to wobble after the UK's historic vote to leave the EU last week. As trading was suspended on banking shares after another day of double-digit falls, the market outlook on the future path [...]