Over 1,000 anti-Brexit protesters stage rally outside parliament June 28, 2016 Over 1,000 people turned up outside parliament today to protest against Britain's decision to leave the European Union. Many chanted "there's no plan" and held up signs condemning former London mayor and Leave champion Boris Johnson who is the bookies' favourite to be Britain's next Prime Minister. Last Friday, London voted to remain in the EU in the referendum while 52 [...]
At the close: FTSE 100 climbs out of the Brexit bloodbath after major losses in recent sessions June 28, 2016 The FTSE 100 bounced back today, as investors bought back into a market that had been heavily sold off in previous sessions. Just nine stocks finished in negative territory, pushing the blue-chip index up by 2.6 per cent to 6,140.39 points. Falls of over five per cent in the last two sessions had wiped nearly £100bn in value of from company market capitalisations. Insurers [...]
Q&A: Should we worry about the UK losing its AAA credit rating? June 28, 2016 The UK suffered the embarrassment of a downgrade to its credit rating from not just one, but two of the leading agencies yesterday. Standard and Poor's (S&P) stripped the UK government of its gold standard triple-A rating, while Fitch also knocked a notch from its rating. Treasury debt is now graded as double-A, the third [...]
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 [...]