Sterling strikes back March 6, 2020 | City Talk GBP / EUR Update The pound started the week on the back foot after a tough end to last week. Brexit concerns weighed heavily after the UK stated it would walk away from unsatisfactory negotiations. The EU feels that this will not be the case, but the overall view is that both sides are underestimating [...]
Oil prices fall again as Russia rejects further Opec cuts March 6, 2020 Oil prices plunged four per cent today after Russia rejected oil cartel Opec’s proposal to deepen production cuts by an additional 1.5m barrels per day until the end of the year. The drop means that prices are at their lowest point since July 2017 after a source told Reuters Russia would only agree to extend [...]
The C-word March 6, 2020 | City Talk And we aren’t just talking about coronavirus There are a number of ways coronavirus has affected economies, shares, production and of course currency markets. From currencies experiencing decreased demand to Asian currencies bearing the brunt of the market’s aversion to risk, the foreign exchange market began to show clear signs of being impacted by the [...]
Demographics predict stock and bond yields, study shows March 6, 2020 | Sponsored Investors can use demographic trends to predict both the stock and bond market yields, a new study shows. Researchers from Warwick Business School and Copenhagen Business School found US stock and government bond markets have followed surprisingly similar paths since the Second World War. Yields from both markets followed similar 20-year boom and bust cycles [...]
Government bond yields sink to record low on coronavirus disruption March 6, 2020 Government bond yields sunk to fresh historic lows as fears over the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on global growth sent investors rushing to safe haven assets. Concerns over the outbreak have sent equities tumbling across the globe and pushed the price of several government bonds to historic highs, while yields (which move inversely to [...]
Coronavirus: Asian stocks follow US into the red as infections near 100,000 March 6, 2020 Coronavirus cases approached the 100,000 mark today as volatility sparked by the global spread of the Covid-19 disease hurt Asian stocks and Wall Street. Asian stocks endured a torrid day of trading as Japan’s Nikkei plunged 2.7 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index sank 2.3 per cent overnight. Asian stocks slumped as traders [...]
Exxon Mobil will continue expansion drive despite oil volatility March 5, 2020 Exxon Mobil will keep pursuing its current strategy of investing in new oil exploration, despite prices of the resource falling. The oil giant will pour money into shale gas, of which the US is the world’s largest producer, and new oil fields. This comes as doubts rise about global demand for oil following the outbreak [...]
Coronavirus: the economic impact March 5, 2020 | City Talk The coronavirus threatens to derail the revival in global economic growth which began in the latter part of 2019. Economic indicators up to January continued to show an improvement in activity with business surveys signalling rising orders and output. However, confidence in the sustainability of the upswing has been undermined by the virus, officially known [...]
FTSE reshuffle: Kingfisher, NMC Health and Tui booted out of top City index March 4, 2020 Several embattled firms have been relegated from the FTSE 100 of listed companies as part of its quarterly review. Screwfix owner Kingfisher, embattled firm NMC Health and holiday company Tui will be moved to the FTSE 250 index of companies. In their place, miner Fresnillo, Intermediate Capital Group and Pennon Group will join the FTSE [...]
FCA admits seven funds breached ‘trash ratio’ March 4, 2020 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has revealed the extent to which UK fund managers breached European rules designed to limit liquidity issues behind high-profile scandals. Regulators across Europe have scrutinised how closely fund managers adhere to Ucits fund rules that limit holdings in unquoted securities to 10 per cent of their portfolio. Responding to a [...]