London Stock Exchange launches consultation on shorter trading hours December 10, 2019 The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has launched a consultation on shortening its trading hours following calls by industry bodies who said such a change would improve workplace culture and liquidity. The stock exchange has asked its members – mainly banks and brokers – for its views on a series of options for shortening the current [...]
Election promises little relief for troubled UK markets December 10, 2019 | City Talk The election represents another ‘key risk’ moment for UK assets. Depending on the result, some parts of the UK stock market could suffer heavily, while others might be beneficiaries of a surprise result. This is the dangerous part – trying to work out what comes next. Memories of the predictions made before Brexit and Trump [...]
How do UK general elections impact the stock market? December 10, 2019 | City Talk General elections can have a profound long-term effect on the economy and people’s lives. The impact of elections on the stock market is less understood. Analysing the last seven UK elections, there is no definitive pattern as to how markets react, although there are historical patterns that may help investors and traders prepare for the [...]
FTSE 100 falls with European investors nervous over trade tensions December 10, 2019 The FTSE 100 has shed one per cent on a bad day for European shares ahead of a major tariff deadline that could exacerbate trade tensions between the US and China. Germany’s Dax index fell 1.46 per cent, France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.89 per cent, and the pan-European Eurostoxx 600 fell 1.07 per cent. Read [...]
Morgan Stanley fined €20m as French regulator accuses it of sovereign bond price manipulation December 10, 2019 Morgan Stanley has been issued a €20m (£16.8m) fine by French regulators after its London desk faced accusations of using “pump and dump” tactics to manipulate sovereign bond prices. France’s stock market regulator, the Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF), said the bank manipulated prices on 14 French government bonds and eight Belgian bonds in June [...]
Watchdog gives green light for Ovo Energy’s £500m SSE deal December 10, 2019 The competition watchdog has given the green light to Ovo Energy’s £500m takeover of rival supplier SSE’s retail arm. In a statement this morning the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the deal, which will create the UK’s second-largest energy supplier, would not harm competition. Read more: SSE sells energy services business to Ovo in [...]
When did making money in tech become so unfashionable? December 10, 2019 It is commonly accepted that technology companies have irrevocably changed the world we live in. This is especially true in the finance industry where fintech companies are successfully disrupting the status quo, forcing incumbent firms to evolve alongside these new challengers. While competition and technological innovation in any market is to be welcomed with open [...]
Drax aims to be world’s first carbon negative company by 2030 December 10, 2019 Drax, the UK power generation company, will this morning become the world’s first company to announce its ambition to become carbon negative by 2030. Chief executive Will Gardiner will tell the Madrid climate conference that scaled-up deployment of new technology like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (Beccs) will enable Drax to remove more carbon [...]
Opec production cuts compliance could push oil price to $70 December 9, 2019 The combination of strong compliance of Opec and its allies with production cuts and a US-China trade deal could push the price of Brent crude to $70 by the second quarter of 2020. According to a note from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, last week’s agreement to curb production by an additional 500,000 barrels a [...]
How global cities are promoting sustainability and helping to fight climate change December 9, 2019 | City Talk The 2016 Paris Agreement gave the world a sense of hope that politicians could work together to limit temperature rises to 2 degrees centigrade. However, much has changed since the milestone agreement. More frequent extreme weather events, increasing political nationalism and growing economic inequality are making the goal of a carbon neutral world by 2050 [...]