Sainsbury’s should focus on its core offer January 6, 2016 Sainsbury's and Home Retail Group do not at first glance appear obvious bedfellows. If perceptions count for anything, and they do in retail, then Sainsbury’s is very much a supermarket that attempts to cater for the British middle class. Home Retail Group’s Argos doesn’t. But for both the high street and supermarkets, these are desperate [...]
Ignore the gloom-merchants: The UK’s investment-led recovery is sustainable January 6, 2016 We saw some very positive economic news last month, as the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time in seven years. The Bank of England also released the results of the major stress test of UK banks which it launched in March 2015. It concluded that “the banking system is capitalised to [...]
How business can talk about Europe without getting its hands burnt January 6, 2016 It's easy to see why business voices might try to steer clear of the EU referendum debate that looks set to dominate the politics of 2016. Getting involved in such an emotional, partisan and polarised campaign carries more than its fair share of risks. No sensible executive wants to get into a political argument if [...]
Could the intensifying spat between Saudi Arabia and Iran erase recent falls in the oil price? January 6, 2016 Alastair McCaig, market analyst at IG, says Yes. Disagreements between Saudi Arabia and Iran are not unusual, and this latest scuffle has also drawn many of the other Opec nations into the fray. Considering the pressure that many of these nations have been under, with falling revenue streams due to the subdued price of oil, this [...]
A bigger London can be an even better London January 5, 2016 London is already Europe’s largest city, with a population in excess of 8.6m. The Greater London Authority expects this figure to climb to 11.3m over the next 25 years, but a fascinating report by Oxford Economics says that the GLA has underestimated the continuing boom, and that our city’s population will reach 12m by 2050. The [...]
As China fears spark a global market rout, is the country the greatest risk to the world economy in 2016? January 5, 2016 Rebecca O’Keeffe, head of investment at Interactive Investor, says YES. You only have to look at the reaction to yesterday’s disappointing data and subsequent global stock market rout to appreciate just how important China has become to international investors. While the US economy is still much larger, relative growth rates mean that China is actually [...]
Business is in denial about the true likelihood of Brexit January 5, 2016 What are the economic implications of Brexit? Pro and anti-EU camps have been trading statistics for years about the number of jobs or level of exports linked to EU membership. It is a theoretical debate but, if Britain does vote to leave the EU, it will become very real. Most recent opinion polls have showed [...]
A vicious circle of state intervention is taking Britain’s energy markets back to the 1970s January 5, 2016 Whether you are a green activist or a poverty campaigner, energy policy under the Thatcher-Major-Blair governments was a striking success. Between 1990 and 1999, prices for domestic consumers fell by 26 per cent and the fall for industrial consumers was even greater. Energy-related greenhouse gas emissions per unit of GDP fell by 45 per cent [...]
As China fears spark a global market rout, is the country the greatest risk to the world economy in 2016? January 5, 2016 Rebecca O’Keeffe, head of investment at Interactive Investor, says Yes. You only have to look at the reaction to yesterday’s disappointing data and subsequent global stock market rout to appreciate just how important China has become to international investors. While the US economy is still much larger, relative growth rates mean that China is actually [...]
As China fears spark a global market rout, is the country the greatest risk to the world economy in 2016? January 5, 2016 Rebecca O’Keeffe, head of investment at Interactive Investor, says YES. You only have to look at the reaction to yesterday’s disappointing data and subsequent global stock market rout to appreciate just how important China has become to international investors. While the US economy is still much larger, relative growth rates mean that China is actually [...]