Corbyn, business and the diplomatic dance January 8, 2016 Hands up: who was gripped by Jeremy Corbyn’s reshuffle this week? By normal Westminster standards this wasn’t exactly a swift and decisive event. It started late on Sunday night and is just about wrapping up now. Westminster watchers were in overdrive, camped outside the office of the Leader of the Opposition, live-blogging every twist and [...]
Why financial markets matter for the real economy January 8, 2016 Much like Jose Mourinho’s second spell at Chelsea, 2015 turned out to be a false dawn for the stock market. After breaking through 7,000 in April, the FTSE 100 ended the year barely over 6,000. The rollercoaster was even bumpier in China, where the market rose by 54 per cent by mid-June, only to lose [...]
Meet Ted Cruz: The dark horse Republican who could pip Donald Trump to the nomination January 8, 2016 Senator Ted Cruz is the most interesting candidate in the US presidential race right now. As a darling of the Tea Party, in 2012, he swept into the Senate, representing Texas, having campaigned on deeply conservative principles and policies. At the time, many dismissed him as a rabble-rouser who would wind up as a less [...]
China is exporting a new wave of deflation – and global growth downgrades are inevitable January 8, 2016 Global equity markets are battling against the third wave of deflation which Fidelity first spoke about last summer. The first wave was the US housing and financial crisis of 2008-9, the second the euro crisis of 2011-12, and now, the third, the emerging market crisis of 2015-16. All emerging market crises start in the foreign [...]
With Marc Bolland stepping down, can anyone turn around M&S’s faltering clothing business? January 8, 2016 Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, says Yes. The M&S clothing business can be fixed, starting with these three moves. First, stock availability has to be improved as this has been an issue since 2012. The firm needs to do more dual-sourcing for quick, repeat sales on strong lines. This would maximise full-price sales, help [...]
More to capitalism than good economic growth January 7, 2016 What are the hallmarks of capitalism? Typically you might think of cities, skyscrapers, banks, insurers, people in sharp suits, and so on. These are some symptoms of a market-orientated economy, for sure, but they do not tell the whole picture. There are two factors that accurately signal the degree to which a society is free [...]
Prepare for civil war: Tory Brexit splits will have shades of 1970s Labour January 7, 2016 Was there anyone in the Conservative Party who didn’t see it coming? David Cameron has finally given the Cabinet’s Brexit faction the free vote on the EU they so deeply desired. Given that this follows a series of previous climb-downs on everything from the wording of the referendum question to limits on the use of [...]
As it claims to have tested a hydrogen bomb, does North Korea pose a serious threat to global peace? January 7, 2016 Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, says Yes. The corrosive nature of its regime, coupled with possession of nuclear weapons, makes North Korea a dangerous international menace. At just 32, Kim Jong-un is the despotic ruler of a country cut off from the outside world and with internal dissent stifled by his security [...]
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 [...]