Cable stabilises above £1.30 support, but the Brexit storm is far from over January 30, 2019 | City Talk The UK parliament yesterday voted against officially blocking a no deal Brexit, but also forced Theresa May to return to the EU to renegotiate the controversial Irish Border backstop. Cable tumbled over 100 pips initially but support at £1.3060 held. But there’s plenty of pain on the horizon for GBP/USD. “Backstop”. It’s a word that [...]
FTSE risers and fallers: Exporters rise after pound weakens January 30, 2019 A weaker pound boosted Britain’s biggest listed companies today after MPs voted against an extension to Article 50 , and supported the Prime Minister’s plan B for Brexit. The FTSE 100 rose 1.58 per cent to 6,941.63 as its many exporters saw an increase in investor confidence. Read more: Vale takes £1bn hit as it sacrifices output [...]
Lending to consumers slows as credit card borrowing falls amid Brexit uncertainty January 30, 2019 Lending to British consumers grew at its slowest rate in four years in December, as credit card borrowing fell sharply in the run up to Brexit. Annual consumer credit growth slowed to 6.6 per cent, the Bank of England said. Credit card borrowing was “particularly weak”, the bank said, and households put more money into [...]
Microsoft taps London data science hub Pivigo to give UK businesses access to data on demand January 30, 2019 Microsoft has today unveiled a partnership with London data science hub Pivigo, giving its customers access to a global network of data scientists on demand. Enabled alongside its Azure suite of machine-learning tools, Microsoft users will be able to tap into Pivigo's 6,000-strong community of data scientists to help with projects such as optimising pricing structures, [...]
Former Marketinvoice boss raises $30m for fintech startup Complyadvantage, backed by Index and Balderton January 30, 2019 The fintech startup formed by the co-founder and former chief executive of London firm Marketinvoice has closed a $30m (£22.8m) funding round today, backed by Revolut investors Index Ventures and Balderton Capital. Complyadvantage uses artificial intelligence to analyse the risk of financial crime for some of the world’s largest banks. The startup will use the funding to [...]
Nasdaq launches rival bid for Norway’s Oslo Bors worth £590m, countering Euronext January 30, 2019 Nasdaq has launched a bid for Norwegian stock market operator Oslo Bors, setting up a competition with rival bidder Euronext. The bid of 152 Norwegian kroner per share, – valuing Oslo Bors at 6.54bn kroner (£590m) – is more than Euronext’s previous bid of 145 kroner per share. Read more: Euronext tables €625m takeover offer for [...]
French economic growth beats forecasts despite yellow vest protests and global trade tensions January 30, 2019 The French economy beat expectations in the fourth quarter of last year despite the ‘gilets jaunes’ protests and global trade tensions. French GDP grew by 0.3 per cent in the three months to December, it emerged today, against expectations of a 0.1 per cent rise, giving the eurozone a welcome boost. The end of 2018 in France [...]
Vale takes £1bn hit as it sacrifices output for safety after mining disaster January 30, 2019 Brazilian miner Vale said today it will take a £1bn financial hit to improve safety at its operations after the most deadly labour accident in Brazil’s history. Chief executive Fabio Schvartsman said his company will take around 10 per cent of its output offline as it decommissions 10 dams similar to the one that burst [...]
On climate change, good economics sadly does not make good politics January 30, 2019 Economists, of all people, should understand the power of specialisation. They are taught early that prosperity is founded on the division of labour: individuals becoming more productive in specific tasks. Yet when dispensing policy advice, they seem to ignore that lesson, presuming that they know better than politicians about good politics. Economists frequently claim that [...]
AI has not yet spurred a productivity boom, but just you wait January 30, 2019 Nobel laureate Bob Solow pronounced 30 years ago that “you can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics”. At the start of the 1980s, the world entered the digital age. Fax machines transformed communications. The introduction of personal computers made high-powered computing available to all. But it took time to work out [...]