UK labour productivity falls in ‘very weak’ quarter January 9, 2019 UK labour productivity decreased 0.4 per cent in the third quarter of last year, while annual growth was at its weakest in two years. Output per hour fell 0.4 per cent compared with the previous quarter and grew just 0.2 per cent on the third quarter of 2017, according to the Office for National Statistics. [...]
Softcat is top dog after trading update sends shares soaring January 9, 2019 Softcat shares rocketed today after the IT infrastructure provider said it was materially ahead of expectations at this stage of the year. Shares jumped 20 per cent this morning to 707p following the news. Softcat said trading had continued to be strong since its last update on 28 November. Ahead of its interim results on 31 [...]
Markets lift as US-China trade talks reach conclusion January 9, 2019 Trade talks in Beijing between China and the US have concluded, with the results of the negotiations expected to be announced shortly. Asian markets lifted this morning on hopes that a deal had been secured. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed up more than two per cent and the Shanghai Composite was up almost one [...]
DEBATE: Should the government cut the number of university courses and places to ensure value for money? January 9, 2019 Should the government cut the number of university courses and places to ensure value for money? Gillian Keegan MP, parliamentary private secretary to the Treasury and co-author of the foreword to the Onward report, says YES. The government should cut the number of low-value university places and steer people towards better options. Analysis of government [...]
Europe has suffered from the stultifying impact of the euro – just ask the Greeks January 9, 2019 One of the entertainments of the holiday period was reading Adults In The Room, the book by Yanis Varoufakis. It describes his time as finance minister of Greece, and his negotiations with the IMF, the European Central Bank, and the European Commission. Varoufakis was only in the job between January and July 2015. He had [...]
There’s only one way to fix the housing crisis: build more January 9, 2019 From free marketeers on the right to proponents of central planning on the left, cries to fix Britain’s broken housing market have become deafening. The solutions, of course, differ greatly depending on where along the political spectrum you stand. Yesterday, for example, Shelter issued its latest call to action, proposing three million new social homes [...]
London raked £1.8bn in tech funding last year, almost double its next closest rival January 9, 2019 London has retained its spot at the top of the tech charts for another year, securing almost double the amount of investment in 2018 than its next closest European competitor. Tech firms in the capital raised £1.8bn in venture funding and public listings in 2018, raking in 72 per cent of the UK’s £2.5bn total [...]
Government commits to maintaining ‘triple lock’ state pension uprating for UK expats in Europe in the event of no-deal Brexit January 8, 2019 The government has allayed concerns it may stop increasing the state pension in line with inflation for hundreds of thousands of expats retiring to countries in the EU. Currently, UK expats who have retired to the bloc receive the so called triple lock uprating, meaning their state pension rises in line with the highest of [...]
FTSE 100 hits monthly high after retail boost and fresh hopes of US-China trade deal January 8, 2019 The FTSE 100 has risen to monthly highs as investors return to retailers and US-China trade deal talks resume. The blue chip index has climbed one per cent today after US stocks bounced last night on fresh hopes of a resolution to the trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur [...]
Eurozone sentiment falls markedly and German industrial output suffers biggest fall in two years January 8, 2019 Economic sentiment in the eurozone decreased “markedly” in December, the European Commission said, and poor German industrial data added to the currency bloc’s woes. The commission’s economic sentiment indicator fell to 107.3 points in December from 109.5 the previous month, dropping in all twelve months of 2018. German industrial output also suffered its biggest decline [...]