Whether it has peaked or not, we’re playing a waiting game with inflation December 14, 2017 | City Talk On Tuesday, official data showed Consumer Price Inflation crept up slightly to 3.1 per cent in November. It was enough to oblige the Bank of England Governor Mark Carney to write a letter to the Chancellor, an event not unlike a naughty schoolboy writing a letter of apology to the headmaster. Mr Carney wrote to Philip [...]
Beware Bitcoin’s bite – why crypto-currency futures might make a risky investment deadly December 13, 2017 | City Talk Deutsche Bank has raised serious concerns about the risk posed to the global financial system by Bitcoin. It’s not the first to red flag the crypto-currency and warn investors that it is a potentially dangerous financial instrument to get involved with. Others have warned about the dangers of a Bitcoin bubble. European Central bankers have [...]
Saudi sell-off puts a lot at stake December 12, 2017 | City Talk Oil is getting more expensive. The price of crude recently jumped after OPEC agreed to extend the production initially agreed in November 2016. Having fallen to $29.64 dpb (dollars per barrel) in January 2016, it now looks settled at round about $50-60. It’s vital for the global economy that the price of oil settle. Since [...]
Sterling set to sail through choppy waters in 2018 December 11, 2017 | City Talk At the end of November, sterling hit a two-month high against both the Dollar and the Euro on the news that Britain may have finally agreed its divorce bill from the European Union (EU). But within days the thorny issue of what will happen to the Irish border after Brexit had replaced the money question [...]
Chocfinger melts: Hedge fund famous for betting on chocolate shuts up shop December 11, 2017 Cocoa trading king Anthony Ward, the founder of Armajaro Asset Management, announced today he has closed down his cocoa- and coffee-focused CC+ fund. The legendary fund helped Ward earn the name “Chocfinger”, due to the massive bets he placed on cocoa seven years ago which helped drive prices to 30-year highs. The fund’s closure follows [...]
Bitcoin mining explained: How it works, how much energy it uses and what needs to be fixed December 7, 2017 All eyes are on bitcoin at the moment. The cryptocurrency has staged a meteoric rise in 2017 that has attracted new investors, but, for many, question marks still surround bitcoin and the technology behind it. With recent reports pointing to the high energy cost associated with mining, the process used to create bitcoin, is there [...]
The Irish border issue tells us what the British government wants from Brexit December 7, 2017 | City Talk You have to feel a bit sorry for Mrs May. By Monday lunchtime she must have felt convinced she had achieved something that had appeared to be impossible, by settling the Irish border question. It seems almost unthinkable that she would have struck a deal that saw regulatory alignment between the Republic of Ireland and [...]
Deal or no deal, Brexit trade talks will take years to complete December 6, 2017 | City Talk There’s a funny history lesson that those negotiating Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU) should at least be aware of. It’s this: negotiations to join or leave the EU can take a very long time. And member states have a veto on whether another country joins – or leaves – the EU club. We [...]
Would a Labour government be as bad for Britain as Brexit? Morgan Stanley thinks so December 5, 2017 | City Talk On Friday morning, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn came out fighting against one of the world’s largest banks. Why? Earlier in the week, the bank in question, Morgan Stanley, had warned the chance of a snap UK election by the Autumn of next year was currently above 60 per cent. But the bank also warned that [...]
Editor’s Notes: Bitcoin is starting to resemble tulip bulbs in a 17th century Dutch market, entrepreneurs are getting on with Brexit and the LSEG’s breakdown of trust December 1, 2017 Gordon Gekko, the legendary character played by Michael Douglas in Wall Street, delivers a lesson on speculation in the film’s sequel with the help of some framed tulip bulbs. “Tulip mania,” he declared, “is the greatest bubble story of all time.” Gekko references the 17th century trend for tulips – a trend that soon generated [...]