Financial data giant MSCI denies receiving £9bn takeover offer from S&P Global March 15, 2017 Market index compiler MSCI has insisted it has not received a takeover offer from financial data giant S&P Global. The company’s response came after media reports suggested the firm behind the Dow Jones Industrial Average index and the S&P 500 index is plotting a $11bn (£9bn) bid for MSCI. Read more: Berkeley boss gives up [...]
HOLD: Hands off interest rates, City A.M.’s Shadow MPC tells Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee March 15, 2017 Economists expect the Bank of England to leave monetary policy unchanged at tomorrow’s meeting of senior policymakers, but pressure is slowly growing to begin pushing monetary policy back to more normal levels. City A.M.’s Shadow Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted in favour of keeping policy unchanged, but added another dissenter since February's meeting pushing for [...]
Rejoice? Unemployment hits its lowest since 1975 – but the experts aren’t so happy March 15, 2017 Unemployment in hit its lowest level since 1975 in the three months to January while the rate of working-age adults employed stayed at record highs. However, weaker wage growth at a time inflation is rising has given economists – and sterling – pause for thought. The government was cock-a-hoop. Damian Hinds, minister for employment said [...]
It looks like Brewdog’s about to land a big new investor, make a major shake-up of its shareholdings and eventually IPO March 15, 2017 Popular "punk" craft beer maker Brewdog has said it's about to land a new investor and also revealed it's considering a time frame for an IPO. In a letter to its shareholders, many of whom backed the brewer through crowdfunding, it said it has been in talks with a number of potential investors and is now [...]
Why the FTSE 100 rises when sterling falls – explained in two charts March 15, 2017 | City Talk The FTSE 100's strong recovery after the Brexit verdict in last June's referendum caught some investors off guard. After an initial wobble, the index surged. Three months later, it was 10.4% higher. But why? There may have been some other factors at play in those months, but one of the strongest drivers in the fortunes [...]
Pound reverses gains as wage growth falls – but unemployment in the UK reaches lowest level since 1975 March 15, 2017 The rate of unemployed people in the UK has fallen to its joint lowest level since 1975 as the rate of people in employment in the UK stayed at record highs in the three months to January. Unemployment fell to a four-decade low of 4.7 per cent of the work force, down from 5.1 per [...]
“Paypal of renting” proptech startup Goodlord just landed millions more from investors Ribbit Capital, LocalGlobal and Global Founders Capital March 15, 2017 A startup aiming to be the Paypal of renting, making lettings easier for tenants, landlords and agents, has landed millions more in funding from top investors. Goodlord has landed £7.2m from Silicon Valley's Ribbit Capital and existing investors: Robin Klein's LocalGlobal and Global Founders Capital, the fund founded by Rocket Internet's Samwer brothers, following on from £2m raised in May [...]
Public sector pay has started falling sooner than forecasted – and it’s going to keep falling March 15, 2017 Average real pay is falling in the public sector, and it's expected to drop further over the next three years, new research shows. The Resolution Foundation's latest earning outlook, which will be published today, forecasts average real pay in the public sector will fall below 2004-2005 levels by the end of the parliament (2019-2020). Forecasts released [...]
Need a reason to cut public sector pay and pensions? Look at Jeremy Corbyn March 15, 2017 The shambles over the treatment of National Insurance has dominated the media’s reporting of the recent Budget. But only the previous week, Jeremy Corbyn made a complete horlicks of his tax return for the second year running. The Bearded One makes a saintly fuss over making his tax affairs transparent. In 2016, he forgot to [...]
As the Federal Open Market Committee meets, is the US economy ready for higher interest rates? March 15, 2017 Shaun Richards, an independent economist, says Yes. The situation facing the United States has two major features. The most immediate one is the rise in inflation, with the consumer price index rising by 2.5 per cent on a year before in January, and the personal consumption expenditure method rising by 1.9 per cent. These are [...]