German chancellor Angela Merkel says there is a problem with the weak euro February 18, 2017 German chancellor Angela Merkel has said there is a “problem” with the value of the euro, in an unusual comment at a time when the country has come under sustained criticism over the currency. At a security conference in Munich Merkel said: "We have at the moment in the Eurozone of course a problem with [...]
Kraft Heinz bid for Unilever adds flavour to London’s end-of-week trading February 17, 2017 Food firm Unilever propped up the FTSE 100 after US competitor Kraft Heinz made a huge $143bn (£115bn) merger offer for the London-listed firm to inject some energy to trading at the end of the week. Unilever’s share price popped by 13.43 per cent as it briefly reached an all-time record high on the news, [...]
Investors pull money from Europe as the draw of Trump strengthens February 17, 2017 The potential for chaos in Europe ahead of multiple elections and the recurrence of the Greek debt crisis have prompted investors to move money out of the region. Redemptions from funds invested in European bonds reached an 11-week high in the second week of February as Italian bond funds saw their biggest outflow for more [...]
Retail sales fall during January as economists expect inflation to drag further on spending February 17, 2017 Retail sales grew at the slowest pace in more than three years, with economists pointing to inflationary pressure starting to weigh on consumer spending. Sales fell by 0.3 per cent month-on-month during January, with 1.5 per cent annual growth the slowest since November 2013, according to the Office for National Statistics. Sales also declined quarter-on-quarter, [...]
A victory for Marine Le Pen in France could spell the end of the European Union February 17, 2017 As the Brexit Bill’s passage through Parliament in the coming weeks appears a foregone conclusion, the UK’s timeline for invoking Article 50 has become clearer – but what remains unclear is the extent to which Brexit is mobilising voters in other EU member states. Indeed, from an economic standpoint, the UK’s inconsequential post-referendum performance poses a [...]
As loss-making Snapchat sets its valuation at up to $22.2bn, would you have to be mad to invest in its IPO? February 17, 2017 Chris Beauchamp, a senior market analyst at IG, says Yes. As the latest tech IPO to come to market, Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, offers the usual combination of coolness, hype and dubious fundamentals. The IG grey market in Snap continues to suggest that the stock will see a pop on the first day [...]
ECB’s Benoit Coeure calls for removal of non-tariff barriers for trade with Europe February 16, 2017 The removal of non-tariff barriers to trade could give a big boost to trade, according to an influential European central banker. Benoit Coeure, a member of the executive board of the European Central Bank (ECB), said “gains from trade are likely to be quite large” if countries can remove impediments to free trade. In a [...]
ECB continues to look through rising inflation as big risks loom on the horizon February 16, 2017 The European Central Bank (ECB) remains committed to “looking through” rises in headline inflation as Europe faces a balance of risks “tilted to the downside”, according to the minutes from its latest monetary policy meeting. Members of the rate-setting governing council “widely agreed” to maintain its ultra-loose monetary policy despite mounting pressure to scale back [...]
The UK’s construction industry started 2017 on a high February 16, 2017 The UK's construction industry started the year strongly as housebuilding dominated activity. The value of new building contracts rose to £6bn in January, according to analysts Barbour ABI, with London accounting for over a quarter of contract value. The capital was boosted by the One Nine Elms project in Vauxhall, the most valuable development in [...]
Record-breaking employment numbers threatened by government short-termism February 16, 2017 The Office for National Statistics published the latest labour market statistics yesterday, once again confirming that it has been a record-breaking year for employment. With 31.84m people in work, the unemployment rate at the lowest it has been for over a decade (4.8 per cent), and, with a record 70 per cent of women in work, there [...]