FTSE 100 closes above 7,200 for first time ever to end first week of 2017 on a high January 6, 2017 The FTSE 100 ended the first week of January on a high as it closed above 7,200 points for the first time ever, driven by healthy US jobs data and strong performances in the defence sector. London’s blue chip index has posted consecutive record closes since 22 December, and built on its winning streak on [...]
Four graphs that tell the story of jobs during the Obama administration – as Donald Trump prepares to be President January 6, 2017 US President-elect Donald Trump will come to office in two weeks’ time with the promise to “create a dynamic booming economy that will create 25 million new jobs over the next decade.” He might struggle. So far this has mostly taken the shape of tweeting at various companies planning to outsource production jobs to other countries, [...]
US non-farm payrolls miss expectations by 20,000 in Obama’s final jobs numbers January 6, 2017 The number of jobs added in the US missed expectations in December, although the run of relatively solid economic data continued ahead of the Federal Reserve’s next meeting to decide monetary policy in February. The final non-farm payroll data under President Barack Obama showed an increase of 156,000 jobs in the month, after rising by [...]
Is Warren Buffett’s U-turn on airlines a nod to his value investing past? January 6, 2017 | City Talk Warren Buffett, the investment billionaire, has been pretty rude about the aviation sector. As the Sage of Omaha unambiguously put it in a 2002 interview: “If a capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk back in the early 1900s, he should have shot Orville Wright. He would have saved his progeny money.” Buffett went on to [...]
UK businesses and consumers see rosy economic prospects peak at the end of 2016, as confidence in Europe rises January 6, 2017 UK business confidence in the economy’s prospects increased to a 2016 high in December as Eurozone companies also saw a strong improvement in trading conditions, according to the European Commission. The buoyant services sector drove UK economic sentiment to an increase of 1.3 per cent, reflecting recent news of a rise in the services purchasing [...]
Productivity puzzle remains for economists despite UK growth in third quarter of 2016 January 6, 2017 The UK is still struggling to increase the amount it increases per worker as economists wrestle with a continued “productivity puzzle”, new official data shows. Labour productivity, measured by the amount the UK produced per hour, grew by only 0.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2016, representing a flat rate of growth, according [...]
TCP Icap shares jump as US election result causes trading frenzy January 6, 2017 Shares in broking giant TCP Icap, formerly known as Tullet Prebon, jumped this morning after it unveiled a bumper year as investors worked themselves up into a frenzy of activity after the US election result. Shares jumped as much as 10 per cent to 484p this morning, after the company said it expected revenue to [...]
Donald Trump reflation story continues to enthral investors as money market fund flows increase January 6, 2017 Investors have rushed to put money into money market funds, as they continue to back the story that inflation is going to grow under US President-elect Donald Trump. Fund flows into money market funds in the week ending 4 January grew to $31.7bn (£25.7bn), up from $16bn in the week including the Christmas holiday, according [...]
Editor’s notes: The great Civil Service myth, and why it’s time to shake things up… January 6, 2017 Though probably not on your daily reading list, Dominic Cummings (former adviser to Michael Gove and a top dog in the official Leave campaign) writes a fascinating blog. In between posts on artificial intelligence, super-computing and advanced physics, you’ll find reflections on his time working at the Department for Education as Gove’s senior adviser. If you [...]
A liberal Brexit means continued EU-UK cooperation – but this time as equals January 6, 2017 Brexit means something remarkably straightforward: at some point before the middle of 2019, the UK will no longer be under the jurisdiction of any EU court or legislature. The fact of our impending departure does not, however, mean cutting ourselves off from Europe. If Brexit is easy to define, the details of what our post-EU relationship [...]