How low rates affect stockmarket returns December 5, 2016 | City Talk The world has been living with low interest rates for eight years but such periods are not new. Both the US and UK saw rates below 1% for most of the two decades spanning the Second World War, while Japan has been living with sub-1% rates since 1995. Stockmarkets performed very differently in each case, [...]
US services PMI grows at fastest pace since October 2015, pushing the Dow to fresh record highs December 5, 2016 The rise in new business growth drove US services to expand at the fastest rate since October 2015, according to a closely watched measure of business activity, adding to the weight of data supporting the case for a rise in US interest rates and pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to fresh all-time intraday highs. [...]
Italian government bond yields jump as investors react to Matteo Renzi’s resignation after Italian referendum defeat December 5, 2016 Italian 10-year bond yields rose above two per cent on Monday as markets pushed down the country’s banks further in reaction to the larger than expected rejection of Matteo Renzi's constitutional reform in Sunday’s referendum. Yields, which move inversely to prices, had moved to 2.024 per cent in the early afternoon, a climb of more [...]
Gold is now an accepted Sharia investment under new Islamic banking rules December 5, 2016 Gold can now be used as a commodity to back Sharia-based financial products, with rules about using the metal as an investment set out for the first time. The World Gold Council announced the new Sharia gold standard, which sets out the way in which financial institutions can apply Sharia principles in the direct physical handling [...]
The euro makes back losses from pound and dollar as markets react to Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s resignation December 5, 2016 The euro regained its steep losses against the pound and the dollar as the week started with the defeat of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in his flagship constitutional reform and his immediate resignation. The pound rose above €1.20 in the early hours of Monday morning before falling back to €1.1899 at the time of publication. [...]
The UK’s services sector grew unexpectedly fast last month – pushing up GDP expectations December 5, 2016 Growth in the UK's three main sectors suggests the economy will 0.5 per cent in the fourth quarter, against Bank of England expectations of 0.4 per cent, new figures have suggested. The purchasing managers' index for the services sector, published today by Markit, grew unexpectedly fast in November, rising to 55.2 from 54.5 last month – [...]
The immigration debate needs liberal voices December 5, 2016 The debate over immigration would continue to rage even if the UK had voted to remain in the EU. Indeed, with fresh figures showing that non-EU migrants made up the bulk of recent arrivals, one could argue it would rage all the harder if we hadn’t voted to ‘take back control’. But with splits emerging in [...]
Saudi Arabia has surrendered control of the global oil market to US shale December 5, 2016 “Ending wars is very simple if you surrender.” – PJ O’Rourke The new Opec deal to cut oil output – the cartel’s first since 2008 – amounts to nothing less than Saudi Arabia’s surrender to the power of American shale. It has come about due to Riyadh’s belated, horrified understanding that it has utterly lost control over [...]
British households taking on more debt as almost half struggle to pay credit card bills on time December 5, 2016 Almost half of British consumers struggle to pay off their credit card bill each month, while the proportion taking on more debt over the last five years has risen sharply. Borrowing has continued to rise to record highs in the wake of the vote to leave the European Union. The proportion of borrowers who have [...]
ECB set to unleash more firepower in December meeting December 5, 2016 The European Central Bank is widely expected to extend its quantitative easing programme by six months at its next policy meeting on Thursday, amid ongoing political risk and stubbornly low inflation. The bank is largely expected to keep the size of its monthly bond purchases unchanged beyond its current end date of March 2017, at [...]