The Brexit rally is less fragile than it looks October 19, 2016 The performance of UK shares has generally confounded most strategists. Since the vote to leave the EU in June, UK savers have enjoyed returns of close to 15 per cent. While the weakness of sterling has eaten most of those returns for overseas investors, we are in a much better place than many were predicting in [...]
Lineker-backed insurer scores £1m in funding October 18, 2016 Internet of Things insurer Neos has hit the back of the net with £1m in initial seed funding, valuing the business at £8.4m. The company – a so-called insurtech startup – counts Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker among its backers and the latest funding round adds insurtech fund Eos Venture Partners. Neos is [...]
Inequality doesn’t matter if we’re all paid according to the value we create October 18, 2016 Log on to Netflix and you can catch old episodes of Dirty Jobs, where you can watch host Mike Rowe visit plumbers, pig farmers, and steel mill workers and try his hand at some of the less sexy but utterly fascinating jobs that help make the world around us possible. All of these people work incredibly hard, [...]
Thank competition – not magical central bankers – for years of moderate inflation October 18, 2016 Tempers are fraying at the highest levels of economic policy-making in the UK. Theresa May, at the Conservative Party conference, emphasised the “bad side effects” for savers of the Bank of England’s policy of near-zero interest rates, a position reinforced by former Tory leader William Hague in the Telegraph this week. A few days ago, Mark [...]
Brexit deal and EU trade policy in the spotlight as EU-Canada deal falters October 18, 2016 The EU’s entire trade policy was brought into question today after political squabbling looked set to cast another delay to the landmark EU-Canada free trade agreement. Following a regional parliament in Belgium voting against the deal last week, trade ministers from the other 27 EU countries were forced to issue an ultimatum to the Belgian [...]
Sterling and FTSE 100 jump as inflation hits two-year high October 18, 2016 Sterling recovered some poise today, soaring higher after inflation jumped to a two-year high. The FTSE 100 also jumped back above 7,000 in early morning trading, fading only slightly to end the day up 0.7 per cent at 6,994 as traders and investors digested the news that prices rose by one per cent in the year to [...]
Autumn Statement 2016: Infrastructure boom to provide Brexit boost for construction sector October 18, 2016 The construction industry looks set to be the shining light of the UK’s post-Brexit economy as the industry benefits from an infrastructure spending spree over the next decade. Researchers at BMI Research, part of the Fitch Group, which also owns the powerful ratings agency, said the construction sector will grow at a rate of 2.8 [...]
The UK’s biggest banks are bracing themselves for another £2bn on their PPI bill October 18, 2016 Britain's largest banks are set to add billions to their collective bill for payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling in the next two weeks. According to Sky News, executives at Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Barclays are in the process of finalising top-up provisions, amounting to around £2bn in total – due to be [...]
PwC sounds alarm over sluggish economic recovery October 18, 2016 PwC has become the latest big name to raise concerns about the implications of the technological revolution on inequality, economic growth and unemployment. In a new report, the accountants point out that while the developed world has bounced back from the financial crisis in terms of the size of individual economies, consumer spending is still down [...]
Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open October 18, 2016 Inflation in the UK has jumped, and new loans in China grew by more than expected. Here's what you need to know before the US market open at 2:30pm. US futures are pointing higher ahead of the open. The S&P is up by 0.54 per cent, while the Nasdaq is 0.62 per cent higher. The Dow [...]