Oil briefly rises above $51 per barrel, buoyed by Opec optimism October 3, 2016 Oil briefly rose above $51 per barrel today as investors weighed optimism over oil cartel Opec’s ability to agree on a production cut against the stubborn oversupply. The group is meeting next month in Vienna after signalling at a summit last week in Algeria that they could reach their first output agreement in eight years. Brent crude, the [...]
Philip Hammond is wrong to assume an infrastructure splurge will boost growth October 3, 2016 Mention the name Philip Hammond in Westminster, and invariably someone will describe him as “a safe pair of hands”. The man who has been chancellor for three months had been largely inconspicuous in his role prior to yesterday’s conference speech. But after almost two decades of a Treasury dominated by micro-managers and tinkerers, primarily in [...]
As UK manufacturing output hits a two-year high, will Brexit rebalance the economy away from services? October 3, 2016 Damian Hind, economic & social policy research fellow at Policy Exchange, says Yes. Brexit is not a magic wand but it does give us reasons to be optimistic. Increasing manufacturing output and rebalancing the UK economy away from services has been a long standing goal for policymakers. However, the UK’s high exchange rate made this very [...]
Back down it goes: Deutsche Bank share price drops in US October 3, 2016 Deutsche Bank's US-listed shares have fallen three per cent, just hours after the market opened. Shares in the German bank plummeted last week, after various reports emerged doubting Chancellor Angela Merkel's appetite for state assistance, despite the lender facing a potential $14bn (£10.8bn) fine from the US Department of Justice (DoJ) for mis-selling mortgage-backed securities. However, [...]
Fitch issues latest warning on economic damage of protectionism October 3, 2016 The US is set to grow at its slowest pace since the financial crisis this year, as the global economy falters in the face of historically loose monetary policy and the rise of protectionist forces. Ratings agency Fitch is the latest to flag concerns over the lacklustre performance of the world's largest economy, with a hefty downgrade [...]
Election fears get the better of US manufacturers as output stumbles October 3, 2016 The US manufacturing industry is growing at one of its slowest paces in two years, according to new data out this afternoon. The news comes as the world's largest economy approaches both the hotly-anticipated US Presidential Election and the next interest rate rise from the Federal Reserve. The manufacturing sector scored 51.5 on the closely-watched [...]
Retail fund sales turned positive in August October 3, 2016 Retail fund sales became positive in August for the first time since April, as net retail sales hit £1.7bn. According to Hargreaves Lansdown, this was due to £1.2bn of inflows into fixed income funds. There was an outflow of £629m from equity funds. Read more: Standard Life will re-open its property fund in October Property [...]
Japan’s imaginative monetary policy is putting banks in danger October 3, 2016 Fitch has sounded alarm bells over the health of Japanese banks in the face of the latest tinkering with monetary policy from the Bank of Japan (BoJ). The ratings agency said it was worried the BoJ's increasingly unconventional approach to managing the country's cash supply could lead to "unintended consequences" for the financial sector as the [...]
Hammond warns over Brexit complacency as he scraps Osborne’s goal of a fiscal surplus by 2020 October 3, 2016 Chancellor Philip Hammond has warned against complacency in the aftermath of Brexit, despite acknowledging better than expected performance. Speaking at the Conservative party conference today, Hammond scrapped his predecessor George Osborne’s goal of a fiscal surplus by 2020, but maintained fiscal consolidation would continue. Hammond said he would lay out his own plans in detail [...]
UK missing out on billions as small firms fail to take sales overseas October 3, 2016 The UK is missing out on billions because SMEs are not fulfilling their exporting potential, research out today has found. Less than a fifth of SMEs presently export compared with over 40 per cent of large businesses, resulting in £141bn in missed revenue, according to the report commissioned by World First and carried out by the Centre for Economics [...]