Time Out’s share price flops on London market debut June 14, 2016 Time Out Group, the 48-year-old city guide publisher turned food market owner, is not having the best start to its life as listed company. Shares fell as low as 133p, more than 10 per cent below its 150p flotation price, this morning. There was a slight up-lift directly after the open but it could not be [...]
Muted demand for extra sterling in Bank of England special auction June 14, 2016 UK lenders tapped up the Bank of England for an extra £2.5bn worth of cash in the first of a series of extra liquidity auctions ahead of the EU referendum. Threadneedle Street has added three extra rounds to its monthly bout of asset-swapping with UK banks, where it lets them get their hands on currency reserves [...]
German borrowing cost turn negative for the first ever time as investors rush to safety June 14, 2016 The latest key milestone in the new low interest rate era was breached this morning. After months of precipitous declines, yields on the German 10-year bund turned negative in the first few hours of today's trading, hitting minus 0.03 per cent, before settling at minus 0.02 per cent. That means investors are paying the German government to take [...]
European Court of Justice: UK should not have to pay EU migrants family benefits June 14, 2016 One of Europe's highest courts has backed the UK in a case brought against it over welfare benefits for EU migrants. In a judgment today, the European Court of Justice said the UK's "right to reside" test for certain family benefits was legitimate, after the European Commission brought a case against it arguing that it [...]
Inflation holds steady for another month but economists expect movement after 23 June – whatever the result June 14, 2016 Inflation remained stuck near record lows in May as cheaper clothes, food and entertainment offset the effects of rising fuel costs. Prices went up by 0.3 per cent over the year, as measured on the consumer prices index (CPI), according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) this morning. That was unchanged from [...]
FTSE 100 drops below 6,000 to new three-month low on Brexit fears June 14, 2016 The FTSE 100 crashed below 6,000 points this morning as investors fled from risky assets in the run up to the EU referendum. The benchmark London index sank 1.3 per cent in the first 90 minutes of trading to stand at 5,967, below the key 6,000 barrier last breached in February. Already at a three-month low, [...]
Oil falls back below $50 as global growth fears weigh June 14, 2016 Oil tumbled today as global growth fears cast a dark cloud over signs that the embattled market could be starting to recover. Brent crude, the global benchmark, slumped 1.30 per cent to $49.70 per barrel, dropping for the fourth consecutive day. Meanwhile, the US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate crude, shed 1.40 per cent to $48.20. Read more: 120,000 UK jobs lost [...]
The Fed’s dangerous monetary experiments will continue whoever wins the US election June 14, 2016 The Federal Open Market Committee will be gathering in earnest today, but this hotly-anticipated event now looks like a damp squib after Janet Yellen all but ruled out an immediate rate rise last week. No doubt Fed watchers will revive their usual excitement and frenzy in the coming months, but a potential 0.25 per cent rise [...]
How the Treasury’s dodgy dossiers grossly exaggerated the economic impact of Brexit June 14, 2016 With just over a week to go before Britain votes, the Remain campaign is relying heavily on analysis produced by the Treasury which claims a variety of extremely negative impacts in both the short and the long term from the UK leaving the EU. Having reviewed the two models used by the Treasury, however, it [...]
The Sun backs Brexit, asks its readers to “beLEAVE in Britain” June 13, 2016 In a major blow to Prime Minister David Cameron, The Sun has come out in favour of Brexit in the upcoming EU referendum. The newspaper's front page on Tuesday carries an editorial backing the Leave campaign: “We urge our readers to beLEAVE in Britain and vote to quit the EU on June 23”. The influential [...]