Lots of shopping stopped the economy from dropping… maybe May 19, 2016 Brits did not let poor weather, referendum nerves or weak confidence stop them from hitting the shops last month. Retail sales volumes were 4.3 per cent higher in April than last year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as falling prices brought shoppers out in their droves. Over the month, sales were up [...]
UK bank shares climb following Fed hike speculation May 19, 2016 Bulls piled into UK banks this morning as the Remain camp took a boost in the polls and the US Federal Reserve signalled it could hike interest rates next month. Equites across the board tumbled – a standard reaction to signals of tighter monetary policy – sending the FTSE 100 down by 1.5 per cent [...]
Alistair Darling and Michael Howard clash over Brexit campaign at CBI dinner May 18, 2016 Two grandees of the Leave and Remain campaigns dramatically crossed swords last night, when a former chancellor and former home secretary clashed over the ramifications of the referendum vote at the CBI's annual dinner. The glitzy black tie event, hosted at Grosvenor House on Park Lane, saw Labour peer Alistair Darling and Tory peer Michael Howard [...]
US Federal Reserve signals rate hike “likely” in June May 18, 2016 The Federal Reserve is likely to give US interest rates another hike next month, according to the minutes of its latest policy meeting published this evening. Unless the economy is blown off course, American ratesetters are gearing up to raise interest rates for only the second time since the financial crisis when they next meet [...]
Pay growth remains subdued across manufacturing, warns industry body EEF May 18, 2016 Average pay settlements across manufacturing have been subdued since the start of the year, stuck under two per cent. In the second major wage bargaining round of the year pay deals have averaged 1.7 per cent, according to EEF’s latest Pay Bulletin Survey. But it's not just manufacturing that's feeling the pinch. A separate report [...]
199 problems and a glitch is one: NYSE is having technical problems May 18, 2016 The New York Stock Exchange suffered a technical glitch in early trading on Wednesday resulting in trades for nearly 200 ticker symbols being cancelled. The unspecified glitch first occurred at 9.27am in New York. Things were back up and running by 10.09am, however the latest update at 10.26am indicated the problem had returned. Nearly an hour [...]
Eurozone deflates: Prices going down, again, but maybe not for long May 18, 2016 The Eurozone fell back into deflation in April, as prices dropped by 0.2 per cent over the year, official statistics out yesterday showed. Falling transport and energy costs pushed the headline rate of inflation down from zero in March. It marks the second month of deflation this year for the Eurozone after oil price volatility [...]
S&P warns Brexit could sap investment in UK infrastructure May 18, 2016 The majority of infrastructure investors in the UK market believe that a Brexit would zap much-needed investment in buildings, roads and power supplies for at least two years after the vote. Research by credit ratings agency S&P showed that while Britain's exit from the 28-nation bloc could cripple infrastructure investment in the short-term, capital would return once [...]
Entre-perp-neurs? Turning prisoners into entrepreneurs could save the UK economy a billion pounds May 18, 2016 Training prisoners to become entrepreneurs could save the nation more than a billion pounds and reduce the likelihood of reoffending, a new report claims. Introducing entrepreneur training for offenders and providing funding for schemes could save £1.4bn from the government's annual £4.5bn reoffending bill. Entrepreneurship could be the answer to the significant barriers former inmates face when [...]
Japan avoids recession in first quarter, but more stimulus from the Bank of Japan is still on the way May 18, 2016 Japan posted a bumper set of growth figures in the first quarter of the year to beat analysts’ expectations and avoid dipping into recession. The economy grew 0.4 per cent in the first quarter – 1.7 per cent on an annualised basis – bouncing back from a 0.4 per cent contraction in the final three [...]