Sunak repeats tax cuts pledge despite playing down low-tax Chancellor image March 28, 2022 Rishi Sunak today reiterated his commitment to cutting taxes in the future, despite playing down claims he has styled himself as a low-tax Chancellor. Responding to a grilling by MPs on the cross-party Treasury Select Committee, Sunak said his “priority at this point forward is to keep cutting taxes, not to increase public spending”. However, [...]
Spotting an opportunity: Nigeria exploits anti-Moscow sentiment as oil giant offers to replace Russian gas in UK and Europe March 28, 2022 Nigeria has said it is ready and prepared to provide the UK and Europe with much more gas than it currently does in order to offer an alternative to Russian gas, according to a government minister. Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, told various media cross Africa his country is ready to [...]
Enough already: Worn out Zelensky says he is ready to offer security guarantees to Putin and declare Ukraine ‘neutral’ March 28, 2022 Ukraine would consider declaring neutrality and offering security guarantees to Russia, including keeping Ukraine nuclear-free, the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. He told independent Russian journalists on Sunday that the issue of neutrality – and agreeing to stay out of Nato – should be put to Ukrainian voters in a referendum after Russian troops [...]
Brits’ inflation expectations scale to record high March 28, 2022 Britons’ expectations of where inflation will land in a decade has climbed to the highest level ever, reveals a closely watched survey published today. Households think the rate of price rises will still be more than double the Bank of England’s two per cent target in 10 years’ time, running at 4.4 per cent, according [...]
1 Minute Market Rundown – 28th March 2022 March 28, 2022 | City Talk Russia – UkraineBanks predict a more aggressive FEDCrypto looks to break out…finally Markets currently have two themes. The first is the bond market which continues to trade as if it’s on the receiving end of a slap from Will Smith. Yields relentlessly push higher as the market continues to reprice an even more hawkish FED. [...]
Govt reduces stake in NatWest to less than 50 per cent as Treasury sells £1.2bn of shares March 28, 2022 The Government has ceded its control of banking group NatWest Group for the first time since the bank – then known as Royal Bank of Scotland Group – was rescued by the Treasury during the financial crisis. The Treasury has sold off more than £1.2bn worth of shares, taking its stake to less than 50 [...]
Soaring energy bills to drag on UK economy, new forecasts reveal March 28, 2022 Swelling energy bills are set to drag on the UK economy this year by sending a chill through household spending, reveals new research published today. Household energy bills will almost double in October even after rebates are handed out, according to new forecasts published by the EY Item Club today. The downbeat assessment adds to [...]
Bank of England should use Russian reserves to repair Ukraine economy March 27, 2022 The Bank of England should use the Russian central bank’s frozen reserves held at Threadneedle Street to help rebuild the Ukrainian economy. That’s according to the head of Ukraine’s central bank who today urged governor Andrew Bailey and co to allocate the around £21bn of sanctioned assets to repairing the damage inflicted on Ukraine’s cities [...]
Week ahead: City eyes fresh borrowing figures for signs of spending slowdown March 27, 2022 Investors will be keeping a close eye on fresh economic data this week for further signs of the cost of living crunch hitting spending. A flurry of downbeat economic announcements and data last week did not derail the capital’s premier FTSE 100 index, which added over one per cent to reach 7,483.35 points by the [...]
Sunday Spotlight: Less than 0.0007 per cent of all UK companies grew revenue at 20 per cent or more since 2017 March 27, 2022 Just 175, or approximately 0.0007 per cent of all UK companies have managed to grow their revenue by 20 per cent or more in each of the last five years, according to new research shared with City A.M. today. The findings show the difficulties in producing fast-growing companies that can maintain significant growth rates over [...]