US election: Stocks jump and FTSE 100 climbs amid rush into big tech November 5, 2020 Wall Street stocks jumped again and the FTSE 100 rose as investors snapped up big tech and sold government bonds and the dollar in response to the ongoing US presidential election. Prior to the election, investors had bet that a strong Joe Biden victory would lead to a big stimulus package that would encourage growth. [...]
Bank of England goes big with £150bn stimulus amid second lockdown November 5, 2020 The Bank of England will inject £150bn more stimulus into the UK economy to help it handle a new England-wide lockdown, and predicted that growth would go into reverse in the final three months of the year. The big increase in bond-buying – which came as the BoE left interest rates untouched at 0.1 per [...]
Bank of England to ‘look into’ suspected leak of stimulus decision November 5, 2020 The Bank of England will “look into” a suspected leak of its monetary policy decision to The Sun newspaper, which correctly reported its decision to pump £150bn into the economy before the BoE officially announced the position. There is no suggestion that The Sun acted improperly in its reporting of the story, which also said [...]
CBI predicts fourth-quarter contraction and urges long-term thinking November 5, 2020 The UK economy is likely to contract in the final three months of the year as the government’s new England-wide lockdown – put in place to slow coronavirus cases – hits businesses hard, the CBI has said. Britain’s economy faces a “bleak midwinter,” CBI chief economist Rain Newton-Smith told journalists. It came as the leading [...]
Separatist Scots beware: A new Scottish currency would be catastrophic November 5, 2020 Some 12 out of the last 15 opinion polls on Scottish secession have shown majority support for splitting up the United Kingdom. During a period of unprecedented crisis, Scots have chosen to rally round the flag — only this time the flag is that of Scotland, not the UK. However, while polling numbers may be unnerving [...]
FTSE 100 closes higher and US stocks jump amid election uncertainty November 4, 2020 The FTSE 100 closed on a high and US stocks shot up as traders sought out the safety of recent corporate success stories in the face of a knife-edge presidential election. Wall Street’s major indices all opened higher as the race for the White House went down to the wire, despite investors remaining worried about [...]
Eyes turn to the Federal Reserve as markets await US election result November 4, 2020 As markets nervously awaited the results of today’s chaotic presidential election, investors’ eyes turned to the US Federal Reserve’s meeting tomorrow. Traders were digesting the state of play so far, and seemed to think that the most likely outcome is a president who doesn’t have control of congress. It comes after President Donald Trump fared [...]
BoE brings forward rate decision ahead of Sunak’s statement on Covid support November 4, 2020 The Bank of England (BoE) has moved the announcement of its November interest rates decision forward to avoid it clashing with a statement on Covid-19 support from the chancellor. The Bank moved the announcement after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Rishi Sunak would make a statement on the government’s coronavirus support measures to Parliament at [...]
Oil prices jump as Trump declares victory prematurely November 4, 2020 Oil prices jumped this morning after President Donald Trump falsely claimed to have won the US election with millions of ballots still to be counted. Global standard Brent crude jumped two per cent to trade at $40.50 in the aftermath of Trump’s speech this morning. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate also climbed by the same [...]
‘Markets got what they really did not want’: The City reacts to knife-edge US election November 4, 2020 Investors didn’t want this to happen. They had bet on a Joe Biden win in the US presidential election that they hoped would unleash a big stimulus, but found themselves rapidly adjusting their positions as the race became too close to call. Bonds and the dollar rose as investors sought safety. US stocks were volatile, [...]