Rare earth miner Pensana inks deal with Chinese firm for Angola project July 20, 2020 Rare earth metals firm Pensana has today announced that it is exploring a partnership with China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) to develop its flagship mine in Angola. The project, at Longonjo in the southern African country, is the first new rare earth mine in over a decade. The mine, which is slated to start [...]
Johanna Kyrklund: Are markets paying enough attention? July 20, 2020 | City Talk Like home-schooled children during the Covid crisis, markets seem to be struggling to pay attention for long. For parents, one of the most difficult parts of lockdown has been home-schooling their children. My social media feed has been full of people tearing their hair out as long-forgotten concepts such as subordinate clauses or trigonometry have [...]
FTSE 100 falls as rising coronavirus cases dent optimism July 20, 2020 The FTSE 100 slipped in morning trading as investors weighed rising coronavirus cases in the US and Hong Kong against hopes that a vaccine may soon be found. London’s main stock index dropped 0.7 per cent to 6,246 points. The FTSE 250 index of slightly smaller companies fell 0.2 per cent. Germany’s Dax rose 0.4 [...]
Financial pressure on UK households eases but pessimism sets in July 20, 2020 Britons’ views of their financial situation continued to improve in July after deteriorating at a record pace in April, figures have shown, but households became more pessimistic about the future. IHS Markit’s household finance index rose to 41.5 in July from 40.7 in June. That was above the long-term average but still lower than the [...]
EU leaders make progress in €750bn coronavirus fund talks July 20, 2020 European leaders edged close to agreeing to the terms of a €750bn coronavirus bailout fund this morning after the “frugal four” governments signalled they were willing to compromise. Negotiations ended in the small hours of the morning after the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden were satisfied with €390bn of the emergency fund being made available [...]
Time for the UK to recognise the prospect of an independent Scotland July 20, 2020 The debate on Scotland’s future is changing. Opinion polls have begun showing majority support for independence. The two most recent polls have put the “Yes” vote at 54 per cent, nearly a full inversion of the 2014 referendum result. Brexit has been the main driver of this shift. The Scottish electorate consistently rejected leaving the [...]
Coronavirus: EU leaders struggle to make progress on €750bn fund plan July 19, 2020 EU leaders are still trying to reach an agreement on a proposed €750bn (£680bn) coronavirus emergency fund, with the acrimonious talks yielding little on the first two days of the Brussels summit. Talks are deadlocked on the summit’s third day, with the more fiscally conservative EU countries – such as the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and [...]
Andrew Bailey says an uneven economic recovery has begun July 17, 2020 Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has said the UK economy is starting to recover from April’s lockdown, although he stressed that the rebound had been uneven so far. Bailey said activity was resuming “quite strongly” in the housing and car markets. But he said the hospitality and entertainment sectors were still struggling. His comments [...]
Boris Johnson: Social distancing may end in November July 17, 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said social distancing could be scrapped by November as the government tries to move the country back to “significant normality” before Christmas. “It is my strong and sincere hope that we will be able to review the outstanding restrictions and allow a more significant return to normality from November at [...]
FTSE 100 inches up as EU begins €750bn fund discussion July 17, 2020 The FTSE 100 eked out a minor rise today, staying just about in the green to post a 0.11 per cent gain by 10.45am. European stocks were mixed as traders witnessed a nervy start to a crucial meeting of the EU to agree on a €750bn package, and whether it should be mainly given out [...]