Nonfarm payrolls: US unemployment soars as 21m Americans lose jobs May 8, 2020 More than 20m Americans lost their jobs in April, official “nonfarm payrolls” data has shown, as the world’s largest economy was battered by coronavirus and the lockdowns put in place to stop it spreading. The 20.5m job losses sent the unemployment rate soaring to 14.7 per cent, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said, [...]
Sajid Javid: UK should run the economy ‘hot’ and support lenders May 8, 2020 Former chancellor Sajid Javid has said the government should “run the economy hot” and lift coronavirus restrictions to encourage growth. He also suggested “bad banks” could be created to help the UK’s lenders which are set to struggle with bad loans as coronavirus crashes the economy. Javid’s intervention came after the Bank of England yesterday [...]
UK lockdown: Consumer confidence remains ‘severely depressed’ May 8, 2020 Consumer confidence in the UK’s lockdown economy remained “severely depressed” at the end of April, although research indicated there could be some pent up consumer demand when restrictions lift. GfK’s consumer confidence index was at minus 33 at the end of April, a one-point increase on the previous score. However, consumer confidence has plummeted 20 [...]
Oil prices jump amid signs of rising demand May 7, 2020 Oil prices jumped today as a combination of an unexpected rise in Chinese exports and cuts by US producers helped extend a week of gains. By the mid-afternoon, worldwide standard Brent crude rose a further 5.7 per cent to cement its position above $31. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) leapt 8.9 per cent to [...]
FTSE 100 and US stocks rise despite more dire economic warnings May 7, 2020 US stocks have joined the FTSE 100 in positive territory as investors bet on a relatively speedy economic recovery from coronavirus despite yet more dire economic predictions. London’s blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up 1.4 per cent at 5,933 points in afternoon trading. This was despite the Bank of England warning of the worst slump [...]
Health and wealth: ‘fit-tech’ steps up the pace May 7, 2020 | City Talk Fitness is far from an obvious winner from government instructions to ‘stay home’. Gyms are firmly closed. People making the most of the ‘one form of exercise’ allowed by the government are the only people in parks. In these inauspicious circumstances, though, there is heightened awareness of personal fitness. In the early days of lockdown, [...]
US jobless claims hit 33m since start of coronavirus lockdown May 7, 2020 US jobless claims now stand at 33m since the American economy entered coronavirus lockdown, new figures released today reveal. The Bureau of Labor statistics show another 3.2m US citizens registered jobless claims over the last week. That is a drop from 3.8m the previous week but the number is still jaw-dropping. It means so-called initial [...]
UK firms face ‘Darwinian culling’, warns ad mogul Martin Sorrell May 7, 2020 Scores of British companies face being wiped out in a “Darwinian culling” caused by the coronavirus crisis, advertising veteran Sir Martin Sorrell has warned. In a bleak prediction of the UK’s economic outlook, Sorrell said the country was “dramatically underprepared” for the pandemic and only the strongest firms would survive. “You feel it in the [...]
UK economy: Is the Bank of England’s 2021 rebound scenario too optimistic? May 7, 2020 The Bank of England today said the UK economy could suffer its worst economic crash in 300 years this year as the coronavirus lockdown batters the economy. Yet it said it is likely to bounce back relatively quickly. Despite the dire report it stopped short of launching more bond-buying or “quantitative easing” (QE) and left [...]
Bank of England: UK economy could suffer biggest crash in 300 years May 7, 2020 The UK economy is likely to shrink by an enormous 14 per cent in 2020 in its worst crash in 300 years amid the coronavirus pandemic before rebounding strongly in 2021, the Bank of England has said as it kept interest rates on hold at their current record-low levels. The Bank said it expected the [...]