Oil prices continue gains on signs demand starting to pick up April 30, 2020 Oil prices continued to pick up gains this morning due to the combination of signs that crude stocks are not growing as quickly as expected and that demand is slowly starting to pick up. After impressive gains yesterday, US standard West Texas Intermediate increased another 15 per cent to $17.22, buoyed by a smaller than [...]
Shell cuts dividend as earnings halve in first quarter April 30, 2020 Oil giant Shell today reduced its dividend by 66 per cent after earnings fell by 46 per cent in the first quarter due to the coronavirus crisis. The decision to reduce the dividend is the first time the firm has done so since World War Two, and means it has relinquished its position as the [...]
Interactive Investor revenue jumps 61 per cent as it doubles number of customers April 30, 2020 Interactive Investor has doubled the number of new customers in the first-quarter, pushing net revenue up 61 per cent. The online investment platform reported net revenue of £31.1m for the first-quarter, up from £19.3m in the same period last year. Profit before tax grew 55 per cent from £5.8m to £9m. The strong figures are [...]
Tory MP calls on government to extend job retention scheme April 29, 2020 A Conservative London MP has called on the government to extend the job retention scheme that pays “furloughed” workers’ wages to help businesses hit by a plunge in international visitors. Nickie Aiken, MP for Cities of London and Westminster, and the Association of International Retail have written to chancellor Rishi Sunak to say that businesses [...]
FTSE 100 jumps as Gilead reports positive data on coronavirus drug trial April 29, 2020 The FTSE 100 closed at its highest in seven weeks after drugmaker Gilead reported positive results from its trials for a coronavirus drug. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose 2.13 per cent higher to finish at 6,085 points, the first time it has surpassed the 6,000 mark since 11 March. Read more: FTSE 100 jumps [...]
Oil prices rise on better-than-feared US stockpile data April 29, 2020 Oil prices jumped today after US stockpiles rose less than feared and petrol stocks fell. Oil was also buoyed by hopes demand would increase as some European countries and US states moved towards an easing of lockdown rules. West Text Intermediate crude prices rose 35 per cent to $16.66 a barrel this afternoon. Brent Crude [...]
Global stocks jump on coronavirus drug hopes April 29, 2020 US stocks have risen sharply at the open and European stocks have turned higher after Gilead said it had seen positive signs from its experimental coronavirus drug remdesivir. Markets climbed despite the sharpest fall in US GDP since the financial crisis. The US’s Dow Jones index was up 1.8 per cent while the S&P 500 [...]
US economy shrinks at fastest pace since financial crisis April 29, 2020 The US economy shrank at its fastest rate since the financial crisis in the first three months of the year as coronavirus hammered the country, figures have shown, although analysts warned worse is yet to come. US GDP shrank at an annualised rate of 4.8 per cent in the January to March period, the Bureau [...]
A new economic era beckons after this crisis April 29, 2020 | City Talk Current events likely mark a turning point in economic policy and the end of a 40-year spell of free market capitalism. Nobody can know how long the Covid-19 crisis will last, but I think that regardless of this it will mark a profound long-term change in economic policy. It is likely a turning point in [...]
Martin Gilbert: Coronavirus ‘multiple times worse’ than Black Monday for City April 29, 2020 Veteran asset manager Martin Gilbert has warned the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic will be “the most dramatic we’ve seen since the 1930s” as he warned of “a long, slow recovery” for certain sectors of the economy. Speaking to The City View podcast today, Gilbert said that though Black Monday in 1987 was a [...]