Coronavirus could drag UK to recession worse than 2008 financial crash March 23, 2020 The coronavirus outbreak could drag the UK into a recession even more severe than the financial crash of 2008, according to new forecasts published today. The UK economy is expected to contract 2.6 per cent this year assuming the pandemic can be contained by the summer, according to KPMG’s latest quarterly economic outlook. However, a [...]
Wall Street suffers worst week since 2008 as US imposes coronavirus restrictions March 21, 2020 Wall Street saw further losses on Friday to continue the recent rout as it suffered its worst week since the financial crisis of 2008. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes were down more than four per cent on Friday despite making gains earlier on. All three major indexes registered their biggest weekly declines since [...]
GBP / EUR update March 20, 2020 | City Talk As everywhere across the world, everything in the UK has been accelerating at pace and the pound has paid the price. Whilst not always at the bottom of the pile, sterling has been struggling and hit a 35-year low against the US dollar. Measures to address all aspects of the crisis were well-received by investors [...]
FTSE 100 climbs as global markets rally on unprecedented stimulus measures March 20, 2020 The FTSE 100 has climbed back into the green as investors eyed a fresh wave of government support for companies coming under financial strain due to the coronavirus pandemic. The blue chip index added over five per cent just after the open but then pared back gains to stand at just over one per cent [...]
Oil prices rally above $30 – but fail to hold onto gains March 20, 2020 Oil prices rallied today following a torrid week due to the outbreak of coronavirus and the fallout of a huge price war. The price of Brent Crude opened just over $30 a barrel this morning after falling to $26 yesterday. But it then slipped back almost two per cent to $27.92. World Texas Intermediate (WTI) [...]
Coronavirus: US stocks lift on stimulus measures despite Europe turmoil March 20, 2020 US stocks lifted slightly on the open this afternoon as traders reacted to massive amounts of government stimulus aimed at containing the coronavirus crisis. The S&P 500 dipped 0.5 per cent before rising just 0.1 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.3 per cent. The Dow Jones posted a 0.5 per cent rise shortly [...]
Chancellor Rishi Sunak to announce wage bailout plan March 20, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak is set to announce a massive wage bailout package today to battle the UK coronavirus outbreak. Business groups yesterday pressed the government to step in to help pay workers’ wages. They want protection for millions of jobs as the number of UK coronavirus cases spiked again. Britain’s death toll from coronavirus reached [...]
Bank of England cancels stress tests over coronavirus March 20, 2020 The Bank of England has cancelled this year’s stress test of major banks in Britain, saying it could be hard to implement new global capital rules while lenders are focused on supporting customer lending amid the coronavirus pandemic. The central bank’s decision to scrap the test of the UK’s eight top banks comes after the [...]
Coronavirus to spark “severe” global recession March 20, 2020 | City Talk The coronavirus is having a severe effect on global economic activity and amidst considerable uncertainty we have attempted to gauge the impact and updated our forecasts. We now expect to see the world economy contract this year by 3.1%, before rebounding by 7.2% in 2021. The forecast incorporates a severe recession in the first half [...]
Investec warns on profits as it navigates ‘challenging’ market March 20, 2020 Investec has warned of a fall in profit as it navigates “challenging market conditions”, exacerbated by the coronavirus outbreak. The specialist bank said operating profit for the year to 31 March 2020 is expected to be 7 to 14 per cent behind the previous year, while adjusted earnings per share would be down between 16 [...]