Fifty years on from the first moon landing, it’s time to get ready for space tourism July 9, 2019 Next time someone asks if you are going anywhere nice on holiday, perhaps soon you can say Mars or Venus rather than Mallorca or Ibiza. It has been 50 years since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin touched Apollo 11 down on the moon, and now famous billionaires are backing different projects to make space a [...]
Acacia production bounces after shareholder opposes Barrick takeover July 8, 2019 Acacia Mining saw a bounce in production last quarter, the company said this morning, as a takeover battle for the gold firm heated up. Acacia, which mines in Tanzania, said that production shot up by 51 per cent compared to the three months prior. Read more: Shareholder Barrick ‘undermined’ our efforts to negotiate $190bn tax [...]
How the US shale revolution changed the face of geopolitics July 8, 2019 In theory, we all know that major technical revolutions change and fundamentally disrupt the face of the world we live in. In practice, analysts of all stripes are too often glacially slow to realise this process when it is at work, let alone what it means. These events (such as the advent of the mass-produced [...]
London equity capital markets remain resilient despite uncertainties July 8, 2019 London remained a bright spot for equity capital markets as investors shrugged off economic and political uncertainties in the first half of this year. Total funds raised in the UK in the first half of this year reached £19.2bn, up from 22 per cent in the second half of 2018. Read more: Private equity investment [...]
UK must prepare for a ‘low growth economy’ as Brexit uncertainty plagues business investment July 8, 2019 Investment in British business is set to suffer in 2019 as prolonged uncertainty surrounding Brexit tightens its grip on the willingness to commit to major projects, a leading forecaster has said. EY’s Item Club, which uses the Treasury’s model of the UK economy, says that business investment will contract 1.6 per cent – a decline [...]
Greensill denies reports of false statement over bonds sold by steel tycoon Gupta July 7, 2019 Financing group Greensill Capital has denied reports that it issued a false statement to the market relating to bonds it sold on behalf of steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta. According to a Reuters report, Greensill last year issued a statement to bond market investors and brokers stating it had received Scottish government approval relating to a [...]
Labour will split up Treasury and move half north, vows John McDonnell July 7, 2019 John McDonnell would break up the Treasury and move a large chunk of it to the north of England if Labour came to power, the shadow chancellor confirmed today. Read more: John McDonnell dismisses claims of civil war at top of Labour He said on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show that locating decision-makers and administrators [...]
US stock markets open down on interest rate worries July 5, 2019 US stock markets opened in the red after stronger-than-expected jobs figures cast doubt on expectations of an interest rate rise this month. Read more: Fed rate cuts in question as US job gains defy expectations Non-farm payroll data showed the US economy added 224,000 jobs in June. Economists had expected 160,000 new jobs. Before the [...]
Fed rate cuts in question as US job gains defy expectations July 5, 2019 The US economy defied expectations and added 224,000 jobs in June, according to official figures, after adding just 75,000 in May. Read more: Global stock markets rise after positive noises from US economy The rise in the non-farm payroll was significantly higher than the 160,000 figure economists had predicted. But the unemployment rate ticked up [...]
UK productivity drops for third quarter in a row as crisis continues July 5, 2019 UK productivity fell for the third successive quarter in the first three months of the year, according to official figures released today, as Britain’s productivity crisis rumbled on. Read more: Urgent action needed to tackle stagnating productivity, economists warn Labour productivity – output per hour worked – fell by 0.2 per cent year on year [...]