British Chambers of Commerce slashes UK 2020 growth prediction June 17, 2019 The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has today slashed its prediction for growth in the UK economy in 2020, blaming a slump in business investment and the unwinding of Brexit stockpiling. Read more: Pound falls as UK economy shrinks 0.4 per cent in April Growth in 2020 is now expected to be just one per [...]
Shanghai-London stock market connection finally launched June 17, 2019 The long-awaited London-Shanghai Stock Connect that links the two markets has been launched today, letting UK and Chinese companies sell shares on each others’ stock markets in a pioneering scheme. Read more: HSBC confirms it is exploring Chinese listing via new London-Shanghai link It marks the first time any foreign company will be able to [...]
Hargreaves Lansdown raised concerns about suspended Woodford fund as early as 2017 June 16, 2019 Hargreaves Lansdown raised concerns about the performance of the Woodford Equity Income Fund more than two years ago, but continued to recommend it to its customers. The investment adviser was also selling millions of pounds in stock in the fund, according to analysis by the Sunday Times. The Woodford Equity Income fund was frozen earlier [...]
SFO drops probe into how it handled ENRC investigation June 16, 2019 The Serious Fraud Office is dropping an inquiry into its handling of an investigation into former London-listed miner ENRC. Sir David Calvert-Smith has been asked to abandon his work after being appointed to head the independent inquiry last year, the Sunday Times reported. The SFO dropped the inquiry after ENRC decided to sue it for [...]
Jeremy Hunt slams Corbyn’s ‘pathetic’ response to oil tanker attack blamed on Iran June 15, 2019 The foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has branded Jeremy Corbyn “pathetic” after the Labour leader said there was no credible evidence that Iran attacked two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman. Corbyn accused the government of increasing the threat of war after the foreign office said it was “almost certain” the Iranian military were behind [...]
London Metal Exchange introduces alcohol ban on trading floor June 14, 2019 The London Metal Exchange (LME) has introduced an alcohol ban on its trading floor in the latest move to overhaul its workplace culture. Staff working on the trading floor, or the “Ring”, will be banned from being under the influence of alcohol while at work. Traders set global prices for metals at the 142-year-old exchange. [...]
EU officials fail to make significant progress on Eurozone budget size and funding June 14, 2019 Eurozone finance ministers have failed to make significant progress in their bid to establish a budget for the 19 countries using the euro currency during a meeting which ended today. Chairman Mario Centeno said that there had been some positive outcome, but insisted there was still a lot of work to do following the meeting, [...]
Gulf of Oman oil tanker attack: US says video shows Iran removing unexploded mine June 14, 2019 The US military has released footage which it says shows Iran’s Revolutionary Guard removing an unexploded mine from an oil tanker that was targeted in an attack in the Gulf of Oman. In a statement the US said Iranian forces were “observed and recorded removing the unexploded limpet mine from the M/T Kokuka Courageous”. Read [...]
Why the world economy is like a wobbly bike June 14, 2019 | City Talk Three months ago we said “the easing in US-China trade tensions, more flexible central banks and the benefits of lower oil prices should stabilise activity later this year and support an upgrade in our global growth forecast for 2020”. However, two of those supports have now fallen away and we are more reliant on looser [...]
Treasury Committee launches inquiry into regional inequality June 14, 2019 The Treasury Select Committee (TSC) has today launched a new inquiry into economic imbalances between the regions of the UK, it said. Read more: Pound falls as UK economy shrinks by 0.4 per cent in April The Committee raised the prospect of the government producing economic forecasts for each region of the country. Currently the [...]