The inflation target is just the start for the next ECB president May 30, 2019 With the EU elections out of the way, the horse-trading over a host of top EU jobs, including who replaces Mario Draghi as president of the European Central Bank (ECB), will ratchet up. By the European Council meeting on 20-21 June, a successor to Draghi should become clear. The new president’s most urgent task is [...]
Keep your wits about you, it’s not easy to navigate this tyrannical political jungle May 30, 2019 Any country that forced its citizens to spend over 40 per cent of their time working for those in power would be roundly condemned as a slave state and the most appalling tyranny. Yet this is the effective reality in Britain. Just over two fifths – 40.94 per cent – of everything the nation earns is [...]
Urgent action needed to tackle stagnating productivity, top economists warn May 30, 2019 The UK and other rich countries must take urgent action on multiple fronts to tackle the productivity slowdown that is undermining growth and preventing living standards from improving, Oxford University economists have today warned. Read more: UK productivity falls for second consecutive quarter Despite rapid technological change, productivity growth in nearly all of the world’s [...]
Britain’s tax bill at its highest since 1955 in comparison to earnings May 30, 2019 Tory heavyweights have taken aim at high taxes in the UK to mark what a think tank has dubbed Tax Freedom Day, a measure of when Brits stop paying tax and start pocketing their earnings. The Adam Smith Institute has estimated that every penny the average person earned for working up to and including 29 [...]
FTSE 100 and US stock markets drop as Chinese trade war concerns weigh on investors May 29, 2019 The FTSE 100 fell 1.2 per cent today amid signs of an escalation in the China-US trade war along with growing concerns over a no-deal Brexit. All 10 blue-chip indices were in the red after China warned Beijing was ready to use its control over rare earths to his back at the US in their [...]
No Bucs: US football team lose damages case against BP for Deepwater Horizon spill May 29, 2019 An American football team which tried to claim damages over the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill has been rejected in a US court. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had sued BP for $19.5m (£15.5m) over lost revenues it claimed resulted from the 2010 spill. Read more: Greenpeace protesters blockade BP headquarters However, the US Circuit Court [...]
China rare earth metals warning sparks market selloff May 29, 2019 | City Talk Again we see how the market is moving around on US-China news flow that is hard to lock down. China’s threats to stop rare earth exports is clearly a bargaining chip, if not exactly a trump card, but one the market is starting to really take seriously. We’ve not heard this much about rare [...]
General Atlantic to sell half its stake in £2bn oil data group Argus Media May 29, 2019 Growth equity fund General Atlantic (GA) is set to sell half its stake in oil data group Argus Media in a deal that will value the firm at roughly £2bn. City A.M. understands GA, which bought a 50 per cent stake in Argus three years ago for around £1bn, is in advanced talks with long-term [...]
ECB warns low growth could see Eurozone asset prices fall and borrowing costs rise May 29, 2019 Weak economic growth could cause euro area asset prices to fall and borrowing costs for indebted countries to rise, the European Central Bank (ECB) has today warned, posing a major threat to the zone’s financial stability. Read more: Eurozone sees weak growth in May amid stagnant demand The ECB’s May financial stability report comes during [...]
Oil prices fall two per cent on fears of escalating US-China trade war May 29, 2019 Oil prices fell this morning, losing around two per cent of their value and dipping below the $70 per barrel line as worries over the US-China trade war spooked investors. International standard Brent Crude dropped around two per cent to $68.74 at just before midday after reaching day-lows of $68.47 per cent earlier. Read more: [...]