ECB turns to emergency bonds and ultra-cheap loans to control financial costs November 12, 2020 The ECB will use its emergency bond-buying and ultra-cheap loans to banks as the primary instruments to control financing costs, European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde told the ECB’s annual forum on central banking this evening. The EU heavyweight said financing costs for governments, households and businesses in the eurozone will stay “exceptionally favourable” until [...]
Exclusive: Government’s widely-mocked careers quiz cost UK taxpayer £1.7m November 12, 2020 The government’s much-mocked jobs quiz that suggested people retrain as boxers, cinema projectionists and lock keepers cost the UK taxpayer almost £1.7m, City A.M. can reveal. The Discover Your Skills and Careers tool launched last year, but saw renewed interest last month after chancellor Rishi Sunak warned that Britain’s jobs market needed to “adapt and [...]
Home meal kits can help save hospitality now – and will be here long after Covid November 12, 2020 The hospitality industry has always had to adapt and move with the times. We’ve seen cycles of gastropubs, fine dining restaurants with white table clothes, American diners, with each generation of new chefs tweaking and perfecting the formula. But while these are trends driven by changing fashions, Covid means the industry must innovate to survive. [...]
Parthe-nope: Travel corridors opened to eight countries but Greece removed November 12, 2020 A raft of new countries have been added to the UK’s travel corridor list, meaning people will not have to self isolate upon returning from them. Iceland, Chile, Cambodia, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Laos, and Turks and Caicos have all been added to the quarantine free travel list. Those arriving from the countries from Saturday [...]
Deloitte defends £38.8m test and trace reward November 12, 2020 Management consultancy Deloitte has defended earning £38.8m for services relating to the government’s coronavirus ‘test and trace’ system. The audit and consultancy giant has earned some £38.8m for services relating to the government’s test and trace programme, according to Open Democracy. The government’s test and trace programme is largely considered a failure. A Deloitte [...]
Vaccine news puts growth back into The City: Moneyfarm’s investment chief November 12, 2020 This week’s news that pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German manufacturer BioNTech had reached a breakthrough in the development of their Coronavirus vaccine led to one of the heaviest trading days since the height of the pandemic crisis, with nearly $2 trillion changing hands across global markets. Firms across The City are in an upbeat mood as the announcement that [...]
Pfizer boss sold $5.6m in stocks on day of vaccine announcement November 12, 2020 Pfizer’s chief executive sold shares worth more than $5.6m (£4.2m) on the same day the US drugmaker made the breakthrough announcement that its coronavirus vaccine was 90 per cent effective. Albert Bourla sold more than 130,000 shares on Monday as part of scheduled plans to offload some of his stake in Pfizer, according to a [...]
Rishi Sunak warns second lockdown will have ‘significant’ impact on UK economy November 12, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak has warned that England’s second nationwide lockdown will have a “significant impact on the economy”, as today’s record GDP figures laid the ground for a steep slump over the winter. “Obviously restrictions of this nature do have a significant impact on the economy. We’ve already seen that when we’ve done this over [...]
Some 19,000 jobs for 16-24s created under government Kickstart Scheme November 12, 2020 More than 19,000 placements for unemployed young people have been created under the government’s £2 billion Kickstart Scheme so far. The Kickstart Scheme began last week and, according to HMRC, is expected to produce “tens of thousands” more placements in the coming months. The scheme provides funding to create new job placements for 16 to [...]
Moderna shares soar on coronavirus vaccine hopes November 11, 2020 Shares in biotech firm Moderna jumped almost nine per cent this afternoon, after Anthony Fauci said the company’s coronavirus vaccine could prove as successful as Pfizer’s. US pharmaceuticals firm Moderna is set to publish late-stage trial results of its Covid vaccine as soon as next week. Fauci, the leading infectious disease expert in the US, [...]