Oil prices rise on storage hopes as Asian stocks recover May 5, 2020 Oil prices extended their gains this morning on hopes fuel demand would begin to pick up as an easing of coronavirus lockdown measures also pushed up Asian stocks. Brent crude rose 4.3 per cent to $28.37 a barrel, while US crude was up 1.38 per cent to $21.77 a barrel as crude supply cuts took [...]
Michael Spencer: Government must find way to ease ‘agonising’ UK lockdown May 5, 2020 Billionaire financier Michael Spencer has urged the government to “be brave” in its approach to easing the UK lockdown, warning the “agonising” effects of the economic shutdown risk causing lasting damage to British businesses. Spencer said that the longer the economy is “left in its paralysed state the greater the damage that accumulates”. He added: [...]
Remote working is causing employees to feel overworked May 5, 2020 Remote working is encouraging a culture of so-called EPresenteeism, according to a new survey, leading employees to feeling overworked and overwhelmed. Four in five HR managers think working from home has encouraged EPresenteeism, meaning employees feel they should be online and available as much as possible. Research commissioned by LinkedIn, in partnership with the Mental [...]
The City View podcast, from City A.M., with Michael Spencer May 4, 2020 In this episode Christian is joined by billionaire financier and City grandee Michael Spencer. Subscribe to The City View Podcast: Apple / Google / Spotify / RSS Spencer urges the government to “be brave” in easing the UK out of lockdown – a state of affairs he described as “agonising”. He warns of lasting damage [...]
GE plans to cut up to 13,000 jobs in further blow to US aviation sector May 4, 2020 General Electric (GE) said today it is planning on cutting the global workforce of its aviation unit by as much as 25 per cent, or up to 13,000 jobs. The announcement is the latest blow to fall on the beleaguered aviation sector which has been hit hard by the freeze in travel triggered by the [...]
England’s coronavirus hospital death toll sees smallest rise since March May 4, 2020 England’s coronavirus hospital death toll rose 204 to 21,384 today, the lowest daily increase since late March. NHS England said that three of the 204 patients who died from coronavirus had no underlying health conditions. The UK has recorded 187,842 confirmed cases and 28,446 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Last week, Prime Minister [...]
Hong Kong recession deepens due to coronavirus pandemic May 4, 2020 Hong Kong’s recession deepened in the first quarter as its economy, which had already been impacted by anti-government protests last year, was hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Hong Kong’s economy shrank by 5.3 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared to the previous quarter. On an annual basis the economy contracted 8.9 [...]
Defence minister: China has questions to answer over Covid-19 outbreak May 4, 2020 China has questions to answer over the information it supplied about the outbreak of coronavirus, defence minister Ben Wallace has said. Speaking to LBC radio this morning, Wallace said China should be held to account over how quickly it made the world aware of the extent of the crisis. However, he said the “post mortem” [...]
Hotel Chocolat secures £25m coronavirus loan as disruption expected until end of 2020 May 4, 2020 Hotel Chocolat announced this morning it has secured a £25m coronavirus large business interruption loan (CLBIL) as it warned that the pandemic could continue to impact trading throughout the rest of 2020. The high street retailer said it had agreed a £35m revolving credit facility with Lloyds Bank, replacing its previous £10m overdraft facility. The [...]
Startups’ coronavirus Future Fund is a ‘bad deal’ for founders May 4, 2020 The government’s flagship support scheme for startups hit by coronavirus, the Future Fund, has been described as “simply not good enough” and “a bad deal” by one of the UK’s leading tech entrepreneurs. Priya Lakhani, founder and CEO of education technology company Century, said the terms under which money could be accessed through the scheme are [...]