Keep an eye on UN reform after the departure of Nikki Haley October 12, 2018 Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina, this week resigned without warning as President Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations. Haley has not given a reason for her exit, and her replacement is yet to be named, but her departure is an opportunity to examine both the UN and her role within it. Donald Trump’s [...]
Trump’s state visit to the UK cost police £18m, four times as much as the royal wedding’s security October 11, 2018 US president Donald Trump's visit to the UK in July cost police almost £18m, four times the cost of the security of the royal wedding, it was revealed today. Nearly 10,000 officers across the country worked more than 26,000 shifts during the four-day trip that ignited protests in London, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Read more: Trump has a [...]
Global equity bloodbath plunges FTSE 100 to six-month low October 11, 2018 A GLOBAL equity bloodbath plunged the FTSE 100 to its lowest level in six months on a “gut-churning” day for investors. The sell-off began in the US on Wednesday before spreading to Europe, Asia, and trading floors across the world on Thursday. Global growth concerns, the prospect of higher US interest rates, as well as [...]
Brand Boris: Johnson needs to shed his disrupter image if he wants to become a leader October 8, 2018 There was a particularly pithy Tweet doing the rounds just after the Conservative party conference last week: “in summary: Boris’s speech not good enough for him to take over; May’s not bad enough to be kicked out”. So, was Boris Johnson really just one speech away from leadership? Possibly. Because Boris, just like Donald Trump, “has [...]
Five charts that explain the case for emerging markets October 8, 2018 | City Talk Investors generally understand the importance of emerging markets in terms of their economic impact but, perhaps due to lack of knowledge, often struggle to know how best to reflect this in their portfolios. Those investors have ignored what are some of the world's best-performing financial markets since the turn of the millennium. What is more, [...]
Everyone’s a loser in today’s fabricated generation wars October 5, 2018 According to doomsayers in policy and media circles, the young have never had it so bad, and the fault lies with their greedy elders. The allegedly enormous, voracious baby boomer generation, living it up on the golf course with the ill-gotten gains from gold-plated pensions and over-valued houses, is in the firing line for causing [...]
Saudi oil output reaches record highs, but oil prices remain close to four-year peak October 3, 2018 Saudi Arabia's oil output has reached record highs – and the country could further boost production next month as US sanctions on Iran edge closer. Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih said the country had raised output to 10.7m barrels per day in October and announced a further production hike in November. The country's record high [...]
Oil prices hit four-year high as markets await US sanctions on Iran October 1, 2018 Oil prices hit a four-year high this morning as the market reacted to ongoing uncertainty over US sanctions on Iran. Brent crude – considered the international benchmark – rose almost half a per cent to $83.09 (£63.70) per barrel in early trading, after rising as high as $83.32. Read more: Iranian foreign minister claims country [...]
US and Canada ease trade fears with last-minute deal to revamp Nafta October 1, 2018 Canada struck a dramatic eleventh-hour trade deal with the US and Mexico last night, putting an end to a year of tense economic negotiations in North America. In an effort to revamp the current North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), the three countries reached a trilateral agreement only hours before a midnight deadline, quelling threats [...]
Character assassination: Business bosses are starting to realise that Twitter has a price September 30, 2018 It is not boardroom discord or tumbling profits that are causing mayhem for Elon Musk, the maverick and publicity-hungry Tesla chief who is set to lose his role as chairman. It’s his Twitter habit. His case exemplifies how Twitter, the social media platform that can send 280 poorly chosen characters right round the world in [...]