HSBC boss John Flint needs to deliver short term rigour to the bank as well as a long term vision February 19, 2019 Imagine making nearly $20bn in profit during your first year in a job, only to be met with profound disappointment. Such is the lot of John Flint, the latest chief executive tasked with bringing the best out of Europe's biggest bank. HSBC's pre-tax profit for 2018 dragged the FTSE into the red on Tuesday, disappointing traders [...]
WTO blames trade war tariffs for weakest global trade in nine years February 19, 2019 Global trade is about to hit its lowest level in nearly nine years, warned the World Trade Organization (WTO) today, as international tensions and political uncertainty weigh on countries . The WTO's latest forecast warned that trade would fall below its baseline index value of 100 to 96.3 in the first quarter of 2019, the lowest reading since [...]
Feeling the Bern: Bernie Sanders announces 2020 US presidential bid February 19, 2019 US senator Bernie Sanders has announced that he will make a second attempt at winning the Democratic Party presidential nomination next year. Sanders, who is an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, became a political favourite when he lost his bid for the party's nomination in 2016 to former first lady Hillary Clinton. Making the announcement over [...]
EU president Juncker says Trump ‘gave his word’ not to impose car tariffs February 18, 2019 European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has said he is confident US President Donald Trump will not impose higher tariffs on European car imports. “Trump gave me his word that there won't be any car tariffs for the time being. I believe him,” Juncker told local media, according to his spokesperson. Read more: EU vehicles pose [...]
Forget social networks – the future is community media, says the boss of Disciple Media February 18, 2019 In February last year, Matt Hancock (then culture secretary, now health secretary) launched his own smartphone app, imaginatively titled… “Matt Hancock”. Many scoffed at the idea of an MP thinking themselves so important that they needed an app. And there were jokes about how the app asked for user consent: “Matt Hancock would like to access [...]
EU vehicles pose no threat to US, carmakers say as Trump mulls huge tariffs February 17, 2019 European cars do not pose a threat to US national security, one of Germany’s biggest car lobbies said today as the White House considers slapping new tariffs on imports. Lobby group the VDA said that the US benefits from German carmakers. US President Donald Trump was today given a Commerce Department report into whether imported cars and parts [...]
US President Donald Trump declares national emergency to fund Mexico border wall February 15, 2019 Donald Trump has declared a national emergency following a fresh row over funding for the President's pledged wall on the US-Mexico border. During a statement in the White House’s Rose Garden this afternoon, Trump said that he was making the move "not because it is a campaign promise, which it is", but as a result [...]
US-China trade talks end, but we still have no official outcome February 15, 2019 High levels trade talks between the US and China ended today with no official statement from either side. Earlier this week it was reported that US President Donald Trump was considering pushing back a 1 March deadline for US tariffs on China to ramp up by 60 days. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are [...]
Options are running out for the man who destroyed Venezuela February 14, 2019 It takes some front for a man who has presided over a double-digit recession for three successive years to claim that his country is being destabilised by a “gang of extremists” rather than his own inept economic performance. But that is exactly what Venezuela’s embattled President Nicolas Maduro did this week, when he stated that the [...]
US considers 60-day extension to looming China tariff deadline February 14, 2019 US President Donald Trump is mulling a 60- day extension of the 1 March deadline for higher tariffs on Chinese imports, according to reports. Trump is considering an extension to the 1 March deadline for more than doubling tariffs on $200bn (£156bn) of Chinese exports in order to give the two sides more time to come to [...]