Competition watchdog kills Sainsbury’s £7.3bn Asda merger: What went wrong? April 25, 2019 Almost a year to the day since Sainsbury’s first revealed that it was in merger talks with Asda, it has all come crashing down. In late April 2018 the two retail giants were losing market share to German discounters Aldi and Lidl, and the threat of Amazon moving into the grocery sector was very real. [...]
Biden his time: Obama’s vice president Joe Biden launches White House run April 25, 2019 Former Democratic US vice president Joe Biden will seek his party’s nomination for President, he confirmed this morning after months of speculation. Biden, who was number two to Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017, embarks on his third run for the White House with a centrist campaign. Read more: Bernie ‘socialist’ Sanders is the Democrats’ [...]
Tory MPs decide against party rule change to oust Theresa May April 25, 2019 Influential Tory MPs have decided against a party rule change that could have forced Theresa May out as Prime Minister. The 1922 committee of Tory MPs had been meeting over the past couple of days to mull changing rules that would have allowed another leadership challenge against May despite her winning a vote of no [...]
Leaving EU behind: The potential winners and losers from a soft Brexit deal April 25, 2019 After three failed votes, Prime Minister Theresa May has another six months to get her Brexit deal through the House of Commons. Despite her securing an extension from the EU, the Brexit deadlock seems as intractable as ever. Still, some form of soft Brexit remains a likely option, so it’s worth exploring the potential impact [...]
What a tin of battered beans can tell us about behavioural finance April 25, 2019 "Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can’t buy what is popular, and do well.” Those are the words of one of the greatest investors of our generation, Warren Buffett. The investment guru got me thinking: why is the stock [...]
DEBATE: Is the uproar over Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK in June unwarranted? April 25, 2019 Is the uproar over Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK in June unwarranted? Freddie Jordan, a freelance writer, says YES. President Trump’s visit has unleashed the same public mania as would Lord Voldemort’s. He may be unctuous, and some might prefer to watch his comedy of errors play out from afar, but to throw a childish [...]
Tesla pledges a return to black as profitability fails to materialise April 25, 2019 A return to profit escaped Tesla chief Elon Musk for a second consecutive quarter last night. The electric car maker reported a widening $494m (£382.5m) loss after a record drop in deliveries. Tesla posted a deficit per share of $2.90 for the first three months of 2019, compared to the average analyst estimate of a [...]
Inside Huawei: Spies, spin and billions at stake April 24, 2019 The journey from Paris to Verona takes just two minutes. The small, replica Swiss train trundles past imposing French chateaux and gothic German castles, sliding effortlessly through 12 European cities before ending up, after just under eight kilometres of newly-built track, back in Paris. On Huawei’s new Ox Horn campus, not far from the Chinese [...]
What the next Bank of England governor’s CV needs to look like April 24, 2019 With less than a year until Mark Carney steps down, the government today kickstarted the search for a new Bank of England governor. We’ve already compiled a list of candidates tipped to replace the American when he departs the post in January 2020, but chancellor Philip Hammond has put out a job ad anyway. Read [...]
Tory party divided over Huawei’s involvement in parts of 5G network April 24, 2019 Senior Tory MPs have slammed Prime Minister Theresa May’s “short-sighted” decision to allow Huawei to participate in parts of the UK’s 5G network. The Chinese firm will be banned from core parts of the network, but will be allowed to supply equipment to non-core areas such as antennas, despite warnings from UK spooks about flaws [...]