Extraordinary? It’s business as usual in Trump’s White House April 17, 2019 Donald Trump is probably the most extraordinary individual to ever be President of the United States. But his presidency is actually rather ordinary. This is not to argue that Trump is an ordinary President – far from it. In almost everything he says and does, how he projects himself in speeches, tweets and meetings with [...]
Corbyn is as much a threat to the City as a no-deal Brexit April 16, 2019 The Prime Minister is currently on a walking holiday in Wales, while parliament is on Easter recess. This would be a moment for calm, except that Theresa May’s infamous walking holiday in April 2017 ending in her calling an unexpected General Election. Avid Westminster watchers are nervously wondering whether another snap poll is imminent. While [...]
Best 25 stocks in the last tax year April 15, 2019 | City Talk By Graeme Evans from interactive investor. The FTSE 100 outperformed mid-caps last tax year, but the top FTSE 350 performers might surprise you. Take a look at the financial year ended on the 5th April, with the 25 top performing stocks in the FTSE 350 all producing gains of 40 per cent or more over the [...]
AA: A sustainable recovery of its own? April 12, 2019 | City Talk After a decent start to 2019, our head of markets kicks the tyres after these uninspiring results. There is certainly a great deal going on under the bonnet at AA (LSE:AA.), although by its own admission there remains much to be done. One measure of progress is the number of contract wins the company has [...]
UK stats body to receive £9m to develop ‘super fast’ economic indicators April 12, 2019 The UK’s statistics body will receive a funding boost of £9m to help develop new “super fast” economic indicators to help it more accurately measure Britain’s increasingly complex economy. Read more: UK statistics body to start using new, quicker indicators The money will also allow the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to implement a new [...]
Could Jacob Rees-Mogg soon be off to 11 Downing Street? April 12, 2019 The Conservative party has a shortage of the political equivalent of rock stars. These are the politicians that the public would not merely recognise (already a rather an elite cohort), but actually might cross the road to ask for an autograph – or, more usually these days, a selfie. Boris Johnson has this star quality, of course. [...]
10 reasons to sell a share April 10, 2019 | City Talk It’s generally accepted that it is more difficult to sell a share than to buy one. After all, the buying part ties you in to a share of a company. You have identified a share you like, done your research, consider that the current valuation is fair and that the company’s prospects are strong, so [...]
Facebook and the tech giants are welcoming government regulation – that’s a panic signal for all of us April 9, 2019 Last year, I met someone who had previously worked for a big tech firm in its “free speech” unit. What had happened to make him come and slum it among us mortals in the (badly paid) policy world? Answer: the unit had been shut down. It’s in this context that you should see the milquetoast [...]
Debate: Is Sadiq Khan’s new ultra-low emission zone an effective solution for tackling air pollution? April 9, 2019 Debate: Is Sadiq Khan’s new ultra-low emission zone an effective solution for tackling air pollution? Yes – Fiona Howarth is chief executive of Octopus Electric Vehicles. If London’s water supplies were poisoning 9,000 people a year, there would be national outrage. So why are we not outraged about the air that we breathe? Research published [...]
Santander and Barclays face lawsuits over film financing schemes April 8, 2019 Santander and Barclays are facing lawsuits from investors in failed film financing schemes. Santander could be sued for the role of legacy bank Alliance & Leicester’s role in part-funding the Imagine film financing scheme while Barclays is beng targeted over a similar scheme known as Timeless Releasing. Read more: HSBC sued for £150m in relation [...]