The Week Ahead: ITV, Rolls Royce, Morrison, ECB and UK GDP data March 8, 2021 It’s Monday morning. City A.M. looks ahead at what this week has in store. China Trade for February This morning – The Chinese economy finished 2020 on a strong note, its surplus hitting a record high in December. Exports rose by 18.1 per cent, slightly down from November’s 21.1 per cent but still better than expected, [...]
£54bn pandemic export hit: UK losing market share in US, Germany and China March 8, 2021 The UK’s goods exports slumped by £54bn in 2020 and Britain lost market share to its main competitors as Covid-19 hammered global trade, according to new research published this morning. The findings, from Aston University’s Lloyd’s Banking Group Centre for Business Prosperity, showed that Britain suffered a 14.7 per cent drop in goods exports, one of [...]
Before the Bell: Europe set for positive start despite softness in Asia markets March 8, 2021 No one can complain about a lack of volatility in financial markets at the moment. The tug-of-war between economic recovery and inflation risks continued on Wall Street on Friday and spilt out onto the street in Asia. Friday’s outsized 379,000 gain in Non-Farm Payrolls caused US yields to spike initially. Still, equity markets just couldn’t [...]
UK-Kenya trade deal in jeopardy as mood in Nairobi turns outright hostile March 5, 2021 The future of the recently signed trade agreement between the UK and Kenya seems increasingly uncertain as MPs and a group of farmers in Nairobi are threatening to shoot down the pact. Yesterday, multiple Kenyan lawmakers came out against the trade deal, saying the agreement is ‘illegal’ under Kenyan law, while a collective of farmers [...]
Budget reactions: Optimism and relief to Sunak’s plans March 4, 2021 Following Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s announcement yesterday, of a raft of new support measures alongside plans to shore up Britain’s finances in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the details of this year’s Budget gradually become clear to SMEs, entrepreneurs, startups and others in London and across the country. Sunak set out extensions to the furlough [...]
City A.M. TV – Daily Market Snapshot (video) March 3, 2021 Markets are poised at a key juncture. The signals from the price action have been ambiguous in the past few trading sessions, while certain key (formerly) leadership stocks are sitting on, and struggling at, important technical support levels. The back-up in bond yields over February clearly damaged upwards momentum towards the end of the month. [...]
Before the Bell: Europe pointing to lower start as bulls take a breather March 2, 2021 Equity markets started off the new month on the front foot yesterday as lower bond yields combined with stimulus hopes from the US boosted sentiment. Last week, stocks saw some selling pressure as increases in government bond yields acted as an excuse for dealers to reduce their equity positions, indices were coming from a relatively [...]
New UK-Kenya trade deal to be extended to all of East Africa after threats not to ratify March 1, 2021 The recently signed trade deal between the UK and Kenya will be extended to Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and Tanzania, according to multiple media reports in Kenya. The announcement follows weeks of threats by members of the House of Lords as well as Kenyan MPs not to ratify the trade agreement, which was signed [...]
Markets are freshly vaccinated with the latest buy everything potion March 1, 2021 US FDA approval of the one-shot Johnson and Johnson Covid-19 vaccine over the weekend has seen the global recovery trade reappear with a vengeance, at least overnight across the APAC region. Equities, energy and commodities all jumped higher, as have the cyclical Commonwealth currencies. “Even precious metals have found some friends today, while Asian regional [...]
City of London’s prospects as global derivatives capital remain bright February 25, 2021 UK-based financial institutions have used the past four years to develop and implement (re)location strategies, working on the assumption of a harder Brexit and lose historic passporting rights, and hence unfettered access to EU markets. As things stand, London does indeed not have any equivalence agreements in place with the EU. This explains why we [...]