All eyes in the City on UK gilt yields as Boris Johnson steps away and Rishi Sunak steps up October 24, 2022 Despite all the turmoil around UK politics last week, the pound ended up finishing the week higher for the third week in a row against the US dollar, while gilt yields closed lower. It was set up to be another key week for the pound with the prospect of another Conservative party leadership contest however [...]
US prepares to sell from emergency reserves to dampen oil prices October 18, 2022 The White House is preparing to offload oil from its strategic reserves in a late bid to dampen fuel prices and ease the cost of living.
US employment market tightens as companies add 263,000 jobs October 7, 2022 US employers added 263,000 jobs in September as the country’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.5 per cent, figures from the Bureau of Labour Statistics show. Economists polled by Reuters had previously expected US employers would add 250,000 jobs in September. The figures mark both a slowdown and a tightening of the US jobs market, [...]
Hotel Chocolat closes US online site September 12, 2022 British food brand Hotel Chocolat is going to close its US website and severely limit investment in the country. The premium British chocolate maker made the announcement this morning that “investment levels in the US would be materially reduced. They would be “limited to essential working capital only for online and wholesale.” It also “decided [...]
Bed Bath and Beyond CFO falls to his death in New York after mass closures and layoffs September 5, 2022 The chief financial officer of American retailer Bed Bath & Beyond Inc fell to his death from a New York skyscraper. Gustavo Arnal, 52, who previously worked as CFO for London-based cosmetics brand Avon, died on Friday in wake of the company closing stores and laying off workers. New York police responded to reports he [...]
Walmart maintains outlook for next year as profits tighten against inflationary pressures August 16, 2022 US retail giant Walmart’s profits were eaten into by inflation as it maintains its outlook for the next financial year despite revenue being up 8.4 per cent. The supermarket chain took in $152.9bn in Q2 but said this strong growth was “partially driven by inflation”, which tempered its outlook, and its profits. Its comparative sales [...]
June NFP preview July 7, 2022 | City Talk The June US jobs report is due to be released on Friday 8 July at 1.30pm (UK time). Coming at a time when market participants are concerned over the potential implications of impending rising interest rates off the back of soaring inflation, traders will be watching closely for any signs of an economic slowdown. Unfortunately, [...]
World’s biggest hedge fund bets £8.6bn against European stock market will keep falling June 24, 2022 Bridgewater Associates, the world’s biggest hedge fund, has bet £$8.56bn ($10.5bn) that Europe’s stock market will continue to decline. The US investment management firm shorted shares of 28 European companies, including bets of more than £407m ($500m) against 28 firms. The Bloomberg data, reported by the Times, says among the European firms shorted are France’s [...]
Retail therapy gives markets a lift as battle to contain inflation genie starts in earnest May 27, 2022 European markets spent most of yesterday edging cautiously higher, with the FTSE100 shrugging off the UK government’s decision to impose a 25 per cent windfall tax on the oil and gas sector, while at the same time unveiling a fiscal stimulus package. The decision to impose the controversial tax appears to have prompted a review [...]
Global markets: US resilience lifts indexes worldwide with no surprises from Fed minutes May 26, 2022 European markets had a much more positive bias yesterday, helped by more resilience in the US, which finished the day strongly higher after the release of the latest Fed minutes. “This positive finish took a bit of a knock after the close as another disappointing set of earnings numbers, this time from Nvidia prompted US [...]