Rishi Sunak faces pressure to extend furlough scheme August 7, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak is facing mounting pressure to extend the furlough scheme in some form, amid fears of a wave of unemployment later in the year. Opposition political parties and business groups are increasingly worried that plans to wind down the furlough scheme in October are premature. The Bank of England yesterday said 2.5m people [...]
Rishi Sunak: ‘Hardship lies ahead’ for the UK economy August 7, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said that “hardship lies ahead” for the UK economy despite the Bank of England improving its forecast for this year. Yesterday the Bank upgraded its projection for the path of GDP in 2020, saying it would now contract 9.5 per cent rather than the 14 per cent it had previously pencilled [...]
BoE governor Andrew Bailey: Some parts of economy no longer ‘viable’ August 6, 2020 Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has warned that “some parts of the economy” will not be “viable” after the coronavirus pandemic. He also backed the government’s move to end the furlough scheme in October. He said “we have to look forwards”. Bailey was speaking to broadcasters after the Bank kept interest rates on hold [...]
Weekly US jobless claims beat expectations and drop to 1.2m August 6, 2020 Slightly under 1.2m Americans made new jobless claims last week, a better-than-expected figure that will fuel hopes that the US economy’s recovery will not be derailed by coronavirus cases. Initial jobless claims came in at 1.19m last week, down from 1.44m a year earlier, the Labor Department said. The weekly total was much better than [...]
Economists question Bank of England’s ‘optimistic’ forecast August 6, 2020 The Bank of England today kept interest rates on hold and said the UK economy would not shrink as much as initially thought this year, but it said the recovery would take longer. But some economists have questioned the assumptions, arguing that high unemployment will damage the economy. The Bank said the UK economy was [...]
Bank of England: Downturn better than feared but UK faces longer recovery August 6, 2020 The Bank of England has significantly improved its prediction for the path of the UK economy this year, but said the recovery will take longer than initially expected. The Bank’s projection, released today, said the UK economy was likely to shrink by 9.5 per cent this year and then grow by nine per cent in [...]
BoE puts negative interest rates in its ‘toolbox’ for the first time August 6, 2020 The Bank of England has put negative interest rates in its “toolbox” of possible monetary policy measures for the first time, governor Andrew Bailey said today. However, Bailey cautioned that the Bank does not currently “have a plan to use them”. Read more: Bank of England says UK economy’s recovery will take longer than expected [...]
FTSE 100 ends higher and gold surges as investors bet on stimulus August 5, 2020 The FTSE 100 closed higher and US stocks rose as investors hoped Democrats and the White House would strike a new stimulus deal, while gold surged to a fresh all-time high. London’s blue-chip index ended the day one per cent higher at 6,098 points. The FTSE 250 of mid-cap firms jumped 1.7 per cent. Read [...]
Will the Bank of England change its tune on the UK economy? August 5, 2020 The Bank of England will announce its latest monetary policy decision tomorrow, but investors and policymakers will be focused on whether Threadneedle Street has become more pessimistic about the UK economy. Two months ago, the BoE’s monetary policy committee (MPC) raised some eyebrows when it said the UK economy would suffer an unprecedented crash but [...]
UK businesses grow at fastest rate in five years but employment drops August 5, 2020 The UK economy’s private sector rebounded at its fastest rate in five years in July, according to the final reading of a closely watched measure, as the government eased coronavirus restrictions. The IHS Markit/Cips composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI) jumped to 57 in July from 47.7 in June. It was slightly lower than a “flash” [...]
