Markets live: FTSE 100 slips and dollar suffers worst month in a decade July 31, 2020 The FTSE 100 fell in early afternoon trading as investors weighed up weak company earnings and the dollar was set for its worst month in a decade as US coronavirus cases continued to rise. London’s premier stock index was down 0.3 per cent at 5,969 points. The FTSE 250 of mid-cap stocks rose 0.4 per [...]
UK house prices rebound sharply after stamp duty cut July 31, 2020 UK house prices unexpectedly bounced back in July after tumbling in June, as pent-up lockdown demand was released and the stamp duty cut cheered buyers and sellers. Building society nationwide said British prices jumped 1.7 per cent in July compared to a month earlier, when they fell 1.6 per cent. Analysts had been expecting a [...]
Natwest sinks to a loss as it sets aside £2.9bn for bad loans July 31, 2020 Natwest sunk to a pre-tax loss of £770m in the first half of the year as it set aside billions of pounds in anticipation of loans turning sour due to the coronavirus pandemic. The banking group – known as RBS until earlier this month – took a hit of £2.86bn in the first half to [...]
Eurozone economy shrinks by record 12 per cent as pandemic bites July 31, 2020 The Eurozone economy contracted by a record 12.1 per cent in the second quarter of the year as coronavirus lockdowns caused business activity to shudder to a halt and consumer spending to dry up. It followed a 3.6 per cent contraction in the first quarter, confirming that the single-currency area is in by far the [...]
Markets live: FTSE 100 tumbles as US GDP blow hits Wall Street July 30, 2020 The FTSE 100 slumped below the 6,000 mark after data showed the US economy suffered its biggest contraction on record amid the coronavirus pandemic and banks’ second-half results disappointed investors. The UK’s blue-chip index slid 2.9 per cent to 5,951 points in afternoon trading. The FTSE 250, comprised of slightly smaller firms, fell 1.8 per [...]
US economy shrinks by record 33 per cent amid coronavirus pandemic July 30, 2020 The US economy suffered its biggest crash on record in the second quarter as coronavirus ripped through the country, with GDP plunging at an annualised rate of 32.9 per cent according to an advance estimate. The drop in output – which came after a fall of five per cent in the first quarter – was [...]
Lloyds swings to loss as it sets aside extra £2.4bn for bad loans July 30, 2020 UK banking giant Lloyds swung to a £600m pre-tax loss for the first half of the year today as coronavirus cost it an extra £2.4bn. The provision for loan losses was bigger than the £1.5bn analysts had anticipated. It took total provisions for the first half of the year to £3.8bn. Read more: Barclays braces [...]
BoE hires Accenture in £150m deal to overhaul payments system July 30, 2020 The Bank of England has hired IT consulting firm Accenture to refresh a key part of the UK’s crucial payments system in a deal worth up to £150m. The firm will overhaul the real-time gross settlement (RTGS) service, the backbone of the country’s huge payments system. RTGS settles an average £685bn of payments each working [...]
Standard Chartered profit slumps as credit impairments mount July 30, 2020 Standard Chartered suffered a 33 per cent drop in pre-tax profit in the first half of the year as it braced itself for loans to go bad amid the coronavirus pandemic. The bank’s shares dropped 3.9 per cent after it said it expects “expect new waves of Covid-19 related challenge in the coming quarters”. The [...]
Robert Walters sees profit slump 80 per cent amid coronavirus July 30, 2020 Recruitment group Robert Walters suffered an 80 per cent drop in pre-tax profit in the first half of the year after all of its operations regions were “significantly impacted” by the coronavirus pandemic. The figures Robert Walters’s profit before tax slumped 79 per cent to £4.3m in the six months ended 30 June, from £20.9m [...]
