Sea of red on Wall Street bleeds into London markets December 2, 2021 A crash on Wall Street on Wednesday triggered by the chief of the US Federal Reserve signalling stimulus could be pulled earlier than expected bled into London markets yesterday. The capital’s premier FTSE 100 index closed 0.55 per cent lower at 7,129.21 points, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the [...]
Red hot property market makes Brits the richest they have ever been December 2, 2021 A booming property market triggered by a tax holiday and Brits demanding larger homes has made the UK the richest it has ever been. Household wealth in Britain swelled 8.4 per cent over the last year to £11.2 trillion, the highest it has ever been since the Office for National Statistics (ONS) started tracking the [...]
Bank of England to look through Omicron and hike rates this month December 2, 2021 The Bank of England will plough ahead and hike interest rates for the first time three years this month despite concerns the Omicron variant could whack the UK economy, according to City analysts. Strong booster jab take up and high levels of existing immunity stemming from the successful vaccination programme has put the British economy [...]
HSBC boss warns costs will soar if Brexit fragments European financial market December 2, 2021 The boss of the UK’s largest bank has warned banks and their clients will have to swallow higher costs if Brexit fragments the European financial market. Speaking at the Financial Times’s Global Banking Summit, Noel Quinn, chief executive of HSBC, said there is a real “risk of fragmentation increasing costs” in the banking sector. Several [...]
Bullish Omicron assessments boost global markets December 1, 2021 A string of bullish assessments from global health leaders downplaying the severity of the Omicron variant boosted global markets yesterday. Investors shook off concerns over the Covid-19 variant derailing the world’s fight against the pandemic and poured back into stocks. London’s premier FTSE 100 index shot up 1.55 per cent to close at 7,168.68 points [...]
US Fed chief Powell insists inflation will pull back despite casting doubt over central bank’s forecasts December 1, 2021 The chief of the US Federal Reserve today insisted price rises in America should pull back from a three-decade high in the middle of next year despite casting doubt over the central bank’s own inflation forecasts. Jerome Powell said the Fed expects inflation to fall “significantly” in the second half of next year, while in [...]
OECD hikes UK economy forecast propelling Britain to top of G7 table, but inflation set to bite December 1, 2021 The organisation overseeing the world’s richest economies hiked its forecasts for the UK economy this year and next year, propelling Britain to the top of the G7 rankings for growth. The UK economy will expand 6.9 per cent this year, 0.2 percentage points higher than previously expected, according to the Organisation for Economic Development’s (OECD) [...]
UK factories stung by ‘relentless’ cost hikes as supply chain crisis rumbles on December 1, 2021 UK factories are being stung by record cost increases as the supply chain crisis continues to drag on, according to a closely watched survey released today. Prices for raw materials and crucial inputs used by British manufacturers accelerated at the fastest pace since IHS Markit and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) started [...]
US Fed chief Powell retires word ‘transitory’ to describe inflation December 1, 2021 US Fed Chief Jerome Powell said inflation would stick around for longer than hoped yesterday as a glut of global data suggested rising prices could slow the global recovery. Powell said yesterday it was time to “retire” the word “transitory” to describe the rapid pace of price hikes currently spiking the world economy. His shift [...]
Cocktail of headwinds freeze business confidence November 30, 2021 A cocktail of soaring inflation, ongoing staff shortages and looming tax hikes is leaving optimism about the UK economy among business leaders unstuck, according to new research published today. The Institute of Directors’ (IoD) economic confidence index, a closely watched survey taking the pulse of optimism among business leaders, remained unchanged at minus six in [...]