Hedge funds make more than $1bn betting against travel stocks August 13, 2020 Hedge funds made profits of more than $1bn (£760m) from betting against travel companies in the year to July. They also have $2.98bn in short positions outstanding in the industry, analysis by Reuters of regulatory filings and investment bank stock lending data showed. The coronavirus pandemic has inflicted huge losses and share price falls on [...]
Weather ‘had an impact’ on fatal Scottish train crash August 13, 2020 Bad weather contributed to a train crash in Aberdeenshire yesterday which killed three people, the Scottish transport secretary said. Three people were killed and six others injured when the Aberdeen to Glasgow service came off the rails near Stonehaven yesterday. Driver Brett McCullough and conductor Donald Dinnie were killed alongside a passenger. The train reportedly [...]
Dignity shares rocket after funeral cost controls dropped because of pandemic August 13, 2020 Shares in funeral company Dignity surged nearly 40 per cent today after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it would not introduce price controls because of the coronavirus pandemic. Dignity shares jumped 38 per cent to 540p. The company said it was considering the CMA’s report in detail. An investigation into the sector, focusing [...]
Renishaw shares fall 10 per cent after profit plunges 97 per cent August 13, 2020 Shares in Ftse 250 engineering company Renishaw fell 10 per cent today after it said profit collapsed and revenue fell which it blamed on poor macroeconomic conditions and the coronavirus pandemic. Renishaw said statutory profit fell 97 per cent to £3.2m compared with £109.9m last year The company said revenue fell 11 per cent to [...]
British life insurers paid £90m in coronavirus death claims by the end of May August 13, 2020 British life insurers paid £90m in claims for coronavirus deaths in the three months to the end of May, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said today. Insurers received 7,000 life insurance claims from families of people who died from covid-19 and 83 per cent have been paid so far, the ABI said. Every life [...]
Watches of Switzerland shares jump on strong post-lockdown recovery August 13, 2020 Shares in luxury retailer Watches of Switzerland jumped today after it said sales in June and July were up on the previous year following a steep plunge during the coronavirus lockdown. The high-end watch-seller said sales in June were positive and performance in July was up 7.4 per cent on the previous year. Its shares [...]
Goldman and Barclays eye General Motors’ credit card business August 12, 2020 Goldman Sachs and Barclays are reportedly among bidders for General Motors credit card unit. The two banks are among a small number of suitors for the car company’s credit card business which has about $3bn (£2.3bn) in outstanding balances, according to The Wall Street Journal. Goldman currently has a relatively small presence in consumer banking, [...]
German institute says coronavirus vaccine could be available by autumn August 12, 2020 Germany’s leading infectious diseases institute said today a first vaccine against coronavirus could be available as early as autumn but warned that it may take longer to control the pandemic. “Preliminary projections make the availability of one or several vaccines seem possible by autumn 2020,” the Robert Koch Institute said in a statement. “It would [...]
Gold price bounces back after steep sell-off August 12, 2020 The price of gold rebounded this afternoon to £1,485 an ounce after its steepest sell-off in seven years. Spot gold rebounded today after its steepest decline in seven years on Tuesday, with the price rising from a low of £1,438.65 during a turbulent Asian trading session to just shy of £1,486 at the time of [...]
PwC boss Kevin Ellis: returning to work like ‘crossing the Rubicon for some people…you have got to make them feel safe’ August 12, 2020 The chair and senior partner of PwC UK Kevin Ellis said the Big Four firm had found it needed to overcome fear among some of its workers to help them return to the office. Speaking on City A.M.’s The City View podcast, Ellis said: “It is about crossing the Rubicon for some people…you have got [...]