Driverless cars will leave a big dent in the insurance industry according to the Bank of England March 17, 2017 The adoption of driverless cars will leave a massive dent in the car insurance market, according to the Bank of England, forcing insurers to team up with car firms as they transform their business. Economists at the Bank say their central forecast is for the UK motor insurance market to contract by 21 per cent [...]
Emerging markets and junk bonds suffered as investors thanked the Fed for the promise of higher US yields March 17, 2017 Investors pulled money out of emerging markets and high-yielding bond funds at the fastest rate this year, positioning instead for bigger returns from US assets as the Fed continued on the path to normal monetary policy. High-yield bond funds, which target junk bonds from riskier but higher-rewarding companies, saw their biggest outflows since the end [...]
Independent Scotland might have to ditch the pound, SNP’s Alex Salmond admits March 17, 2017 Former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond has said Scotland could ditch the pound if it wins independence in a new referendum. The Scottish National Party (SNP) previously said it would continue to use sterling, but Salmond told the Financial Times he could change his view to reduce reliance on the rest of the UK for [...]
GCHQ vehemently denies wire-tapping US President Donald Trump March 17, 2017 Britain’s cyber spy agency has fiercely denied allegations it put the communications of US President Donald Trump under surveillance. White House press secretary Sean Spicer cited a report by a pundit on Fox News that the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) had spied on Trump after he was elected. In a strongly worded statement GCHQ [...]
Government should do more to boost flagging company investment business group says March 17, 2017 An influential business group has called for government to do more to tackle falling capital spending as fears are rising about a slowdown in long-term business investment. The Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAEW) forecasts businesses will invest 1.9 per cent less in 2017 as companies start a “period of restraint” during the Brexit process. Stephen [...]
FTSE 100 closes at a new record high as miners surge on Anglo American stake purchase March 16, 2017 The FTSE 100 closed at a new record high of 7,415.95 as Anglo American shares surged and markets breathed a sigh of relief on the Dutch election results. London’s blue chip index reached a high of as much as 7,423.20 points in morning trading as the mining sector surged, with a rally in oil and commodity prices [...]
Sterling jumps as Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) votes to leave monetary policy unchanged, but one votes to hike March 16, 2017 A senior policymaker at the Bank of England defied her colleagues to vote to raise interest rates for the first time in over a year, as the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) left monetary policy untouched. Kristin Forbes voted to raise bank rate by 0.25 per cent. Forbes is an external member of the nine-member MPC [...]
Four things to watch out for from the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting March 16, 2017 The Bank of England is set to announce monetary policy at its latest meeting this afternoon. Investors don’t expect anything in the way of change, but as always economists will try to read the runes of the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) statement to see how the Bank’s economists think the UK economy is faring. Read [...]
Sainsbury’s share price dips after it warns of “uncertain” inflation impact and “competitive” conditions as retail sales decline March 16, 2017 Sainsbury’s reported retail sales excluding fuel fell in the last quarter and said it faced an “uncertain” impact from rising costs and warned the market environment remains competitive. Shares in Sainsbury's dipped as markets opened to lows of 263p, but recovered some of their gains to a loss of around one per cent at the [...]
Netherlands rejects Geert Wilders’ PVV as incumbent Mark Rutte’s VVD seeks to form coalition March 16, 2017 Voters in the Netherlands have rejected far-right candidate Geert Wilders, returning current Prime Minister Mark Rutte as the leader of the biggest party. Under the Netherlands’ proportional representation system Rutte will now try to form a coalition with his VVD party as leaders, in which Wilders will almost certainly not feature. The Amsterdam-based NRC Handelsblad [...]
