‘Bond market tantrum risks’: Gilt traders brace for Labour leftward pivot as Starmer future uncertain
China crackdown weighs heavily on global markets July 27, 2021 Global stock markets notched losses on Tuesday as investor sentiment soured on concerns that Chinese authorities may over-extend their regulatory crackdown. The US’ main benchmarks dropped during the opening session, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq registering the worst performance, down 1.76 per cent. The blue-chip S&P 500 fell 0.78 per cent, while the Dow Jones lost [...]
5G revolution could boost UK manufacturing by over £6bn July 27, 2021 The economy could be over £6bn better off in 2030 as a result of the rollout of 5G across the manufacturing sector, with the biggest benefits being felt in the places the Government wants to “level up”. According to a new report by Vodafone, faster and more reliable 5G mobile technology has the potential to [...]
More industries exempt from isolation and testing sites expanded in effort to ease pingdemic July 26, 2021 More workers are now able to avoid Covid self-isolation after the government expanded a pilot workplace testing scheme in a bid to halt the “pingdemic” causing staff shortages across England. Prison staff, some veterinary staff, telecoms organisations, defence staff such as soldiers, HMRC staff and refuse collectors will now be eligible for exemption. It comes [...]
Pink offers to pay Norwegian beach handball team’s ‘sexist’ uniform fine July 26, 2021 Last week’s European Beach Handball Championships were followed by controversy. In a stand against ‘sexist’ uniform rules, the Norwegian team traded bikini bottoms for shorts and were consequently fined 1500 euros. This elicited widespread criticism from members in and outside of the handball community. US pop star Pink joined critics in expressing her outrage at [...]
Rishi Sunak: ‘Britcoin’ will not replace cash July 26, 2021 Rishi Sunak has hosed down any suggestion that the government could replace cash with a digital currency dubbed “Britcoin”. Sunak said in a LinkedIn post that the government has “not yet made a decision on whether to introduce a [Central Bank Digital Currency] in the UK”, after reports over the weekend suggested the chancellor wants [...]
Exclusive: London businesses call on Williamson to tackle capital’s skills crisis July 26, 2021 A group of London businesses have called on Gavin Williamson to tackle London’s growing skills shortage, warning that the capital’s recovery from the pandemic was on the line. In a letter to the education secretary, coordinated by London First and seen by City A.M., the businesses call for a swathe of new policies to be [...]
US and China hold ‘frank and open’ talks but differences yet to be resolved July 26, 2021 The high-level face-to-face meeting between China and the US highlighted the difference and no specific outcomes were agreed. US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met today with her counterpart, China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in the Chinese city of Tianjin. The talks came after the worsening relations between Beijing and Washington [...]
‘Unusually large’ meteor lights up night sky over Norway July 26, 2021 Norwegians have been stunned by an “unusually large” meteor that lit up the night sky in southern Norway on Sunday. Witnesses described powerful flashes of light followed by loud bangs as the meteor rumbled across the sky over the capital of Oslo, and the phenomena have been seen as far north as Trondheim as reported. [...]
Starling Bank makes first acquisition in bid to expand lending July 26, 2021 British digital lender Starling Bank has struck a £50m deal for specialist buy-to-let mortgage lender Fleet Mortgages, in the first of an expected series of deals to drive growth. Starling, which last week said it was eyeing an IPO over the next two years, has finalised the cash and share deal for Hampshire-based Fleet Mortgages, for [...]
Senior management redundancies spike in the wake of Brexit July 26, 2021 Structural changes to the financial services sector following Britain’s exit from the EU has led to a spike in redundancy rates for senior managers. Research from Fox & Partners indicates a nine-fold increase in senior management redundancies. Last year saw 559 senior managers in the sector lose their jobs, up from 61 the year before. [...]