Local election bloodbath: Furious Tories turn on Boris Johnson as Labour’s victory train rolls into Westminster, Wandsworth and Barnet May 6, 2022 The Conservative Party has lost all major London authorities to Labour and suffered setbacks across England as Boris Johnson faces a backlash from local Tory leaders. Labour has taken control of Westminster City Council in London for the first time since its creation in 1964. The Conservative Party has also lost control in Wandsworth, considered [...]
What a difference a day makes: Markets go into full reversal mode as recession concerns grow May 6, 2022 What a difference a day makes? Having rallied strongly in the aftermath of the Federal Reserve’s decision to hike rates by 50bps on Wednesday evening, and not go harder, US stock markets went into full reversal mode yesterday, dragging European markets down with them. Bond yields also shot back up, with the US 10 year [...]
Thanks, Bank of England: Households will pay £858m more in interest after yesterday’s rate rise May 6, 2022 With the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee confirming yesterday that its base rate will rise by 0.25 per cent to 1 per cent, UK households face an immediate increase in interest payments of around £858m. Analysis of Bank of England data shows UK households are currently paying £18.3bn annually in interest payments on floating rate [...]
UK retail investors hold their nerve despite rising inflation, commodities and Ukraine war raging on May 5, 2022 UK retail investors have remained composed in the face of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, despite significant concerns about future implications of the crisis on the financial markets, international relations, and the environment. Only 14 per cent of investors monitor the conflict between Russia and Ukraine when thinking about their investment strategy. The same number said they [...]
Today: Bank of England to push interest rates to 13-year high to slow cost crunch and inflation May 5, 2022 Interest rates are expected to be hiked once again later today to their highest level for 13 years as the Bank of England battles to cool rocketing inflation. The Bank’s policymakers are predicted to increase rates from 0.75 per cent to 1 per cent – a level not seen since early 2009 – and ramp [...]
Shell profits fuel calls for windfall tax: Record results come days after BP bumper earnings May 5, 2022 Shell has further fuelled demands for a windfall tax on the sector as it revealed record first-quarter profits thanks to soaring oil and gas prices, just days after bumper earnings from rival BP. The oil giant posted better-than-expected underlying earnings for the first three months of 2022, at £7.2bn – nearly three times the £2.5bn [...]
Kremlin coup rumours growing in Moscow: Disgruntled generals join FSB looking to oust Putin and end Ukraine war May 5, 2022 Rumours are swirling in Moscow that a number of former generals and KGB officials are preparing to oust Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and plan to end the war in Ukraine, which is increasingly seen across Russia as a strategic mistake and, above all, an economic disaster. The top of Putin’s former employer – the Russian [...]
D-Day for Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer as polls are now open: All you need to know about the 2022 local elections May 5, 2022 Millions of Brits around the country will go to the polls todayfor the 2022 local elections. Voters will be choosing local representatives in England, Scotland and Wales and there will also be an election for the Northern Ireland Assembly. Polling stations have just opened and close at 10pm. When will the results be announced? After [...]
Today’s interest rate hike may hit mortgage holders hard, warns IFS director ahead of BoE announcement May 5, 2022 Paul Johnson, director of the Institute For Fiscal Studies, warned this morning of the impact on people’s mortgages of an expected interest rates hike by the Bank of England on Thursday. “We are still at historically staggeringly low levels of interest rates,” he told Radio 4’s Today programme. “So you look at it that way [...]
Recruiters in overdrive as number of job adverts skyrockets: 1.8m vacancies now up for grabs May 5, 2022 The number of job adverts continues to increase, showing how firms are “eager” to hire new staff, according to data shared with City A.M. this morning. There were 1.8m vacancies advertised in the week to May 1, around 15 per cent more than the same period last month. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) said [...]
