Superdry to miss 2020 targets as it braces for another difficult year March 18, 2020 Superdry does not expect its online sales to offset losses, as it predicts it will miss its 2020 targets due to the “unprecedented challenges” of the coronavirus outbreak. The retailer said the majority of Superdry’s European store estate has been affected by mandated closures, which contributes around 40 per cent of weekly sales forecasts. Currently, [...]
Investment and coronavirus: Keep calm and don’t cash out March 18, 2020 Coronavirus has sent stocks plunging like few other events in the history of financial markets. The FTSE 100 has dropped by a third in the last month. Other indices such as the S&P 500, Japan’s Nikkei, and Germany’s Dax are all in roughly similar positions. Not only are people concerned for their health, but their [...]
Global stocks set to spiral despite coronavirus stimulus measures March 18, 2020 Global stocks looked set to slump yet again today as investor panic over the escalating coronavirus outbreak clouded the impact of major government stimulus policies. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slumped 3.5 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei dropped 1.7 per cent overnight, failing to follow a rally in US stocks yesterday. Wall Street rebounded yesterday [...]
DEBATE: Is now the time for the UK to trial a temporary Universal Basic Income? March 18, 2020 Is now the time for the UK to trial a temporary Universal Basic Income? YES, says Julian Jessop, an economics fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs. In normal times, cash payments regardless of individual need would be too expensive, poorly targeted, and distortionary. It is therefore right to use existing means-tested benefits (notably universal [...]
The three-year university degree is heading for a failing grade March 18, 2020 A report last month by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has found that, although higher education is a very good investment for most, a fifth of students — around 70,000 every year — actually make a net financial loss from going to university. Not every student factors in potential earnings when deciding what to do [...]
Female entrepreneurs are breaking down doors and lighting a path March 18, 2020 International Women’s Day, which took place less than two weeks ago, always provides an opportunity to reflect on the progress that business has made towards gender equality. Over the last decade, I have seen an increase in opportunities through a tidal wave of new businesses led by women, driven by a growing trend towards people [...]
The Tories risk becoming an irrelevant party in the capital March 18, 2020 The decision to postpone May’s London mayoral election a full year due to the coronavirus pandemic offers an opportunity for parties to reflect on a to-date lacklustre campaign. For the current mayor Sadiq Khan, generally good poll ratings have sat uneasily alongside persistent questions about seemingly out-of-control knife crime, the long-delayed completion of the new [...]
To pay for this crisis, the government must keep in mind Ricardian equivalence March 18, 2020 John Maynard Keynes could certainly craft a neat phrase. In the Second World War, he wrote in his pamphlet How to Pay for the War: “It is only in a free community that the task of government is complicated by the cause of social justice.” The impact of the coronavirus pandemic is similar to a [...]
Cost of living falls in European cities March 18, 2020 European cities are becoming cheaper to live in, according to data released today. The numbers from the Economist Intelligence Unit show Paris is no longer the world’s most expensive city. Osaka, Singapore and Hong Kong jointly hold the top spot with Paris falling to fifth, behind New York. Nicholas Fitzroy, The EIU’s risk briefing director [...]
Peacetime is over — and the war has only just begun March 18, 2020 We are still in the very early stages of this crisis and already we risk becoming desensitised to the kind of language deployed by our leaders. The Prime Minister says he’s running “a wartime government” while the chancellor tells the country “never in peacetime have we faced an economic fight like this one”. The words [...]
