British factories lift prices at record pace as Ukraine war and China lockdowns send costs soaring May 3, 2022 Severe supply chain disruption caused by Beijing persisting with its zero-Covid tolerance policy and Russia’s war with Ukraine has sent British factories’ costs soaring at the quickest pace on record, reveals a closely watched survey released today. Shortages of raw materials and key components used by UK manufacturers due to normal trade flows being choked [...]
Poor start of the month for global markets: April weakness rolls into May with China lockdowns not helping May 3, 2022 Asia markets got off to a poor start to the month yesterday, as did markets in Europe after the latest China PMIs showed that economic activity in April fell back by more than expected. Much was made of the slowdown in China manufacturing to 47.4 from 49.5, however non-manufacturing saw an even bigger fall, plunging [...]
Exclusive: Londoners absorb heaviest national insurance hike hit May 3, 2022 Londoners have suffered the worst blow to their finances in the UK in the first month the national insurance hike has been in effect, reveals exclusive research shared with City A.M. today. Workers in the capital have absorbed a near £300m blow to their budgets from higher national insurance bills, the biggest jump in the [...]
Investors brace for more US Federal Reserve and Bank of England rate hikes May 3, 2022 Traders in the City and Wall Street are this week bracing for their respective central banks to push on with more rate hikes in response to a historic inflation crunch on either side of the pond. The US Federal Reserve and Bank of England announce their next interest rate decision tomorrow and Thursday respectively. Both [...]
China zero-Covid policy and Ukraine war brings Europe factory output to ‘standstill’ May 2, 2022 China’s adherence to zero-Covid tolerance policies and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought manufacturing “to a near standstill” in Europe, reveals a closely watched survey released today. Widespread shortages of raw materials used by factories on the Continent caused by Beijing plunging key trade hubs such as Shanghai into lockdown in response to a surge [...]
Week ahead: Wall Street and City eye central bank rate decisions May 2, 2022 Traders in the City and on Wall Street will be eyeing how much their respective central banks hike interest rates by in a week of key economic and corporate announcements. London’s premier FTSE 100 index posted a reasonable performance last week, adding 0.3 per cent to finish at 7,544.55 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE [...]
It’s been a funny old week in the world of Bitcoin April 29, 2022 This week can only be described as the “week of international events” for Bitcoin as news has come thick and fast from all corners.
House price growth slows but remains in double digits April 29, 2022 Growth in house prices has slowed this month, but remains in double digits, according to the Nationwide House Price Index.
US economy unexpectedly shrinks in sign of coming global growth cool down April 28, 2022 A sharp pullback in businesses spending to build up stock to avoid being spiked by intense supply chain disruption has led the US economy to unexpectedly shrink in a sign that global growth will cool this year. Stateside output dropped 1.4 per cent in the first three months of the year, a huge miss from [...]
Barclays kicks shareholder goodies into long grass again after $15bn trading blunder April 28, 2022 British banking giant Barclays has kicked its share buyback programme into the long grass for the second time after it booked huge costs to draw a line under an unprecedented trading blunder, it announced today. The lender last month said it had sold more than $15bn (£12bn) of financial products than it was allowed to, [...]