Private equity needs to start speaking up for itself – it could be the key to ‘levelling up’ August 6, 2021 Private equity’s reputation is once again in the spotlight. With the supermarket Morrisons in the industry’s crosshairs, the public memory is reminded of previous scandals involving other household names. The multi-billion-pound bidding war for a major employer, headquartered in the north of England, has understandably attracted the interest of ministers and opposition politicians sensitive to [...]
Wall Street lifted by Covid-era low jobless claims August 5, 2021 US stocks opened up sharply on Thursday morning after investors were boosted by fresh data showing the American labour market recovery still has legs. The blue-chip S&P 500 gained 0.43 per cent to reach 4,421, while the Dow Jones shot up 0.6 per cent to 34,998. The tech-heavy Nasdaq notched the best performance out the [...]
Venezuela to shave six zeroes off its inflation battered currency August 5, 2021 The Venezuelan central bank will shave six zeroes off the country’s currency, the bolivar, to make transactions less complicated, it said on Thursday. The change will come into force on 1 October with the distribution of new currency notes. “All monetary amounts expressed in national currency will be divided by one million,” the central bank [...]
London restaurants warned of meat and seafood shortages this autumn August 5, 2021 Rrestaurants and gastropubs in London and the rest of the UK have been warned of potential shortages of key menu items alongside a spike in inflation this autumn. Buying specialist Lynx Purchasing said hospitality businesses would face “significant and widespread” challenges with higher prices and food shortages for the rest of the year, including supply [...]
Bank of England to tighten monetary policy to tame runaway inflation August 5, 2021 The Bank of England signalled today it is likely to start reining in the wave of monetary stimulus it unleashed in response to the Covid crisis to control inflation. “At some point, monetary policy may need to tighten so that the MPC can meet its remit” of achieving an inflation target of two per cent, [...]
PMI: Pingdemic crimps UK services industry August 4, 2021 The “pingdemic” has hit activity in the UK services industry as firms struggle to ramp up supply to cope with soaring demand due to severe worker shortages, according to a closely watched survey released today. The latest IHS Markit / CIPS purchasing managers’ index for the UK services industry dropped to 59.6 in July, down [...]
PMI: Eurozone business activity soars to 15-year high August 4, 2021 The rapid rollout of Covid vaccines across Europe is fuelling consumer spending, helping to propel business activity in the Eurozone to a 15-year high, according to a closely watched survey released today. IHS Markit’s latest Eurozone purchasing managers’ composite output index rose to 60.2 in July, driven by an acceleration in manufacturing growth and strong [...]
Fertility benefits – for lawyers or for law firms? August 4, 2021 More law firms in the City are offering paid leave or paying towards the costs of fertility treatments for their employees in a bid to stay up to date, and keep their lawyers. Last week law firm Ashurst announced what it called “landmark” changes to its global parental leave policy. Alongside offering a reduction in [...]
Bank of England’s MPC meeting: Who will take Haldane’s hawkish reins? August 3, 2021 A big hole has been left at the table of the latest round of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee meetings – they are the first since chief economist Andy Haldane departed the Old Lady after over 30 years of service. Much of the focus on Thursday’s MPC policy announcements will be on whether [...]
First-half profits double at HSBC as bank reinstates dividend August 2, 2021 Banking behemoth HSBC appears to have recovered from the ravages of Covid-19, with first-half profits more than doubling on last year. The Asia-focussed bank recorded pre-tax profits of $10.8bn for the first six months of the year, some $6.5bn ahead of last year’s equivalent. The bank said all of its regions were profitable, with HSBC’s [...]