Before the Bell: Europe called higher as Biden is due to announce $2trn stimulus January 14, 2021 Volatility in the markets was low across the board yesterday. There was no change to the macroeconomic outlook. “Hence why trading ranges were relatively small. Equity markets in Europe and the US had muted sessions,” David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK, tells City A.M. this morning. “The health crisis is still bubbling away [...]
FTSE 100 and Wall Street flat in subdued day for markets January 13, 2021 The FTSE 100 was flat by the mid afternoon as markets slipped into a lull after a rapid start to the year. After rising 6.4 per cent last week, London’s leading index has faltered this week with two consecutive sessions of losses. By 3pm the bourse was down 0.05 per cent at 6,751 points. The [...]
Labour’s Anneliese Dodds to call for ‘responsible fiscal framework’ in major speech January 13, 2021 Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds is set to make a definitive break from Jeremy Corbyn-era economic policies in a speech that will commit Labour to “responsible” government spending. Dodds will also urge Rishi Sunak to delay paying of fiscal policy cutbacks or tax increases until the UK’s economy has recovered from Covid, which has been the [...]
Before the Bell: Volatility remains low but Trump faces impeachment vote January 13, 2021 Stock markets had a relatively quiet session yesterday as there wasn’t any major news to influence sentiment in one way or another. European stocks lost ground as Covid-19 case numbers played on traders’ minds. Several governments have tight restrictions in place in a bid to get a handle on the virus – which is having [...]
PwC bags £2.5m government contract to oversee PPE audit January 12, 2021 Accounting giant PwC has landed a £2.5m contract to oversee an audit of the government’s procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic, following a scathing report from the UK’s spending watchdog. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) yesterday published details of a £2.5m contract with the UK’s largest accounting and advisory [...]
Sterling strengthens after Bank boss Andrew Bailey dismisses negative rates talk January 12, 2021 The pound is stronger against the US dollar and the euro this evening after comments from Andrew Bailey
Covid-19 drives employment tribunal claims up 17% January 12, 2021 The number of claims received by employment tribunals has jumped 17 per cent in the last year to 42,392, up from 36,336 in the previous 12 months. Employment law firm GQ Littler said the increase was “significantly faster” than the 7 per cent rise that occurred between 2017/18 and 2018/19 and ties in with the [...]
Bank of England bosses reassess 2021 GDP and jobs numbers as UK economy faces ‘darkest hour’ January 12, 2021 Bank of England boss Andrew Bailey and his deputy Ben Broadbent have today both signalled the effects of the UK’s third Covid-19 lockdown. In separate speeches, Bailey and Broadbent spoke on the impact of the current nationwide lockdown, the furlough extension and consumer behaviour. The UK economy was facing its “darkest hour”, but Bailey also [...]
Is “Londonograd” hiding a culture of dirty tricks in banking? January 11, 2021 A legal dispute is coming to a head concerning an alleged banking fraud committed during the sale in 2016 of Vivacom the largest Bulgarian telecoms company. Vivacom, the largest Bulgarian telecoms company, was sold in August 2016 by VTB Capital Plc (“VTBC”), a UK-based investment subsidiary of the Russian state-owned VTB Bank, in a pledge [...]
Lockdown: Tougher Covid restrictions on horizon, ministers warn January 11, 2021 England may face tighter lockdown restrictions amid scientists’ warnings that current measures are not doing enough to reduce Covid rates, the UK’s vaccine tsar has suggested. Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccine deployment minister, today said current restrictions may be scaled up as he admitted he was “worried” at the current picture. “We’ve got to review everything [...]