Don’t believe the Scottish independence hype — I’d bet on Johnson’s tortoise to beat Sturgeon’s hare July 24, 2020 For his first significant political event outside the Westminster bubble, timed for his one-year anniversary of becoming Prime Minister, Boris Johnson chose to go to Scotland. The significance of that choice cannot be overestimated. Politics is as unpredictable as ever, and despite chancellor Rishi Sunak hosing Scotland with the billions confected by the Bank of [...]
Three charts suggest a V-shaped recovery, but economists are sceptical July 24, 2020 British businesses reported the best growth in five years in July and shoppers spent their money at close to pre-coronavirus rates in June, data showed today in a positive sign for the UK economy. It was a stark contrast to two weeks ago, when figures showed that the economy undershot expectations in May with just [...]
Fear of coronavirus likely to ‘drag’ on UK economy, says BoE official July 23, 2020 People’s fear of catching coronavirus is likely to stop them from going out to spend normally and “drag on the economy,” a Bank of England policymaker has said. Jonathan Haskel, a member of the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC), said the “path of recovery” therefore depends on public and private health measures bringing coronavirus under [...]
Stagecoach shares surge despite profit nosedive amid pandemic July 22, 2020 Stagecoach’s shares shot up in early trading today despite revealing a staggering 60 per cent plunge in annual profit in part due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The bus operator’s shares surged 10.8 per cent to 55.9p as large slumps in revenue and profit for its latest financial year were not as bad [...]
‘Historic’ day as RBS formally changes name to Natwest July 22, 2020 RBS has formally changed its name to Natwest, removing Scotland from the bank’s parent company for the first time since it was founded. The group will remain headquartered in Edinburgh, and the name change will not affect RBS bank branches. The intention to change the name was first announced in February when it reported its [...]
Social licence: How financial markets can switch focus and help solve humanity’s greatest challenges July 21, 2020 If there was ever any question as to whether we value human life more than money, the coronavirus pandemic has surely answered it. The protection of ordinary people, in this country and indeed in almost every country in the world, has come at an extraordinary economic cost. Yet only a minority of people have dared [...]
RBS tells 50,000 employees to work from home until next year July 21, 2020 Royal Bank of Scotland has reportedly told more than 50,000 staff to work from home until 2021. It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the government’s advice to work from home would be dropped next month in a bid to stimulate the economy. He said employers would have “more discretion” about where staff should [...]
BoE’s Haldane: V-shaped recovery ‘a description of the past’ July 20, 2020 The Bank of England’s chief economist Andy Haldane has said discussion by experts of a so-called V-shaped recovery for the UK economy were not meant to be “a prediction of the future”. Haldane told the Treasury Select Committee that the use of phrase V-shaped recovery was “so far, a description of what has happened”. “The [...]
Johanna Kyrklund: Are markets paying enough attention? July 20, 2020 Like home-schooled children during the Covid crisis, markets seem to be struggling to pay attention for long. For parents, one of the most difficult parts of lockdown has been home-schooling their children. My social media feed has been full of people tearing their hair out as long-forgotten concepts such as subordinate clauses or trigonometry have [...]
Deloitte: Big UK businesses fear late 2021 recovery July 20, 2020 Nearly half of Britain’s biggest companies think it will take until the second half of 2021 to post a recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey that cast doubt on hopes for a speedier rebound. Accountants Deloitte said 49 per cent of chief financial officers from large and mostly listed companies forecast a [...]