Gender pay gap: UK women earn £263,000 less than men over working life October 29, 2019 British women will earn £263,000 less than their male counterparts over their life, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The ONS study shows that the average working woman can expect to take home 59 per cent of what the average man takes home. Read more: UK inflation stays at Bank [...]
Mortgage approvals boosted as buyers rush ahead of Brexit October 29, 2019 Mortgage approvals were boosted last month as prospective buyers rushed to complete home purchases ahead of the 31 October Brexit deadline date. The latest figures from the Bank of England (BoE) showed mortgage approvals for house purchases reached 65,919 in September after falling to a three-month low of 65,681 the previous month. Read more: New [...]
The six biggest bull runs since 1962 (and their corrections) October 28, 2019 The current bull market in US stocks started in March 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis and is the longest in recent history, beating the rally between July 1962 and May 1970 by over four years. At the time of writing, the bull market is still going. US stocks are up more [...]
Can Freshfields’ young guns retain the Magic Circle firm’s private equity crown? October 27, 2019 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s youthful private equity team are on the frontline of the struggle between UK and US law firms to control the City legal market. The firm has led the European private equity deal rankings for the last three years, seeing off the challenge of both Magic Circle and US rivals. However, the shock [...]
Which stock markets are “cheap” entering the final quarter of 2019? October 25, 2019 There are plenty of reasons why investors could justifiably feel pessimistic about the future, but stock market valuations are not one of them. In 2019 the global economy has gone into a marked slowdown. US-China relations have remained tense. Drones have attacked oil infrastructure in the Middle East. Global corporate earnings growth has collapsed towards [...]
UK rises up World Bank ease of business ranking October 24, 2019 The UK is one of the top 10 countries for doing business in the world, according to a new World Bank study, thanks to the ease of starting a firm, protection of investments and insolvency resolutions. Read more: UK economy close to recession after stagnant services sector data In the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 [...]
‘Don’t piss people off’: Sir Richard Branson’s advice for Extinction Rebellion is short and sweet October 24, 2019 When Extinction Rebellion hit the headlines this time last year, its leaders can hardly have imagined the movement would gain support from one of the best-known names in global aviation. Indeed, jet fuel is responsible for about 2.5 per cent of global CO2 emissions, and could even guzzle as much as half of the UK’s [...]
Why caution on Hong Kong is paying dividends October 24, 2019 Prudent investors will have been cautious on Hong Kong for some time, says Henderson Far East Income Fund Manager Mike Kerley; with Asia’s income growth coming from elsewhere. For anyone with an interest in the Asian growth story, the scenes in Hong Kong are very worrying. While no one could have foreseen the scale and [...]
Treasury watchdog has huge task ahead October 24, 2019 Westminster isn’t a happy place these days. MPs leave under police escort while protesters from both sides of the Brexit stalemate berate them; conventions in parliament are tested almost to destruction by the Speaker and ministers alike; a domestic legislative agenda exists only on paper; the government cannot govern and the opposition demand an election [...]
Winning the global race: Britain needs social enterprises to help business rediscover its purpose October 24, 2019 What seemed like a lifetime ago, former Prime Minister David Cameron used to talk about the “global race”. When he spoke about getting fit for this race, his argument was that the state needed to shed a few pounds in order to free up businesses to drive growth. Like most politicians at the time, he [...]