Michael Gove slams EU for putting ‘vaccine procurement’ ahead of Northern Ireland peace February 8, 2021 Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove has accused the EU of putting peace in Northern Ireland at risk to try and “salvage” its slow Covid vaccine rollout. Gove told MPs today Brussels “owes its member states is a fuller explanation about why it acted in the way it did” and that the EU’s quickly rescinded call [...]
Hunting for unicorns could see us miss the easy targets February 8, 2021 Every year, the health of Britain’s venture economy, and particularly tech, ecosystem is judged by the number of unicorns – companies that have secured billion-dollar valuations. The number of unicorns goes up, and the growing strength of the emerging next generation of UK businesses is celebrated. At the pinnacle of the apex, it’s a good [...]
British entrepreneur Mike Lynch gears up to fight US extradition attempt February 8, 2021 Mike Lynch, the British businessman facing accusations of fraud, will this week fight attempts to extradite him to the US. Lynch is facing charges of securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy in the US related to the 2011 acquisition of his former software firm Autonomy by tech giant Hewlett Packard. Following the sale, HP wrote [...]
City A.M. TV: Daily market snapshot (video) February 8, 2021 Is there a message for western markets from Asian price action? Various key Asian markets, including the Chinese Shanghai Composite, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Korea’s Kospi, have all struggled to break above key technical levels in recent trading sessions. That stands in contrast the price action in the US (at new highs) and Germany’s [...]
Ether futures set for Chicago Mercantile Exchange launch today February 8, 2021 Crypto at a Glance Happy Monday! And what a happy Monday it is. Bitcoin is back paddling in the warm waters around the $40k level and just closed the week at its highest price in history, Ether’s (ETH) bull run continues apace with prices soaring past $1,700 to new all-time highs, and Cardano (ADA) just [...]
How the experts would invest £1,000 in an ISA right now February 8, 2021 Stocks and shares ISAs are a tax-efficient way to potentially grow your money by investing, so they should be an essential part of your overall wealth planning. But, with such a wide array of investment choice, the hardest part is deciding what to put in them. To give you some food for thought, we asked [...]
What are the UK-EU memorandum of understanding talks on financial services about? February 8, 2021 Last month the UK Treasury began talks with the EU to put in a place a memorandum of understanding for future financial services regulation on each side of the Channel. Much of the media discourse about these talks revolve around whether they will yield extended EU market access for the City of London, however any [...]
The Week Ahead: Look out for GDP data, Ocado, AstraZ, Twitter and Ted Baker February 8, 2021 Start your week informed: here are the announcements and results to look out for this week. UK GDP: A double dip recession is looming After a fairly decent third quarter, and an expansion of 16 per cent, the UK economy has had a much more troubled fourth quarter, with the likelihood that we may well [...]
UK business output plummets to nearly year low February 8, 2021 The impact of lockdown restrictions in January caused UK business output to fall at a rate not seen since April 2020. Business output in January 2021 fell by 5.38 points to a near year low, according to consultancy firm BDO, with the service sector driving the decline. Despite business output falling, economic activity was significantly [...]
Here comes Govtech: It’s time to digitise government and the public sector February 8, 2021 Boris Johnson’s first telephone call with Joe Biden in the White House reportedly included some joshing over which of them had first used the phrase ‘Build Back Better’. Whether it was the Prime Minister or the President, it is set to be the leitmotif of the global post-Covid recovery. Economies have been devastated, individuals have [...]