Bitcoin: Is it starting to feel like 2017 all over again? June 27, 2019 By Gary McFarlane from interactive investor. Bitcoin’s decisive break above the psychologically important $10,000 mark – with $11,000 breached over the weekend and in sight again – is being driven by institutional investors and the afterglow from Facebook’s Libra news, despite the regulatory and political pushback against Mark Zuckerberg’s global money plans. Also, the recommendations, as expected, from [...]
US and China ‘agree tentative trade truce’ ahead of G20 summit June 27, 2019 China and the US have reportedly agreed to a tentative truce in their ongoing trade war, two days before crucial talks at the G20 summit this weekend. Details of the agreement, which would scrap plans for a further round of US tariffs on an additional $300bn (£236bn) of Chinese goods, will be laid out in [...]
Japanese stocks surf higher over troubled waters June 25, 2019 Tokyo’s blue-chip Nikkei 225 stock index is riding out regional fears over China and Hong Kong as well as wider concerns regarding Iran and the US. Despite Japan’s special vulnerabilities to both East Asian tensions and higher oil prices, the index is trading higher than either a month or three months ago. This creates a [...]
MPs warn against UK neglecting ties with India in favour of China June 24, 2019 The UK is failing to build an economic and security relationship with India as it grows in wealth and influence, the Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) has today warned. Read more: New UK-India tech hub to be opened in confidence boost for the City In a new report the FAC cautioned that Britain’s focus on building [...]
Shares in chipmaker IQE plummet as it warns Huawei ban will hit profit June 21, 2019 Shares in chipmaker IQE plunged almost 40 per cent this morning after it revised down its full-year revenue and profit guidance due to the US trade ban on Huawei. The Cardiff-headquartered firm, which makes semiconductor wafers for smartphone brands including Apple, warned restrictions on the Chinese tech firm, coupled with a slowdown in the global [...]
Moody’s downgrades Jaguar Land Rover as it battles China slowdown June 20, 2019 Embattled car giant Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) suffered a fresh blow today after credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded the firm and warned of a “negative outlook”. Moody’s has reduced its corporate family rating to B1 from Ba3 and the probability of default rating to B1-PD from Ba3-PD. It also downgraded the instrument ratings on the [...]
Huawei founder downplays $30bn revenue hit after US ban June 20, 2019 Huawei’s founder Ren Zhengfei has played down the impact of a US trade ban on the Chinese tech firm, just days after it forecast a $30bn ($23.6bn) drop in revenue for the year. Ren said Huawei would still post $100bn in revenue this year, roughly flat compared to 2018, and insisted the firm’s consumer business [...]
Cannes Lions: How culture is catching up with adland’s notorious knees-up June 19, 2019 As the plane touches down on the hot tarmac at Nice airport, the butterflies start to set in. My neighbour, a senior media executive, has given me a disconcerting pep talk. “Trust me, it’s worse than Glastonbury,” he says with a smile. As we disembark, it’s clear everyone is headed for the same glimmering town [...]
Oil prices rise as Trump says he is set to meet with the Chinese President Xi June 18, 2019 Oil prices rose by nearly two per cent this afternoon as markets were buoyed by hopes of an ease in US-China tensions. Markets turned upwards after US President Donald Trump said he was expecting to hold an “extended” meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jingping later this month at a meeting of the Group of [...]
EU must drop its City hostility in UK trade talks, warns Brexit secretary June 18, 2019 The European Union must drop its hardline approach to relations between the City and the continent after Brexit, a cabinet minister has warned. The EU insists London’s finance sector must be closely-tied to the bloc’s own regulations in order to grant market access post-Brexit, despite calls for a more wide-ranging and preferential deal in light [...]