Walmart takes on Amazon in battle for Indian Flipkart with $15bn bid May 7, 2018 Walmart is set to take on Amazon to buy a stake in India’s biggest online retailer Flipkart, in a deal worth $15bn (£11.06bn). Reports today say that the American retailer will buy three-quarters of Flipkart’s shares at a valuation of just under $20bn. Sources close to the deal told the Financial Times that Walmart boss [...]
How Gin took over the world: It’s selling in record numbers with little sign of slowing down, but could the bubble be about to burst May 3, 2018 From Dalston dives to The Rivoli at the Ritz, people are drinking juniper-flavoured ethanol in record numbers. Last year more than 50m bottles of gin were sold in the UK for the first time, with £1.2bn in sales, up from £600m in 2011. That’s more than a billion gin and tonics. And while the best-selling [...]
Morning markets: FTSE tumbles after Wall Street wobbles and Asian shares slide May 3, 2018 The FTSE 100 slipped 0.3 per cent after the bell this morning, falling well below the 7550 levels it had reached earlier in the week, before rallying back towards 7540. Major European markets also fell in early trading with French CAC, Germany’s DAX and the Spanish IBEX all falling over 0.20 per cent. The FTSE’s [...]
Fifa’s $25bn question: The radical offer to Gianni Infantino that could change the face of football April 30, 2018 If Fifa president Gianni Infantino gets his way, this summer’s World Cup in Russia could be the last of its kind before a major revamp of club and international football. Sepp Blatter’s successor convened an emergency Fifa Council meeting today to discuss a $25bn offer that the governing body has received from an investment group [...]
Aluminium price and nickel price continue to surge on Russia sanction fears April 19, 2018 Metals markets have rallied today as pressure from US sanctions on Russia and rising oil prices boost commodities to multi-year highs. Aluminium giant Rusal continues to feel the heat from sanctions issued earlier this month to target Russian oligarchs and the companies they control. The metal rose to highs not seen since 2011 today while [...]
International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns on record global debt load driven by China April 18, 2018 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) today warned that global debt levels have reached unprecedented levels as it urged governments to fix their roofs while the sun is shining. The world’s debt load reached $164 trillion (£115 trillion) in 2016, equivalent to 225 per cent of global GDP, the IMF said in its latest fiscal monitor, [...]
Alibaba-backed Prenetics acquires UK-based genetic testing firm DNAFit April 17, 2018 Hong Kong-based genetic testing company Prenetics has acquired DNAFit, a British DNA testing company. With over $50m (£34.8m) in funding from Chinese retail giant Alibaba and Ping An Insurance, this is Prenetics’ first acquisition. The sale marks a further expansion into the UK market by Prenetics, although the company already has operations in the UK [...]
Bitcoin price (BTC) jolts to life, climbing by $1,000 in an hour April 12, 2018 Bitcoin’s price rocketed up by about 17 per cent today to reach its highest price in more than two weeks. The cryptocurrency broke past the $7,000 and $8,000 barriers in a matter of about an hour for the first time since the end of March. At the time of writing, bitcoin was down from its [...]
Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil prices jump as geopolitical concerns ease April 10, 2018 Crude oil prices are bounding higher this morning, extending yesterday’s steep gains, as geopolitical tensions ease. Global markets were trading in positive territory today after China’s President Xi Jinping vowed to continue opening the Chinese economy in a speech today, which bolstered oil prices. Brent crude oil briefly rose above $70 per barrel, but at [...]
European stocks jump after Chinese President Xi Jinping soothes fears of US-China trade war April 10, 2018 European markets opened strongly this morning after Chinese President Xi Jinping promised a “new phase of opening up” for China in his keynote address early this morning to the Boao Forum for Asia. The Chinese leader’s speech also allayed fears of a looming US-China trade confrontation. The FTSE opened 44 points up at the start [...]