How far will Trump’s war on climate change go? November 17, 2016 In a world of post-truth democracy, it is fitting that President-elect Donald Trump's new director of the Centre for Energy and Environment “is not a climate scientist. I'm just… the informed layman.” It would be truly fascinating and terrifying to take a peek at what Myron Ebell is reading. On the one hand, he believes [...]
Global fintech venture capital soars to $15.2bn as UK market swings back into action post-Brexit vote November 16, 2016 Global fintech venture capital soared in the first three quarters of the year, as the UK market perks up again post-Brexit vote. Worldwide VC investment in the first three quarters of the year was up by 27 per cent year-on-year, with 839 deals completed in the first nine months of the year, with a combined [...]
Donald Trump and emerging markets: Why you should buy the Mexican peso, government and corporate bonds November 16, 2016 If the performance of the dollar and US equities has defied forecasts since Donald Trump’s election, the impact on other assets, like US Treasuries and emerging market (EM) securities, has been grimly predictable. EM corporate debt had been one of 2016’s best performing asset classes, and funds which invest in these countries attracted $47bn from [...]
Dollar pressure continues to beat down Asian currencies in wake of Trump election November 15, 2016 China’s yuan today fell to its weakest point since December 2008 against the dollar as concerns over US President-elect Donald Trump’s policies led investors to pile more pressure on Asian stocks. The yuan fell to 0.146 against the dollar, continuing a steady decline from a peak of 0.165 in 2014 and a 52-week peak of [...]
The Trump-Hammond-Keynesian consensus is wrong: Higher infrastructure spending does not equal greater growth November 14, 2016 To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Or when it comes to the UK economy: to an economist who believed in fiscal stimulus in 2011, every period of time looks like an opportunity for more government spending. In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s victory last week, even his most vociferous left-leaning economic critics [...]
Adrian Ringrose to step down as Interserve begins successor search November 14, 2016 Support services giant Interserve is on the hunt for a new boss after announcing that its chief exec will stand down next year. Adrian Ringrose, who joined the board of the group 15 years ago and has manned the tiller as chief exec since 2003, won't be sticking around in any other capacity and plans [...]
Are iPhones about to become a bargaining chip in Trump’s China trade talks? November 14, 2016 "Making things difficult for China politically will do him no good." That was the gist of an op-ed column in a state run newspaper in China yesterday, which amounted to a threat to take action against any measures on trade with China put forward by Trump: "China will take a tit-for-tat approach then." And iPhones could [...]
Volkswagen’s Audi is in talks with China’s biggest car manufacturer SAIC Motor November 14, 2016 Volkswagen's Audi AG has confirmed it's in talks with China's biggest car manufacturer by sales, SAIC Motor Corp Ltd, for a long-term collaboration. The two firms signed a cooperation agreement on 11 November to explore the collaboration, SAIC said in a statement. Reuters first reported discussions were in the works on Saturday, to pave the way for [...]
Focus On Rotherhithe: A £34m investment has brought a new town square, library and cultural centre to the Docks November 11, 2016 Rotherhithe, a conservation area in the Docklands in south east London, is one of the prettiest and most rapidly gentrifying places in the capital. With a long and proud history as a major trade port, it was a working dock right up until the 1970s. It was also home to the first under-river tunnel in [...]
Singles Day: What can British retailers learn from China’s version of Black Friday? November 11, 2016 Today marks the world’s largest e-commerce event. No, it’s not Black Friday yet – Singles Day is taking place in China, and it’s bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. At midnight local time it took Alibaba just 52 seconds to take its first 1bn renminbi (£116m) and just under seven minutes to reach 10bn [...]