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 [...]
Copper prices are eyeing up their biggest weekly rally in 35 years following Donald Trump’s pledge to boost infrastructure spending November 11, 2016 Copper prices are eyeing their biggest weekly rally in 35 years today following US president-elect Donald Trump's commitment earlier this week to boost infrastructure spending. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was trading up 3.5 per cent to $5,601 per tonne, a level it hasn't reached since mid-2015, and up more than $700 since [...]
The new bridge to China heralds the start of a golden age for UK fintech November 11, 2016 Over the past few years I’ve witnessed first-hand the UK’s fintech sector emerge as the world’s dominant hub – over traditional technology centres such as Silicon Valley, New York, Israel, Singapore, and Hong Kong. There is no question that more technology innovation and value creation in financial services comes from the UK than anywhere else [...]
Hammond vows “constructive” relationship with Trump but falls short of supporting his policies November 10, 2016 Philip Hammond has said Britain will have a "constructive" relationship with the US under Donald Trump, but gave warnings that he did not agree with the President-elect's plans to slap tariffs on foreign goods. The chancellor, speaking to the BBC this morning, said that he hopes talks will still be helpful, but indicated he would [...]
Donald Trump’s ambiguous trade policy is a massive opportunity for Britain to catalyse the creation of a new Prosperity Zone November 10, 2016 Much ink has been expended on what a Donald Trump presidency will mean for trade. He has promised at various times in his campaign to slap 45 per cent tariffs on China and Mexico, to pull the US out of Nafta and the WTO, and has railed against the TransPacific Partnership. Naturally many people have assumed [...]