Alibaba share price: Stocks surge after second quarter revenue surprise October 27, 2015 Alibaba shares are surging in pre-market trading as another tech giant beats expectation The figures Revenue at the Chinese internet company has risen 32 per cent, well ahead of expectations of around 21bn yuan, hitting 22,171bn yuan in the quarter to the end of September. The value of goods traded on the ecommerce platform also rose 28 per cent [...]
George Osborne has backed the wrong Asian emerging market horse October 25, 2015 Give him his due; George Osborne is a clever man. He has rightly seen that a becalmed EU will not provide the UK with exciting new macroeconomic avenues for growth – for that he must look eastwards. This brainwave amounts to a massive macroeconomic and geostrategic shift for Britain, and is entirely in line with [...]
At the close: S&P 500 recovers from early year losses on tech giants’ results while FTSE 100 touches two month high October 23, 2015 The People's Bank of China may have cut interest rates for the sixth time since November on Friday, but even without its actions the S&P 500 would have made gains after Google, Amazon and Microsoft's share prices soared. As the markets opened in the US, shares in the three companies went crazy, with Amazon's stock opening nine per cent [...]
Markets and commodities jump as People’s Bank of China cuts rates October 23, 2015 Happy Friday. European markets and embattled commodities all jumped this afternoon after the Chinese central bank cut rates, unleashing further stimulus on its economy. The People's Bank of China (PBoC to its friends) cut its one-year deposit and lending rates by 0.25 percentage points each, while it cut its reserve requirement ratio by 0.5 percentage points. [...]
Green bonds: London is leading the world in financing the global low carbon shift October 22, 2015 While the dominant colour in London this week has been red for the landmark state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, today the London Stock Exchange will be adding some green to the palette as we host our inaugural China Green Bond conference in partnership with the Green Finance Committee of the People’s Bank of [...]
The UK’s failure to take a strong line on China’s unfree internet is a blow to British businesses October 22, 2015 The visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Britain this week has proven very profitable for the UK. George Osborne has secured investment in three new nuclear power plants and potentially a high speed railway. Like other major investments in infrastructure, such as the much-anticipated Crossrail, they’ll create both short and long-term employment, skills training and [...]
Hinkley Point C nuclear plant deal is deferred pain to renewables’ deferred gain October 22, 2015 Yesterday, alongside the official announcement of China’s involvement in the deal, EDF said that its final investment decision on the construction of the new Hinkley Point C nuclear plant is now just weeks away. Given that the company and its Chinese partners are positioned to extract up to £80bn of cash dividends from the project [...]
Construction on EDF’s Hinkley Point nuclear plant to begin “within weeks” after China deal is announced October 21, 2015 Construction on the UK's first nuclear power plant in a generation could begin "within weeks" after a multi-billion pound deal between France's EDF and China General Nuclear Power Corporation. EDF will take a 66.5 per cent stake in Hinkley Point C in Somerset, while China General Nuclear Corporation will take 33.5 per cent. EDF intends [...]
Britain eyes the east as the economic way forward October 20, 2015 The British are a pragmatic nation, if attitudes to China are anything to go by. We Brits believe that China is the great emerging economic superpower, and despite recent wobbles – a slowdown and a stock market crash – that’s not going to change. We see China as overtaking the European Union as our main [...]
Tata Steel confirms 1,200 job cuts in Scunthorpe and Scotland October 20, 2015 Britain's biggest steelmaker, Tata Steel, has confirmed 1,200 job cuts at sites, blaming a flood of cheap imports, particularly from China. Around 900 jobs will go in Scunthorpe and 270 in Scotland, as well as a small number at other sites across Europe, the company said in a statement today. "I realise how distressing this news will be for all those [...]