Facebook, TikTok and fake news play key role in Kenyan elections: Millions to vote today after ugly online campaigns August 9, 2022 NAIROBI – Politicians and political parties across Kenya have spent tens of millions on social media campaigns in recent weeks in a last effort to win over voters, as the East African country is going to the polls today. Alongside hundreds of genuine statements and ads, fake and false online claims play a key role [...]
China trade surplus hits record high while markets nervously await Fed’s next move August 8, 2022 Markets in Europe look set to open slightly lower as we start a new week after US markets closed mixed on Friday, and the latest July trade data for China pointed to weak domestic demand. Any thoughts that the US Federal Reserve might have to start going soft when it comes to the tightening of [...]
Steaming US jobs market raises risk of another jumbo Fed rate hike August 7, 2022 The US jobs market is still steaming despite the world’s biggest economy wobbling under the weight of soaring inflation and higher interest rates, figures published last week showed. America added 528,000 jobs in July, pushing the unemployment rate down to 3.5 per cent, below pre Covid-19 levels, according to data from the US Labor Department. [...]
US Federal Reserve’s rate hike cycle takes centre stage in investors’ minds August 7, 2022 Investors are grappling with a mix of challenges they have not faced in years. Tighter monetary policy. Sky-high inflation. Strong geopolitical tensions. These factors have driven volatile swings in asset prices. Usually in times of uncertainty, investors pile into the US dollar and American assets. And that is exactly what they are doing now. US [...]
Week ahead: City braces for soft economy data and US inflation figures August 7, 2022 Top of City traders’ minds this week will be whether fresh GDP figures reveal the UK is already in the early stages of the drawn out recession the Bank of England forecast last week. Despite the economic doom, London’s FTSE 100 was broadly stable, edging 0.16 per cent lower to close the week at 7,439.74 [...]
A technical recession: How bad will it be? August 7, 2022 It is no surprise that US GDP growth is declining given the slowdown in consumer spending and domestic production recently. However, markets seem fraught with headline risk with the term ‘technical recession’ floating around. Analysts have pointed out the looming risk of a recession given the central bank’s aggressive tightening cycle while Fed chair Powell [...]
More jumbo Bank of England rate hikes on a knife edge if UK tips into long recession August 4, 2022 More super-sized rate hikes in the coming months from the Bank of England are on a knife edge if the economy slumps into a prolonged recession, City economists are betting. Consumers and businesses may struggle to absorb further 50 basis point rate rises, likely prompting the Bank to slowdown its rate hike cycle, experts said [...]
D-Day in the City: Bank of England set to make history today by raising interest rates by record 50bps August 4, 2022 Today the Bank of England could make history by raising interest rates by 50bps for the first time since the Monetary Policy Committee was set up back in 1997. In June, the vote was a split decision, and it is quite likely that this one could be too. Then, three members of the MPC voted [...]
Bitcoin rose in July amid crypto crash August 3, 2022 In association with Luno Bitcoin has continued to establish itself above $20k this week, with the price hitting highs of more than $24k over the weekend. It’s since dropped back slightly, broadly staying in a zone between $22-23k as economic and geopolitical concerns continue to negatively impact traditional and crypto markets alike. On the whole, [...]
US recession risk remains as Fed seeks to tame inflation August 3, 2022 After its latest rate rise, the Federal Reserve has signalled the pace of hikes could slow. But a recession may still be necessary to bring runaway inflation under control. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by another 75 basis points (bps) at its July meeting, but indicated that the pace could slow from here. In [...]