Week in Business: Labour’s jobs madness as employers urge change of plan April 17, 2025 Business Secretary Johnny Reynolds was so fed up with people criticising him for never having run a business that he bought himself a whopping great steel mill in Scunthorpe. Now firmly a member of the boss class, will he have sympathy with the business chiefs who this week begged the government to rip up their [...]
Dollar movements spark ‘Trussonomics’ fears with worst case scenario ‘no longer unthinkable’ April 16, 2025 The dollar’s worst case scenario is “no longer unthinkable,” economists have warned, as some draw parallels with the crisis in UK financial markets during the Liz Truss premiership. Alongside plummeting stocks and falling bond prices, the US currency has weakened in the wake of Trump’s erratic tariff agenda, with growing concerns that its status as [...]
UK employers cut jobs as tax hikes bite April 15, 2025 High wage growth persisted in the three months to February, official data has shown, but a rapid drop in payrolled employment pointed to concerning trends in the labour market. Annual growth in average weekly earnings excluding bonuses hit 5.9 per cent, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Tuesday. But separate tax data showed [...]
China’s out to destroy our steel industry? We can do that on our own. April 15, 2025 The two remaining furnaces at the Scunthorpe steel plant, known as Anne and Bess, have blasted through plenty of crises over the course of their long lives and now, thanks to an emergency effort by ministers to source enough materials to keep them fed, it seems they’ll roar for a few more years. But it [...]
Could Trump’s tariff war turn crypto into a safe-haven asset? April 11, 2025 As trade tensions reignite under Trump’s wavering tariff announcements, global markets are once again bracing for volatility. The US President’s announcement of his ‘reciprocal’ tariffs last week triggered market chaos. His surprise move, expanding and intensifying tariffs on a wide range of imports, shook equities, manufacturing and commodities alike. But in the world of crypto [...]
Masters 2025 prize money: How much do players earn at Augusta? April 10, 2025 Prize money at the 2025 Masters has doubled in under a decade, with the winner at Augusta National this week set to earn $3.6m (£2.8m). The total prize fund at the year’s first major has now swollen to $20m (£15.5m) and the top three players are all assured of seven-figure payouts. As recently as 2016, [...]
S&P 500 slumps on open as Treasury yields remain elevated April 10, 2025 US markets have opened down after digesting the implications of Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on his sweeping tariffs. The Nasdaq opened down 2.7 per cent, while the Dow Jones fell 1.9 per cent and the S&P 500 opened 2.3 per cent down. Meanwhile, US Treasury yields have remained elevated, with the 30-year US Treasury sitting [...]
Exclusive: Former Bank of England policymaker calls for interest rates to be held amid high inflation April 10, 2025 A former Bank of England rate-setter has suggested that high inflation levels call for interest rates to be held at 4.5 per cent in May. The majority of investors and analysts are expecting the Bank to cut interest rates next month to ease low growth concerns, with up to three more cuts priced in until [...]
Deutsche Bank: The market has ‘lost faith’ in US assets April 9, 2025 A “remarkable” sell-off in the dollar and US Treasuries suggests global markets have lost faith in American assets, and risks sparking an “outright financial war” that could force the Federal Reserve into another round of quantitative easing, Deutsche Bank’s top FX analyst has warned. In a wide-ranging note on Wednesday, George Saravelos said that the [...]
Barclays goes ‘overweight’ FTSE 100 amid global rout April 7, 2025 Barclays strategists have upgraded their position on the FTSE 100 to ‘overweight’ in the face of the extreme rout of global stocks after Trump’s swingeing global tariffs. Despite suffering its worst two-day trading period since the pandemic, London’s blue-chip index has outperformed its international peers in recent days, falling just under 10 per cent since [...]