Flood the streets with art: traffic-free weekends and an all-night celebration in the City for a cultural comeback May 24, 2021 The City’s reopening is building up to a crescendo with the return of visitors and audiences to some of the Square Mile’s iconic cultural institutions. One of the things that I – like many others – have missed the most during lockdown has been the opportunity to enjoy world-class art and culture in person rather [...]
Beyond Pret sandwich sales, how do we measure the recovery of London? May 23, 2021 After more than a year of lockdown restrictions, words like “recovery” are thick in the air. Indeed, the Bank of England is forecasting annual growth of 7.25 per cent, the fastest rate since 1941; positive news, but it is not the most digestible statistic for much of Britain’s population. The most important benchmarks are ones [...]
Wall Street edges higher as FTSE 100 falls flat despite recovery hopes May 21, 2021 Wall Street opened higher this afternoon as investors turned their attention to key business surveys at the end of a volatile week of trading. The Dow Jones rose 0.11 per cent on open and the S&P 500 gained 0.23 per cent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq pushed 0.59 per cent higher. It came after the London’s [...]
TGI Fridays to float its 87 restaurants on London Stock Exchange this year May 21, 2021 The owner of TGI Fridays has revealed plans to float the restaurant chain on the London stock market. Electra Private Equity, which has owned the casual dining brand since 2014, said it plans to float it on the FTSE main market in the third quarter of this year. The owner told investors today that it [...]
City A.M. TV: A Market Snapshot May 21, 2021 Despite some giveback earlier this week, price action in markets has been reasonably encouraging for the bulls, especially in the past 48 hours. In particular, a number of major asset prices have tested, held, and rallied from key support levels this week (including the S&P500, the NASDAQ100, and Bitcoin). In the case of Bitcoin, the [...]
Premier League deal: Fast-growing sportswear brand owned by Andy Murray signs up Wolverhampton Wanderers May 21, 2021 Fast-growing UK sportswear brand Castore, which is part owned by Sir Andy Murray, has agreed its first kit deal with a Premier League club. The company will now supply Wolverhampton Wanderers in a multi-year partnership thought to be worth several million pounds. It comes less than a week after it was disclosed that the Liverpool-based [...]
Retail sales soared in April as Brits came out of third Covid-19 lockdown May 21, 2021 Retail sales soared in April as Brits came out of third Covid-19 lockdown
FTSE 100: Early gains fade as mining stocks drag down index May 20, 2021 London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3 per cent this morning as declining mining stocks cut out early banking gains. The blue-chip index had advanced 0.4 per cent in early trading, with home retailer Kingfisher adding 3.6 per cent after raising its first half profit outlook. But those gains were dragged down by mining stocks including Fresnillo, [...]
Watches of Switzerland eyes first £1bn year after pandemic fails to dampen desire for posh watches May 20, 2021 Appetite for posh watches and luxury jewellery has not waned during the pandemic, as Watches of Switzerland reported a group revenue increase of 18 per cent in its 2021 financial year. Luxury watches at the company – the UK’s biggest Rolex retailer – were responsible for £788.4m in revenue, while luxury jewellery pulled in £60.8m. [...]
Investor confidence booms for UK and European markets May 19, 2021 Investor confidence has risen for both UK and European markets, with the accelerated roll out of vaccines likely to be driving the renewed optimism. Investor confidence in the UK rose another four per cent to a record high for the year, while confidence in Europe is up 28 per cent compared with April 2021, according [...]