This is what analysts expect to happen to the oil price in 2017 (spoiler: things are going to get better) December 21, 2016 It's been a turbulent year for oil markets. After bottoming out at below $27 a barrel in January, global benchmark Brent crude looks set to end the year at more than double that price, averaging at the $55 a barrel mark. Analysts believe Brent crude will have an even rosier start to 2017, when prices [...]
From Manhattan hot dog cart to Leicester Square and UK expansion: The story behind upmarket burger restaurant Shake Shack December 21, 2016 Upmarket US burger company Shake Shack started as a modest hot dog cart in Madison Square Park in Manhattan in 2001. This month, it opened a new flagship UK store in Leicester Square, its fourth this side of the pond, with two more – in Victoria and Canary Wharf – to follow early next year. [...]
Ex-Deutsche Bank trader accused of manipulating markets by Russian central bank December 20, 2016 A former employee of Deutsche Bank's Russian division was accused today of manipulating markets to pocket himself and three of his relatives a profit of 255m rubles (£3.4m) over a two and a half year period. Russia's central bank claims Yuri Khilov, while acting on behalf of Deutsche's London branch, carried out 300bn rubles worth of trades [...]
Russian hacking is a “fact” in post-truth strategy says UK government minister December 20, 2016 Britain must accept Russian hacking to influence elections in other countries as a “fact”, according to a government minister. Sir Alan Duncan, the minister for Europe and the Americas, also condemned the murder of the Russian ambassador to Turkey as a "heinous attack", saying, "We obviously fully condemn this." Duncan said there was clear evidence [...]
It’s been a bumper year for stock markets – but how good was 2016 really? December 20, 2016 “Some investors have quipped that it took days for the markets to digest the UK referendum outcome, hours to come to terms with Donald Trump as President-Elect and minutes to assess Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s resignation,” Mark Haefele, global chief investment officer at UBS Wealth Management, told clients last week. It has been a [...]
Russian ambassador to Ankara shot dead in an attack in Turkey December 19, 2016 The Russian ambassador to Ankara, Andrei Karlov, was shot dead in an attack in Turkey today. Karlov was shot while making a speech at the opening of an exhibition at an art gallery by a gunman who shouted in Turkish: "Don't forget Aleppo. Don’t forget Syria. Unless our towns are secure, you won’t enjoy security. Only death can take [...]
Yahoo would be liable to pay a $198m fine were GDPR already enforced December 19, 2016 At the dawn of the internet, Google and Yahoo were in stiff competition for search dominance. Many think the former’s success was due in part to its name becoming a ubiquitous verb for searching online. But decades on, semantic development has finally caught up with Yahoo. Its name is now synonymous with bad data practice. [...]
Blame discredited elites for the decline and fall of the West in 2016 December 19, 2016 “The more I practice the luckier I get.” – Golfing great Gary Player In essence, political risk analysis is like nothing so much as American baseball: there is an undoubted element of chance to the game and even the best player strikes out with soul-destroying regularity. Saying this, it is not dumb luck that the legendary [...]
Will allegations of Russian interference in the US election tarnish Donald Trump’s presidency? December 19, 2016 Brian Klaas, fellow in comparative politics at the London School of Economics, and author of The Despot’s Accomplice, says Yes. Republicans and Democrats agree that Russian hacking was used to help Donald Trump win the presidential election in November. While both Republicans and Democrats were hacked, only e-mails that would embarrass Hillary Clinton were released. [...]
Deutsche Bank mulls axing bonuses to pay loans fine December 18, 2016 Deutsche Bank could axe bonuses for some of its senior staff as scrambles to shore up cash to pay a potentially massive fine over toxic US loans. The bank, which has spooked investors in recent months with warnings over lower for longer interest rates and red tape pushing up costs, will not make a decision [...]