UK universities should focus on excellence, not DEI May 7, 2025 The UK university sector won’t solve it’s financial problems by prioritising diversity goals over research quality, says Paul Ormerod The university sector in the UK often seems to live in a dream world. Research England, for example, is proposing to order them to “robustly” promote diversity and inclusion in order to qualify for access to [...]
Revealed: The 2025 City AM Awards Winners May 7, 2025 The winners of the 2025 City AM Awards were unveiled at a glittering ceremony in the heart of the Square Mile last night in front of 500 guests. The gongs were handed out on stage in the Guildhall, following a speech from former Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane. City AM Editor-in-Chief, Christian May, [...]
Bank of England to delay interest rates decision – by two minutes May 6, 2025 The Bank of England will delay the release of its latest decision on interest rates this Thursday – by two minutes. The highly unusual change was made to accommodate a two-minute silence to commemorate Victory in Europe Day this week. It means Brits will only be informed about the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)’s decision to [...]
Natwest to ‘outperform’ sector with bumper year, analysts predict May 6, 2025 RBC analysts slapped a “Sector Outperform” rating on Natwest after the lender beat expectations in its first-quarter report. The analysts upgraded full-year profit before tax estimates by three per cent to £7.1bn, compared to £6.2bn in 2024, and upped the stock’s target price to 475p from 465p. They said the upgrades were driven by net [...]
FTSE 100 extends record win streak as gold miners rally May 6, 2025 The FTSE 100’s record run, fuelled by a recovery in investor sentiment following a pullback in US tariff threats, extended to 16 days on Tuesday. The blue-chip index had another nail-biting session fluctuating between small gains and losses before scraping a 0.01 per cent win. Gold miners led the risers as Endeavour and Fresnillo topped [...]
UK services sent into decline amid ‘market turbulence’ May 6, 2025 UK output was sent into decline by “market turbulence” in April for the first time in one and a half years, prompting fears that Chancellor Reeves’ £40bn tax raid last autumn was damaging the country’s services economy. The services sector, which is seen as the engine behind UK growth, had been on a 17-month winning [...]
UK tariff threats put small businesses on alert May 6, 2025 UK small businesses have already taken steps to reduce trading with the US amid a temporary reprieve from tariffs, a leading industry group has suggested. The Labour government is yet to rule out retaliatory tariffs on US goods given President Trump’s trade war could hit UK exporters in under three months. But new research indicates [...]
When words matter more than numbers at the Bank of England May 5, 2025 City analysts have pencilled in their predictions for Thursday. Here’s how almost all of them likely read. Interest rates will be cut to 4.25 per cent, the Bank of England’s inflation forecast for this year will exceed its two per cent target and President Trump’s tariffs will be highlighted as a detriment to UK growth. [...]
FTSE 100 lenders cash in on market turmoil but provisions climb May 5, 2025 FTSE 100 banking giants saw trading income spike in the first quarter as investors sold-off stocks in the face of geopolitical tensions, but tariff threats continued to weigh on future earnings. HSBC kicked off reporting season pocketing a $9.5bn (£7.1bn) pre-tax profit, which surged ahead of the $7.8bn pencilled in by analysts. Barclays and Natwest [...]
Bank of England set to cut interest rates as US tariffs in focus May 4, 2025 UK interest rates are set to be cut to 4.25 per cent as the Bank of England eases costs for borrowers while it digests the impact of US tariffs on the economy. Most economists are expecting rates to be reduced by 0.25 percentage points on Thursday. Sandra Horsfield, an economist for Investec, said it is [...]