Traders brace for punishing Budget on pound Economics Traders are making pre-emptive moves on the indication Rachel Reeves’ forthcoming Autumn Budget will send the pound tumbling. Investors have taken an overwhelmingly bearish view on the pound, with new trading data revealing the volume of put options – contracts that profit when sterling declines – surpassing call options, those that profit when the currency [...]
90 years of Penguin Books: The origin myth that may not be true Life&Style The penguin, the myth, the legend. As the publisher celebrates 90 years, Anna Moloney takes a look at the company that revolutionised reading (sort of).
Autumn Budget: Reeves told avoid ‘pick and mix’ tax grabs Economics Ahead of the Autumn Budget, City Reporter Samuel Norman sits down with top industry names for a Budget Briefing. This week, the managing director of TheCityUK warns Reeves not to patch up the tax tire just for it to deflate once more. The Chancellor has touted financial and professional services for their role “at the [...]
Will we mourn the loss of WH Smith from the high street? September 29, 2025 So long then, WH Smith, a firm which has graced our high streets for more than a century – even though it never intended to. Founded as a small newspaper kiosk in Mayfair in 1792, the business grew massively in the mid-19th century, spurred by the rapid expansion of the railways, which allowed consumers up [...]
Will the public miss WH Smith if it disappears from the UK high street? January 30, 2025 YouGov’s chief executive Steve Hatch takes a closer look at the data behind the biggest stories in business. Here, he looks at the future of WH Smith. News broke last week that WH Smith was looking to sell its UK high street stores. The company told the London Stock Exchange that it intended to become [...]
UK economy: Does Labour’s economic hotchpotchism matter? January 21, 2025 Although gilt jitters have eased, the embattled Chancellor now faces a new and far more serious criticism.
Square Mile and Me: Natasha Guerra on setting up Runway East November 28, 2024 Runway East CEO Natasha Guerra tells us about her career, her favourite cocktail spot, and why she'd like to see fewer blue shirts in the City.
Why Dame Sharon White failed at John Lewis and what her successor needs to do October 4, 2023 The current chair of John Lewis was always a risky appointment, Simon Neville writes, but she made mistakes that her successor would do well to learn from as they seek to restore the retailer to relevance
Mark Kleinman: Wilko’s demise, the FTSE chair merry-go-round and Bink’s breakup with Barclays September 14, 2023 Mark Kleinman gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly column for City A.M.
Mark Kleinman: The inquest into Wilko’s demise has only just begun September 14, 2023 Mark Kleinman is City editor at Sky News Inquest into Wilko’s demise has only just begun Few things elicit British consumers’ sentimentality like the imminent disappearance of a once-proud high street name. For Woolworths in 2009 and BHS in 2016, read Wilko in 2023. The sad fate of more than 10,000 employees at the family-owned [...]