Hopes of Christmas spending splurge nudges UK business confidence higher December 21, 2022 UK businesses are hoping the Christmas spending splurge will give them a welcome boost before a long recession sets in, a new survey out today shows. According to Lloyds Bank’s business barometer index, every UK region notched a positive business confidence reading for the first time since July. Eight out of the 11 areas recorded [...]
London businesses lament dismal start to 2023 after another rail strike set for January December 20, 2022 Hospitality leaders have reiterated calls for rail firms and unions to hash out an eleventh-hour resolution to swerve January strikes, after train drivers announced another walk-out. Train drivers at 15 companies in the union Aslef have agreed to strike on 5 January, as part of a long-standing pay dispute. The walkout will take place on [...]
Fees paid to FTSE 100’s auditors hit record sums of more than £1bn December 20, 2022 The UK’s top 100 listed companies paid more than £1bn to their auditors for the first time in 2021/22, following a steady uptick in audit fees linked to a tougher stance from the UK’s accounting regulator. FTSE 100 companies paid a record £1.01bn to their auditors for both audit and non-audit services, in the year [...]
Workforce shrinkage risks roiling growth and embedding inflation December 20, 2022 A workforce squeezed by older Brits retiring earlier threatens to intensify inflation in the UK and whack economic growth, a new report out today claims. The some 565,000 people who have left the jobs market since the start of the Covid-19 crisis will drag on a UK economy that is already tumbling into an at [...]
Left in the dark: Business chiefs fear redundancies after energy relief update delayed December 20, 2022 Business leaders have accused the government of leaving firms in the dark over energy bill support, after ministers push back an announcement of what aid will be on offer later next year. The government had previously said it would update businesses before the end of the year on energy bill relief from April 2023, when [...]
FTSE 100’s winners and losers in 2022 December 19, 2022 The Christmas lull is setting in. Investors are bracing to turn off their screens and get away from the daily City grind. Trading volumes on the FTSE 100 are thinning. It’s also that time of year when financial journalists pick through the UK’s worst (and best) performing stocks over the past 12 months. Without further [...]
Number 10: Rishi Sunak ‘deeply regrets’ Christmas strikes December 19, 2022 Rishi Sunak “deeply regrets” the strikes disrupting the Christmas period but will not bend on public sector pay demands, Number 10 has said. Sunak’s official spokesman today said it is “still in the gift of the unions to step back and reconsider the approach” as Britain suffers from a series of December strikes. Up to [...]
Binance Deals With ‘Stress Test’ as Crypto Market Leverage Drops, FTX Founder is Charged December 19, 2022 Data from CryptoCompare shows that the price of Bitcoin started this past week moving up steadily from around $17,000 to a high above the $18,000 mark, before it quickly collapsed and dropped to $16,500. Ethereum’s ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, traded in a similar way, seeing a high of $1,350 after starting the [...]
Despite Britain’s Brexit borders, immigration at record 1m a year to become ‘new normal’ in UK December 19, 2022 Britain must prepare for a new era of high immigration caused by UK domestic need and changes in global economics and politics, a new think-tank paper said today. The post-pandemic immigration rate of 1.1m arrivals a year could be the start of a trend towards historically high migration levels in the coming decades, according to [...]
Government must ‘work night and day’ so UK doesn’t lose out on green jobs to other countries December 19, 2022 There is a critical five-year window to attract businesses in green sectors such as renewable energy and electrical cars to set up factories in Red Wall areas, a report has claimed. Think tank Onward said the government has a short timeframe to bring green jobs to parts of the Midlands and the North being targeted [...]