Hunt reportedly set to retain SMEs 19 per cent tax rate amid fears for tech March 12, 2023 Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are set to hold on to the 19 per cent rate of company tax amid concerns for the future of the UK’s tech sector, the Mail has reported. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will hand small and medium businesses major tax breaks to boost investment in the spring statement this week, [...]
Week ahead: ECB Lagarde to sign off on another 50 point interest rate hike and Deliveroo updates markets March 12, 2023 Topping City traders’ minds this week will be what is tipped to be another 50 basis point interest rate hike by the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday. The monetary authority of the 20 countries using the euro has explicitly told markets to expect another steep rate hike this week and possibly more in the [...]
Amanda Blanc on Desert Island Discs: Aviva chief speaks out against misogyny March 12, 2023 Aviva chief executive Amanda Blanc has spoken out on the iconic BBC show Desert Island Discs about the misogyny she experienced as chair of the Welsh Rugby Union and at her FTSE 100 firm’s AGM last year. At the shareholder meeting ast year Blanc said that she was the target of a number of sexist [...]
Does the BBC’s Gary Lineker row show that the government has a problem with football? March 12, 2023 The weather forecast finished and then suddenly there it was: the BBC’s hurried replacement for Match of the Day following its spectacular bungling of the Gary Lineker row. Shorn of its theme tune, opening title, studio, presenter, pundits, commentators and about an hour of running time, this was bleak and surreal; a sort of post-apocalyptic [...]
Former minister: Regulators need more scrutiny after receiving Brexit powers March 12, 2023 Widespread concerns have been raised that too little is being done to improve the scrutiny of the UK’s financial regulators as the Financial Services and Markets (FSM) Bill passes through parliament. Following Brexit, UK financial regulators – such as the PRA and FCA – were given the power to replace existing EU laws with new [...]
Chancellor Hunt says he can’t rush into tax cuts before economy gets back to growth March 11, 2023 British finance minister Jeremy Hunt said he wanted to lower tax rates for individuals and especially businesses in the longer term but warned it would take time because the economy needed to grow more quickly first. Hunt, who is due to present his budget on Wednesday, said in an interview broadcast on Saturday that lower tax [...]
Silicon Valley Bank’s demise began with downgrade threat March 11, 2023 In the middle of last week, Moody’s Investors Service delivered alarming news to SVB Financial Group, the parent of Silicon Valley Bank: the ratings firm was preparing to downgrade the bank’s credit. That phone call, described by two people familiar with the situation, began the process toward Friday’s spectacular collapse of the startup-focused lender, the biggest bank [...]
UK economy ‘bounces back’ in another signal a recession is off the table but experts warn of stagnation March 10, 2023 The UK economy “bounced back” from a sharp contraction over Christmas and is holding up better than feared in another sign the country could avoid a recession, official figures out today show. Gross domestic product (GDP) jumped 0.3 per cent in January, better than the consensus forecast of 0.1 per cent growth, according to the [...]
Wall Street stocks tumble: Why Bank of America and Citigroup have been hardest hit after Fed chair Powell’s testimony March 10, 2023 Stocks stumbled on Wall Street on Thursday and added to the week’s losses as markets remain anxious about the prospect of more aggressive action by the Federal Reserve to fight inflation. Major indexes started the day higher and gradually lost ground until they fell sharply in late trading. The S&P 500 fell 73.69 points, or [...]
Stop blaming bad weather for empty shelves, it’s a lack of competition in the food industry March 10, 2023 Supermarkets up and down the country have blamed bad weather for empty shelves, but monopolies in the food industry have left supply chains more and more fragile, writes Nick Dearden.