Week ahead: City braces for further inflation surge June 19, 2022 Investors are bracing for fresh data this week to point to a further surge in UK inflation, sending the rate of price rises beyond an already 40-year high. London’s FTSE 100 last week was caught up in one of the most volatile weeks for global stock markets since the early days of the pandemic. It [...]
SpaceX fires employees over letter criticising CEO Musk June 17, 2022 SpaceX fired employees for their part in writing and circulating a letter that criticised CEO Elon Musk, the New York Times reported on Thursday. The rocket manufacturing company reportedly dismissed multiple workers who were involved in the letter, which blasted Musk’s public conduct and urged SpaceX to publicly condemn his Twitter behaviour. “Elon’s behaviour in [...]
Diversity goals: Improving trust encouraged 80 per cent of employees to share data voluntarily, PwC partner says June 17, 2022 There is an increasing amount of trust when it comes to handing over personal data voluntarily, with a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) saying it has shot up from 15 per cent in 2018 to 80 per cent this year. The comments came during an event hosted by Datasite featuring an expert panel discussion about improving [...]
New audit watchdog chair pledges tougher rules for company executives June 16, 2022 The new chair of the UK’s audit watchdog has vowed to make company directors accountable for corporate accounting scandals, in his first public speech as head of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). FRC chair Sir Jan du Plessis said the government’s decision to water down plans for a British version of the USA’s “Sarbanes-Oxley [...]
US Fed rate hike rally runs out of steam as Wall Street tumbles June 16, 2022 Wall Street bottomed out today after the rally triggered by the US Federal Reserve yesterday flexing its inflation fighting muscles ran out of steam. Traders ditched stocks as they brace for Fed chair Jerome Powell and fellow rate setters following an extremely hawkish path on interest rates. The tech-heavy Nasdaq, which has suffered heavy losses [...]
McDonald’s to cough up more than €1bn to settle French tax dodging case June 16, 2022 Fast food titan McDonald’s is set to cough up more than €1bn to tie up a spat with French authorities over tax dodging. An agreement between McDonald’s fiscal authorities was given the greenlight in a tribunal in Paris on Thursday. The US giant will pay back €737m in unpaid taxes and a €508m fine, a [...]
Business travel rebound at risk as travel chaos plays out on our screens June 16, 2022 Stephen Hammond is the Conservative MP for Wimbledon and the chair of the all party parliamentary group on business travel The pandemic had a dramatic impact on aviation. Airports closed their doors. Airlines went bust. Staff were let go. Britain was well and truly grounded. Fast forward to this Easter, and the situation couldn’t be [...]
US Federal Reserve fires 75 basis point rate hike bazooka to tackle inflation June 15, 2022 The US Federal Reserve today fired a rate hike bazooka as it scrambles to tame the worst bout of inflation across the pond in recent history. Chair Jerome Powell and co lifted the world’s most important interest rate 75 basis points, the steepest rise since 1994, to between 1.5 and 1.75 per cent. The move [...]
The Oxbridge obsession ignores the potential for social mobility in businesses June 15, 2022 Where you were born and what your parents do still matters for the opportunities you will have and the progress you will make in the UK. It’s not fair, but it’s true. Achieving social mobility in our society is one of the most important challenges both government and business face today. It’s unsurprising then that [...]
Specialist insurer PIC buys out House of Fraser pensions scheme for £600m June 14, 2022 Specialist insurer Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) bought out the House of Fraser pensions scheme, in a deal worth £600m, following the department store chain’s collapse in 2018. The British insurer will take over control of the pension scheme, which was formed in 2013, for ex who worked at House of Fraser, and its two subsidiaries [...]