Big Tech vs Congress live: Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon face Washington grilling July 29, 2020 Welcome to City A.M.’s Big Tech vs Congress live blog. Please refresh this page for live updates. Big Tech faces its day of reckoning today as the world’s four biggest tech moguls appear before the US Congress in Washington to face a grilling over their companies’ size and power. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, [...]
Does Covid-19 mark the beginning of the end for cash? July 29, 2020 Many European countries were already moving away from cash transactions and the pandemic will only speed up this trend. The Covid-19 crisis has changed our daily lives in multiple ways and accelerated a number of trends that were already in place. For many of us, one obvious change is that the need to use cash [...]
Q&A: Why electric trucks could help EU meet CO2 targets July 29, 2020 To meet new EU regulations on CO2 emissions for trucks, manufacturers will have to ramp up production of battery electric trucks and then hydrogen fuel cell trucks. Trucks emit between 6-7% of total CO2 emissions globally. The European Union (EU) introduced its first ever CO2 emissions regulations for heavy duty trucks last year. This followed [...]
Gold hits record high – but is it really too expensive? July 29, 2020 Even as it reaches new highs, we don’t think it’s time to grow concerned about the price of gold, or gold equities. Here’s why. The gold price has been rising steadily and on Monday (27 July) hit an all-time high of $1,944/oz, beating its previous record high of $1,922 from 2011. Chart 1: The gold [...]
What has driven stock market returns and what could drive them in the future? July 29, 2020 Increasing valuations have been the main driver of stock market returns since Covid-19, but when we look over the past five years, we find a different set of drivers. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, markets have climbed a wall of worry, despite cuts to corporate earnings, forecasts and dividends. Increasing valuations have been the main [...]
28 months later: are European equities back on investors’ radar? July 29, 2020 European equity flows turned positive in June for the first time in 28 months – we look at what might be reviving investor interest in the asset class. It’s been a tough couple of years for pan-European equities. A combination of political worries, including Brexit, and weak economic growth means many investors have shunned the [...]
UK pension scheme invests £5.5bn into ‘environmentally friendly strategies’ July 29, 2020 Britain’s largest pension scheme Nest has pledged to tighten its climate change policy with an investment of £5.5bn into environmentally friendly strategies. The government-backed scheme said it would decarbonise its £12bn investment portfolio in a bid to tackle climate change. Nest said it aims to be “net-zero” across its investments by 2050 or earlier, with [...]
Corporate spy firm tries to clean up ‘James Bond’ industry’s image July 29, 2020 Technology firm Ground Truth Intelligence (GTI) has today launched its ethical investigations platform in London, as the company seeks to shake-up the corporate intelligence industry following high-profile scandals involving companies such as Lekoil and Credit Suisse. The London-headquartered firm is set to provide an “alternative approach” to the global intelligence and investigations industry, offering ethical [...]
PwC refuses to audit miner Petropavlovsk amid board room battle July 28, 2020 Big Four auditor PwC has said that it will not work with gold miner Petropavlovsk due to concerns over corporate governance at the FTSE 250 firm. Since early July, the Russian focused miner has been gripped by infighting, with two rival groups of shareholders battling for control of the company. At the firm’s last board [...]
Sky Arts to become free to air channel in bid to boost culture sector July 28, 2020 Sky Arts will become free to air for all viewers in September, as the broadcaster attempts to boost the sector in a “vital time for culture” during the pandemic. Britain’s only TV channel dedicated solely to arts and culture is currently only available to paying customers. However, it will become free to air for all [...]