Central banks face tough journey to ‘Goldilocks’ policy setting June 19, 2022 Goldilocks found the perfect bowl of porridge through trial and error. The US Federal Reserve, Bank of England and the rest of the central banking elite are following a similar rationale right now. They are grasping for that “just-right” policy setting which allows an economy to reach its full potential without knowing what that setting [...]
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 [...]
Treasury chief warns against pay rises as thousands expected to protest in capital over cost of living crisis June 18, 2022 Treasury chief Simon Clarke has warned against staff pay rises, suggesting that Brits should avoid "unrealistic expectations around pay".
Railway members to vote on new strike action as threat of ‘summer of discontent’ looms June 17, 2022 Members of the union TSSA working for Southeastern are set to vote on strike action, as the threat of a “summer of discontent” looms closer . The ballot will be open from 23 June to 11 July, meaning that a potential strike could start as soon as 25 July. The union asked the train operator [...]
Tesco profit guidance ‘unchanged’ despite 1.5 per cent fall in sales amid ‘incredibly challenging’ environment June 17, 2022 Tesco said its profit guidance for the coming year remained “unchanged” despite experiencing a 1.5 per cent fall in underlying sales in the first quarter of 2022. Britain’s biggest grocery store recorded its sales for the first 13 weeks up until the end of May, and said its profit and cash outlook will stay the [...]
Halfords calls on government to rethink scrapping of EV grant June 16, 2022 Motoring retailer Halfords has called on the government to rethink its decision to scrap the £1,500 grant for the purchase of new electric cars. The Department for Transport (DfT) announced on Tuesday it would “refocus” the funding available away from the grant to encourage other road users, including taxis and delivery vans, to make the [...]
Bank of England hikes rates for fifth time in a row and warns of 11 per cent inflation surge June 16, 2022 The Bank of England today hiked interest rates for the fifth time in a row for the first time since it was given control of monetary policy a quarter of a century ago as it pushes to cool the highest rise in living costs for a generation. A majority of the Bank’s nine rate setters, [...]
UK small businesses being priced out of cyber insurance by high premiums and cost-of-living crunch June 16, 2022 The UK’s small businesses are increasingly being priced out of cyber insurance policies, due to sky-high premiums and the cost-of-living crunch. Almost a third (29 per cent) of companies with fewer than 250 staff cancelled their cyber insurance policies last year, as part of efforts to cut costs, research from GlobalData shows. A further 17.3 [...]
Use windfall tax to improve energy efficiency of British homes, argues climate charity Ashden June 16, 2022 The government should funnel revenues from the windfall tax into making the UK's housing stock more energy efficient, says Ashden.
Government to publish renters reform bill to tackle ‘no-fault’ evictions and rent hikes June 16, 2022 The government is readying to publish its Renters Reform Bill white paper today, in a bid to tackle ‘no-fault’ evictions, rent hikes and make it easier for tenants to keep pets. The Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities has described the Bill as “the biggest shake-up of the private rented sector in 30 years.” [...]