Ashmore: Asset manager’s stock surges as investor withdrawals subside January 15, 2025 Ashmore stock surged five per cent in early trading this morning after the asset manager reported a sharp reduction in outflows. Investors pulled $400m (£327m) from the emerging markets specialist over the last quarter, down from $700m (£572m) in the three months before and below the $1.1bn (£900m) expected by analysts. When excluding a liquidity [...]
Inflation: ‘Relief’ for Reeves or a ‘temporary reprieve’? January 15, 2025 Inflation unexpectedly fell in December, but is it 'relief' for Rachel Reeves or just a 'temporary reprieve'?
UK gilt auction fails to roll back yield spike January 15, 2025 A closely watched sale of UK government debt failed to roll back the alarming rise in yields after the £4bn auction did not drum up significant interest for gilts. The Debt Management Office (DMO) reported that the 2034 gilts were sold at a yield of 4.808 per cent, compared with 4.332 per cent in the last [...]
Pub giants allay fears of hospitality crisis despite higher wage bills January 15, 2025 Pub giants Mitchells & Butlers and Fuller, Smith & Turner have both expressed confidence as the firms adapt to higher wage bills, in a positive sign for an industry which warned of crisis last year. Mitchells, the owner of Harvester, Toby Carvery and All Bar One, reported like-for-like growth of 10.4 per cent over the [...]
Vistry: Housebuilder avoids fourth profit downgrade but warns of market uncertainty January 15, 2025 Vistry has warned of uncertain market conditions as it reaffirmed previously downgraded profit guidance for the year ahead. The UK’s largest housebuilder by output said the outcome of the government’s spending review and a “recovery in consumer confidence” would prove pivotal in determining performance in 2025. Group adjusted pre-tax profit is forecast to be around [...]
Demand for AI tech boosts Currys January 15, 2025 Electrical retailer Currys has reinstated its dividend after a jump in sales related to AI tech helped boost the firm’s top and bottom lines. In a trading update issued this morning, the FTSE 100 firm said it expected to record a profit for its 2024/25 financial year of £145m to £155m, up 23 per cent to [...]
Inflation falls to 2.5 per cent in boost for Chancellor Rachel Reeves January 15, 2025 The inflation figures come amid a sell-off in the gilt market, which has raised doubts about the government's fiscal plans and even prompted calls for the Chancellor to resign.
Business confidence plunges to lowest level since Liz Truss’s mini-budget January 15, 2025 Rachel Reeves’s tax hikes have pushed business confidence to its lowest level since the wake of Liz Truss’s calamitous mini-Budget, as firms fret over a surge in costs and slowdown in the domestic economy, a closely watched survey has suggested. Concerns over a looming tax bill and a slump in sales caused business confidence to [...]
The Notebook: Impulse investing? How FOMO is driving young investors January 15, 2025 New research has shown how fast-changing trends are driving investing among young Brits. But will they regret throwing out the fundamentals?
Most retailers will hike prices in response to Reeves’ NI Budget raid January 15, 2025 Two thirds of CFOs have said their business will be forced to raise prices as a result of higher wage bills, according to a new survey. Around 70 per cent of respondents to the survey, which looked at the attitudes of CFOs at 52 retailers, were “pessimistic” or “very pessimistic” about trading conditions over the [...]