US inflation tops expectations in sign Federal Reserve has more work to do October 13, 2022 US inflation climbed higher than expected on a monthly basis in September in a sign the Federal Reserve’s series of steep rate hikes are failing to tame the toughest price pressures. Inflation hit 0.4 per cent last month, above Wall Street’s expectations of a 0.2 per cent increase and higher than August’s print, figures from [...]
Boris Johnson pockets £150k in 30 mins as former PM skips crucial Commons vote to jet off to Colorado October 13, 2022 Former prime minister Boris Johnson touched down in the USA on Tuesday as the ex-Tory leader gave a speech to an insurance industry group on Tuesday afternoon, thereby reportedly collecting around £150,000 for a 30 mins speech. Johnson addressed conference delegates in Colorado Springs, roughly at the same time while the House of Commons was [...]
The Inflation Game: War, Peace and the Perils of Central Banking October 13, 2022 The descent is always more sudden than the increase; a balloon that has been punctured does not deflate in an orderly way. — John Kenneth Galbraith I travelled with my family to London and Normandy in July 2022. Our primary purpose was to meet up in France with my father-in-law, who had dreamed of visiting the [...]
Cleverly blasts Tory MPs for attacking Truss and wanting ‘quotable tweets’ October 13, 2022 Britain’s foreign secretary James Cleverly has hit out at Conservative rebels for publicly criticising Liz Truss over her spending plans, accusing them of being concerned with “having quotable tweets”. Cleverly’s comments comes after Tory MPs began to publicly call into question Liz Truss’ policies yesterday. A frenetic meeting of the backbench 1922 Committee last night [...]
Royal Mail workers kick off 19 day strike action October 13, 2022 The biggest strike of the year continues today as 115,000 postal workers will come out for a “dignified, proper pay rise”. Members of the Communication Workers Union – which represents Royal Mail Group workers – have kicked off the first day of their 19 day strike. The decision follows the union’s ballot for strike action [...]
Recruiter Hays reports record fees amid tight labour market October 13, 2022 Recruitment specialist Hays said it was confident it could navigate economic volatility ahead today as it reported a record quarter with fees up 15 per cent.
Truss has picked the wrong fight: the problem is inflation, not lack of growth October 13, 2022 In her speech to what was left of Tory party conference, Liz Truss promised that her priority was “growth, growth, growth”. The events of the past week have underlined why that is the wrong priority, at the wrong time, by the wrong prime minister. Much has been made about the prime minister’s ideological convictions but [...]
One in a bullion: here’s the chance for City fund managers to replace Bitcoin with gold October 13, 2022 Over the course of last year, Bitcoin has enjoyed what has seemed like a never-ending rise in its market value. At the start of 2021, a single token was valued at $32,000, and by April that value had more than doubled. Traders were optimistic that the wider acceptance of Bitcoin by merchants and big banks [...]
London’s FTSE 100 weighed down UK banks tumbling October 12, 2022 London’s FTSE 100 was marred by the UK’s largest listed lenders falling sharply today on fears over borrowers struggling to pay home loans. The capital’s premier index fell 0.86 per cent to 6,826.15 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, dropped 1.73 per [...]
M&S to speed up plans to close 1 in 4 larger clothing stores October 12, 2022 Marks & Spencer will accelerate its plans to slash the number of its larger stores that sell clothing and homeware products. In an update to investors on Wednesday, the supermarket revealed it would shutter more than one in four of its so-called full-line stores within three years rather than five. Plans also include the opening [...]