FTSE falls as England starts to reopen April 12, 2021 London’s main market fell 0.4 per cent this morning despite positive sentiment about England starting to open up following the coronavirus lockdown. The FTSE 100 was down 0.4 per cent while the FTSE 250 fared slightly better, down a more moderate 0.2 per cent. For most, today marks the first day of 2021 that non-essential [...]
S&P 500 and Dow climb for third day and close at records April 9, 2021 The S&P 500 and the Dow rose to close at record highs, posting a third straight weekly rise partly on lift from growth stocks, with a late-day rally building gains ahead of quarterly earnings season next week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 299.21 points, or 0.89 per cent, to 33,802.78, the S&P 500 gained [...]
UK house prices reach new record high as property market booms April 9, 2021 UK house prices reached a new record high last month as government measures such as the stamp duty holiday continued to buoy the property market. Average house prices jumped 1.1 per cent compared to the previous month, hitting a record £254,606. In comparison to March last year – when the pandemic hit the UK – [...]
Welcome to paradise: The most expensive island homes revealed April 8, 2021 A visit to a tropical island may seem like a far-fetched dream for many Londoners, especially after a year spent lockdown. While we may not be able to leave the UK for a jetsetting adventure any time soon, some people are lucky enough to call these exclusive island properties home. From a £109.6m Fijian private [...]
Retirement property developer McCarthy Stone secures £200m to expand rental offering April 8, 2021 Retirement property developer McCarthy Stone has secured £200m in financing to expand its rental portfolio. The finance will be provided jointly by John Laing and Macquarie Capital, and will help the UK developer expand its rental properties to “a growing aging population”. Brigid Investments Limited, a special purpose vehicle formed by John Laing and Macquarie [...]
Oxford scientist set for £15m payday in Vaccitech flotation April 8, 2021 Professor Sarah Gilbert, the Oxford scientist behind Astrazeneca’s coronavirus jab, is set to land a payday of as much as $20m (£15m) as her vaccine start-up prepares for its stock market debut. Gilbert is understood to be sitting on millions of dollars worth of shares in biotech firm Vaccitech, which is expected to list in [...]
Commercial struggles offer open skies to private jet operators April 7, 2021 The global collapse of aviation over the past year has for the most part been one long unrelenting nosedive, with the occasional moment of levelling out as much-needed respite. As in most crises, however, there are both winners and losers, and though the big commercial airlines clearly fall into the latter category, an unlikely group [...]
City Moves: Who’s switching jobs in the Square Mile this week? April 7, 2021 Snakes and Ladders provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every Wednesday afternoon. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. Tharsus adds former CEO of Dyson to its board Robotics company Tharsus has appointed former Dyson CEO to its board as a non-executive director this week. Martin McCourt, whose career spans four decades, [...]
UK PMIs: Service sector returns to growth as lockdown end nears April 7, 2021 The UK’s services industry returned to growth in March, with business activity, new orders and unemployment all rebounding from the previous month. New data released this morning shows that the UK’s impressive vaccine rollout had seen the economy recover at a faster rate than initially expected. The IHS Markit/Cips purchasing managers (PMI) index for services registered 56.3 [...]
DEBATE: Should London have rent controls? April 7, 2021 Dr Kristian Niemietz, head of political economy at the Institute of Economic Affair says No Rent controls are a lot like socialism. Both have been tried dozens of times. Both have ended in failure every single time. And both remain insanely popular nonetheless. In both cases, supporters will insist that, far from having failed, the [...]