15m UK households brace for soaring energy bills, which will rise by £139 August 6, 2021 Energy bills for 15 million households will increase by at least £139 from October because of a rise in wholesale energy prices, regulator Ofgem has said. Watchdog Ofgem said today that energy customers on default tariffs paying by direct debit will see the sharpest jump in prices since the cap was introduced, taking average energy [...]
Slowing US labour market recovery tempers Wall Street August 4, 2021 US shares dropped sharply on Wednesday morning after weaker than expected payrolls data tempered investor sentiment. The blue-chip S&P 500 dipped 0.42 per cent to 4,404, while the Dow Jones was clipped 0.78 per cent to 34,848. The tech-heavy Nasdaq edged down 0.06 per cent 14,752. Read more: Demand ‘peaks’ as US services recovery slows [...]
What does China’s stock market meltdown mean for investors? August 2, 2021 Chinese markets have hit headlines again in recent weeks. Geopolitical tensions surrounding trade remain, but market behavior and performance – particularly in the tech sector – has also come to the fore. We asked Tom Wilson, Schroders’ Head of Emerging Market Equities, what’s causing the upset. The Chinese government seems to be cracking down on [...]
How might the UK replace China in its new nuclear plants? July 29, 2021 Back in 2015 the UK and China put nuclear power at the centre of what was hailed as a new “golden age” for relations between the two countries. As part of £30bn worth of deals, China’s state-owned nuclear firm China General Nuclear (CGN) agreed to partner with the UK to help it build three new [...]
China crackdown weighs heavily on global markets July 27, 2021 Global stock markets notched losses on Tuesday as investor sentiment soured on concerns that Chinese authorities may over-extend their regulatory crackdown. The US’ main benchmarks dropped during the opening session, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq registering the worst performance, down 1.76 per cent. The blue-chip S&P 500 fell 0.78 per cent, while the Dow Jones lost [...]
Why has north Asia outperformed its south-east Asian peers? July 23, 2021 The success of north Asian countries (China, South Korea, Taiwan) in containing the Covid-19 pandemic last year is well-known. Strict lockdowns and quarantine procedures helped all three countries return to relative economic normality last year while Western economies suffered protracted disruption. China and Taiwan even recorded positive GDP growth for 2020. This success was, in [...]
Exclusive: En+ chairman Lord Barker on how the energy sector is tackling climate change July 22, 2021 With the climate conference COP26 in Glasgow fast approaching, sustainability, alternative energy and sector reforms across a range of industries are increasingly on the political agenda and therefore closely monitored by investors in the City and around the world. One company at the heart of this ecosystem is En+ Group, the largest producer of low-carbon [...]
Turn the volume down: London could be revolutionised by the silent automation of the noisiest parts of city life July 22, 2021 Cities have always been the future. Development is nearly always metropolitan, regeneration usually urban. London is one of the world’s major cities, and we might expect it to be one of the fastest to bounce back from the turmoil of the last year. But will a post-pandemic world view cities in the same way? Covid [...]
UK inflation hits 2.5 per cent in June July 14, 2021 UK inflation jumped again in June, outpacing economists’ expectations to accelerate away from the Bank of England’s target, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed this morning. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to 2.5 per cent last month, its highest level since August 2018, up from 2.1 per cent in May. Analysts had forecast [...]
US inflation surges at fastest pace in over a decade July 13, 2021 US inflation rose at the fastest pace in over a decade last month as severe supply constraints and shortages of key raw materials drove prices up sharply, according to new figures released on Tuesday. The US consumer price index rose 5.4 per cent annually in June, the largest increase since August 2008. The US CPI [...]