Hotel Chocolat closes US online site Exit us British food brand Hotel Chocolat is going to close its US website and severely limit investment in the country. The premium British chocolate maker made the announcement this morning that “investment levels in the US would be materially reduced. They would be “limited to essential working capital only for online and wholesale.” It also “decided [...]
Bed Bath and Beyond CFO falls to his death in New York after mass closures and layoffs Tragedy in Manhattan The chief financial officer of American retailer Bed Bath & Beyond Inc fell to his death from a New York skyscraper. Gustavo Arnal, 52, who previously worked as CFO for London-based cosmetics brand Avon, died on Friday in wake of the company closing stores and laying off workers. New York police responded to reports he [...]
Walmart maintains outlook for next year as profits tighten against inflationary pressures inflationary pressures US retail giant Walmart’s profits were eaten into by inflation as it maintains its outlook for the next financial year despite revenue being up 8.4 per cent. The supermarket chain took in $152.9bn in Q2 but said this strong growth was “partially driven by inflation”, which tempered its outlook, and its profits. Its comparative sales [...]
June NFP preview July 7, 2022 The June US jobs report is due to be released on Friday 8 July at 1.30pm (UK time). Coming at a time when market participants are concerned over the potential implications of impending rising interest rates off the back of soaring inflation, traders will be watching closely for any signs of an economic slowdown. Unfortunately, [...]
World’s biggest hedge fund bets £8.6bn against European stock market will keep falling June 24, 2022 Bridgewater Associates, the world’s biggest hedge fund, has bet £$8.56bn ($10.5bn) that Europe’s stock market will continue to decline. The US investment management firm shorted shares of 28 European companies, including bets of more than £407m ($500m) against 28 firms. The Bloomberg data, reported by the Times, says among the European firms shorted are France’s [...]
Retail therapy gives markets a lift as battle to contain inflation genie starts in earnest May 27, 2022 European markets spent most of yesterday edging cautiously higher, with the FTSE100 shrugging off the UK government’s decision to impose a 25 per cent windfall tax on the oil and gas sector, while at the same time unveiling a fiscal stimulus package. The decision to impose the controversial tax appears to have prompted a review [...]
Global markets: US resilience lifts indexes worldwide with no surprises from Fed minutes May 26, 2022 European markets had a much more positive bias yesterday, helped by more resilience in the US, which finished the day strongly higher after the release of the latest Fed minutes. “This positive finish took a bit of a knock after the close as another disappointing set of earnings numbers, this time from Nvidia prompted US [...]
Recession concerns vie with inflation risk for investors in unpredictable market week ahead May 23, 2022 It was aother week of declines for US markets on Friday, with the S&P500 closing lower for the seventh week in succession, making a fresh 18 month low, and briefly retracing 50 per cent of the move from its 2020 lows to its record highs late last year. The Nasdaq 100 similarly pulled off new [...]
What a difference a day makes: Markets go into full reversal mode as recession concerns grow May 6, 2022 What a difference a day makes? Having rallied strongly in the aftermath of the Federal Reserve’s decision to hike rates by 50bps on Wednesday evening, and not go harder, US stock markets went into full reversal mode yesterday, dragging European markets down with them. Bond yields also shot back up, with the US 10 year [...]
Poor start of the month for global markets: April weakness rolls into May with China lockdowns not helping May 3, 2022 Asia markets got off to a poor start to the month yesterday, as did markets in Europe after the latest China PMIs showed that economic activity in April fell back by more than expected. Much was made of the slowdown in China manufacturing to 47.4 from 49.5, however non-manufacturing saw an even bigger fall, plunging [...]