Federal Reserve to press on with third 75 basis point hike after inflation overshoot September 13, 2022 The US Federal Reserve is set to hike the world’s most important interest rate by another historic amount to tame sticky inflation, Wall Street warned today. A hotter than expected inflation reading published today prompted a wave of economists to bet on the Fed lifting US borrowing costs 75 basis points for the third time [...]
M&A Roundup: HY 2022 September 13, 2022 | City Talk This year has been challenging on many levels – inflation is impacting economic demand, the cost of living crises carries on, and the war in Ukraine continues. However, in terms of M&A, EMEA is withstanding the headwinds rather well. Per Mergermarket figures, deal count totalled 4,963 compared with 6,182 in H1 2021, a fall of [...]
UK joblessness falls to 1970s low, but pay continues to plummet September 13, 2022 UK joblessness has slid to its lowest level since 1974, but scorching inflation is still wiping out Brits’ pay, official figures published today reveal. The proportion of people out of work dropped to 3.6 per cent in the three months to July, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Despite the historic low unemployment [...]
Ex-minister says Kwarteng was right to sack Treasury’s top civil servant September 13, 2022 Kwasi Kwarteng was right to sack the Treasury’s top civil servant and his exit was a “cause for celebration”, according to a former Treasury minister. Former fraud minister Lord Theodore Agnew said the sacked Treasury permanent secretary Tom Scholar was the embodiment of “the malign influence of the Treasury orthodoxy”. Kwarteng has immediately tried to [...]
London’s FTSE 100 bounces despite GDP undershoot September 12, 2022 London’s FTSE 100 bounced today despite new figures revealing the UK economy is much weaker than expected. The capital’s premier index climbed 1.66 per cent to 7,473.03 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, surged 1.7 per cent to 19,513.87 points. Traders shook [...]
UK’s accounting sector on course for record year as firms capitalise on volatility September 12, 2022 The UK’s accounting sector’s turnovers continued to grow over July as the industry bucked trends towards plummeting revenues in the wider services sector. The accounting sector’s turnovers increased 0.69 per cent from June to July, to heights of £3.54bn, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show. The growth saw the sector’s revenues [...]
UK and European energy price freezes may trigger blackouts, Goldman warns September 12, 2022 UK and European governments freezing energy prices risks blanketing the Continent in power blackouts, a Wall Street investment bank has warned today. Keeping energy bills artificially low is likely to stimulate energy demand, possibly causing supplies to run dry, Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients. “With interventionist policies announced so far prioritising capping [...]
UK economy already in throes of drawn out recession, City warns after GDP disappoints September 12, 2022 The UK economy is already in recession and Liz Truss’s energy support package is unlikely to lift it out of its slump anytime soon, City economists warned today. Weaker than expected growth figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today prompted experts to sound the recession alarm. Gross domestic product (GDP) climbed 0.2 per [...]
Production output sinks below pre-Covid levels as electricity and gas sector declines September 12, 2022 Monthly production output in the UK dropped this summer, sitting at a level below the last pre-Covid level in February 2020. Output sank 0.3 per cent between June and July 2022, coming in at 1.3 per cent below February 2020 levels, according to freshly published data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The fall [...]
London’s economy powers through August in ‘growth mode’ as UK stalls September 12, 2022 London’s economy powered through August in “growth mode” despite the UK stalling, a new survey published today reveals. High street bank NatWest’s London purchasing managers’ index (PMI) remained in positive territory in August at 54.9. However, the PMI dropped sharply from 58 in July and was the weakest reading in nearly a year and a [...]