British factories prepare to launch quickest price hike cycle since 1977 January 25, 2022 British factories are preparing to launch a rapid cycle of price rises to offset a cost onslaught, reveals a closely watched survey released today. The fresh print adds to agitation at the Bank of England over inflation becoming entrenched in the UK economy as a result of businesses baking in soaring costs to their pricing [...]
Sunak has enough room to scrap national insurance hike, according to top City economists January 25, 2022 Chancellor Rishi Sunak has enough room to scrap the looming national insurance hike to ease the heavy cost of living burden weighing Brits down, according to leading City economists. Bumper tax revenues driven by the UK economy performing much better than forecast has provided the Chancellor with a big enough tax windfall to cancel the [...]
Housebuilders drag London markets down as investors flee stocks January 24, 2022 London markets took a beating yesterday driven lower by most sectors tumbling as investors fled stock markets on US Fed rate hike fears. The capital’s premier FTSE 100 index closed 2.63 per cent lower at 7,297.15 points, while the domestically-focused FTSE 250, which is more aligned to the health of the UK economy, lost 3.64 [...]
Sea of red: Looming US Fed rate hike spree sends chill through global markets January 24, 2022 A sea of red engulfed global markets today as a looming rate hike spree from the US Federal Reserve sent investors fleeing stock markets. Traders dumped shares on fears the Fed will send the strongest signal yet on its intention to rapidly rein in ultra-stimulative monetary policy at its meeting of rate setters on Wednesday. [...]
New Covid variant spreading like wildfire across UK and Scandinavia: BA.2 ‘stealth’ mutation now half of all new coronavirus cases in Denmark and rapidly pushing Omicron aside January 24, 2022 Various media across Scandinavia and the UK are reporting the emergence of a new Covid variant that is so infectious and spreading so fast that nearly half of all cases in Denmark are now the new mutation, named BA.2, with more than 400 confirmed infections across the UK. The new mutation has reportedly also popped [...]
Firms have no choice ‘but to raise prices’ to absorb NI hike January 24, 2022 The looming national insurance tax hike will leave British businesses with no choice “but to raise prices,” a leading business group has warned. Firms will have to pass on the cost of the 1.25 percentage point hike to consumers in a bid to offset severe margin pressure, according to the Institute of Directors (IoD). Nearly [...]
UK services economy stands strong amid Omicron Plan B assault January 24, 2022 Britain’s services economy has stood strong in the face of the re-emergence of curbs on daily life in a bid to clamp down on the Omicron variant, reveals a closely watched survey released today. IHS Markit’s latest flash purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the UK services industry came in at 53.3 for January, a marginal [...]
Former BoE deputy governor warns of rapid rate hikes to quash inflation January 24, 2022 The Bank of England has backed itself into a corner by refusing to hike interest rates despite inflation surging to historic highs, a former top official at the central bank has warned. Inertia toward the soaring cost of living during the back end of last year means the Bank will have to rush through a [...]
Covid-19 curbs decimate London’s retail economy January 24, 2022 Onerous restrictions on daily life during the pandemic has decimated London’s retail economy, reveals a fresh study released today. The capital’s retailers lost nearly a year’s worth of sales during the pandemic, underlining the severe blow curbs on economic activity has delivered to London’s shops, pubs and restaurants, research carried out by the Centre for [...]
Supply chain crisis threatens to plunge record number of firms into the red January 24, 2022 The global supply chain crisis is threatening to plunge a record number of companies into the red, reveals a closely watched study released today. Nearly half of the 70 listed companies that issued profit warnings in the final three months of last year blamed their poor performance on the supply chain crisis, according to research [...]