UK consumer confidence lifts at end of 2019 January 27, 2020 UK consumer confidence rose at the end of last year, signalling a more optimistic start to the new year. Consumer confidence in the fourth quarter rose 0.5 per cent to minus 8.7 per cent compared to the previous quarter and 2018. Sentiment on the overall state of the economy jumped 27 percentage points on the [...]
Australian Dollar to GBP – Could this be one to watch? January 24, 2020 | City Talk Singapore Dollar Fears of the coronavirus which has been spreading from China have affected global market sentiment. This week in Singapore December consumer price inflation results beat expectations; with food, transport, communication, and education costs the highlights. Beating November’s 0.6 per cent and the prediction of 0.7 per cent, December’s 0.8 per cent result is in line with the Monetary Authority of Singapore [...]
This week: Why the Pound shone over the Euro January 24, 2020 | City Talk After a poor end to last week, the pound responded with a dominant performance this week, gaining an average of 0.8 per cent against the other major currencies. Indeed, it was only the Japanese yen that it lost out to (dropping 0.2 per cent). Such a performance has helped the pound climb to the top [...]
UK PMI: Economy climbs to 16-month high, leaving rate cut less likely January 24, 2020 The UK economy has returned to growth in January, according to a flash Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) reading, hitting a 16-month high as the Bank of England weighs up whether or not to cut UK interest rates. The flash IHS Markit / CIPS composite PMI reading for the UK hit 52.4 in January, up from [...]
FCA appoints interim chief executive to replace Andrew Bailey January 24, 2020 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that Christopher Woolard will take over as interim chief executive of the regulator after current boss Andrew Bailey leaves to become governor of the Bank of England (BoE). Woolard, who is currently the FCA’s executive director of strategy and competition, will take over after Bailey’s departure in March, [...]
ECB launches major policy review as it holds rates January 23, 2020 The new European Central Bank (ECB) president Christine Lagarde has launched a major policy review at the Eurozone institution that could change its central aims. It came as the ECB’s governing council kept interest rates on hold at a record-low level and maintained the Bank’s massive bond-buying programme in a bid to inject life into [...]
Chancellor launches search for next head of budget watchdog January 23, 2020 Chancellor Sajid Javid has launched the search for the next head of the UK’s budget watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), as the term of the current chair Robert Chote draws to an end. The OBR was formed in 2010 by newly-elected chancellor George Osborne to ensure the government stuck to its spending and [...]
US Treasury secretary says UK trade deal to be struck this year January 23, 2020 US Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin has said he expects to wrap up a trade deal with the UK within the year, a day after he slammed a proposed British digital services tax as “discriminatory”. The US’s commerce secretary Wilbur Ross, who was speaking at the same event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, [...]
Donald Trump threatens high EU car tariffs if deal is not reached January 22, 2020 US President Donald Trump has threatened to slap “very high” tariffs on car imports from the European Union unless it strikes a trade deal, accusing the bloc of being “tougher than China” to deal with. In an unexpected press conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump trained his sights on the EU, [...]
UK factory optimism hits six-year high after election January 22, 2020 Optimism in the UK’s factory sector surged to an almost six-year high in the three months to January, survey data has shown, in a sign that the British economic sentiment picked up following the December General Election. The sector’s performance over the period was weak, however, with output once again falling as car factories slowed [...]