UBS wealth arm pessimistic about UK earnings in 2020 November 28, 2019 UBS Global Wealth Management (GWM) has said it expects earnings growth for UK equities to flatline in 2020, regardless of which party wins the upcoming General Election. Analysts at the Swiss banking giant’s wealth arm said that if the Tory party wins and pushes through a Brexit deal, the benefits will be limited by fresh [...]
General Election 2019: Conservatives and Labour’s spending plans not credible, warns IFS November 28, 2019 Neither the Tories nor Labour have presented voters with credible tax and spending plans in their General Election manifestos, according to damning analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Labour is unable to raise the money it wants to and the Conservatives cannot meet the pledge to balance the budget with tax freezes and [...]
Labour and Tories already on track to break spending rules, says report November 28, 2019 Both Labour and the Conservatives are already on track to break their spending rules due to uncosted promises made in their manifestos, according to the Resolution Foundation think tank. The two main parties have both changed their so-called fiscal rules to allow more government spending, but say they will balance day-to-day spending with receipts by [...]
Chinese industrial profits fall at fastest in eight months November 27, 2019 Chinese industrial firms suffered their biggest fall in profits in eight months in October in the latest evidence that the world’s second-biggest economy is slowing. Industrial profits tumbled 9.9 per cent in October compared to a year earlier, following a 5.3 per cent fall in September, the country’s National Bureau of Statistics said this morning. [...]
Labour’s rejection of conventional economic theory ignores important insights November 27, 2019 One of the first tasks facing whoever becomes chancellor after the General Election will be choosing the next governor of the Bank of England. Getting to make this choice would be a key step in the plans of Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell to shake up the Bank of England, but his radicalism is not [...]
UK employer confidence slips to three-year low November 27, 2019 Employer confidence in the UK economy has fallen to its lowest level in over three years as Brexit and General Election uncertainty hangs over firms, new data from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has shown. Companies said they were ready to invest in November, however, showing that the upcoming General Election should focus on [...]
Sajid Javid attacks Labour’s claims that only rich will pay for manifesto November 26, 2019 Chancellor Sajid Javid has attacked Labour’s claim that 95 per cent of Brits would pay no more tax under its plans, saying the party’s manifesto includes six policies that would hit middle earners. These include scrapping tax relief for married couples, reversing cuts to inheritance tax, and raising corporation tax on small businesses. Read more: [...]
Getting Brexit done will not help UK economy, say academics November 26, 2019 Carrying out Brexit will not improve the UK’s struggling economy but will usher in years more uncertainty about Britain’s trading relationships, a new report has said. The hard Brexit that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is proposing will also limit the size of the UK market and raise trade costs, making it a less attractive place [...]
Tackling UK productivity crisis could yield £83bn a year for economy, says PwC November 26, 2019 The UK productivity crisis is dragging on the economy, a new report has said, which could be £83bn a year larger if laggard areas could make up just half the efficiency gap. The next government has a major opportunity to increase investment in infrastructure and encourage the private sector to better train its workers to [...]
Germany on track for growth as confidence rises, says Ifo institute November 25, 2019 The German economy is set to grow by 0.2 per cent in the second quarter, the country’s Ifo economic institute has predicted, as executives became slightly more optimistic in November. However, it is too early to say the struggling German economy is turning around, with confidence falling in its important manufacturing sector, according to the [...]