Euro falls as European Central Bank member says more cheap loans to banks being discussed February 15, 2019 The euro fell to a three-month low this afternoon after the European Central Bank’s Benoit Coeure said a new round of cheap loans to Eurozone banks was possible. The ECB board member said the bloc’s economic slowdown would be “stronger and broader” than expected and that the possibility of more multi-year loans was being discussed. [...]
US-China trade talks end, but we still have no official outcome February 15, 2019 High levels trade talks between the US and China ended today with no official statement from either side. Earlier this week it was reported that US President Donald Trump was considering pushing back a 1 March deadline for US tariffs on China to ramp up by 60 days. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are [...]
Still feeling entitled? Britain is facing a crisis of intergenerational inequality February 15, 2019 This week, I was audacious enough to suggest that free TV licences for pensioners should not be a public spending priority. The backlash was fierce. “I have paid taxes all my life,” came the outraged cries on social media. This is mostly true, as long as you take “all my life” to mean “until I [...]
Mark Kleinman: Aviva’s missed deadline ensures brickbats February 15, 2019 Viva Aviva? For such a stalwart of blue-chip boardrooms, Sir Adrian Montague suddenly can’t put a foot right. Four years after taking over the chairmanship of Aviva when John McFarlane scuttled off to Barclays, he’s ended up in a rather large pickle of his own making. Sacking Mark Wilson as the insurer’s chief executive last [...]
Investors fear slowdown as US Christmas retail drops February 14, 2019 US retail sales fell at their fastest rate in nearly a decade in December, stoking fears of a global slowdown, as shoppers watched their pennies over the vital Christmas period. Sales plunged 1.2 per cent, their largest monthly decline since the country was trying to recover from the financial crisis in September 2009. Read more: [...]
Brexit uncertainty costs UK £800m a week, says Bank of England economist February 14, 2019 Brexit has already cost the UK economy £40bn a year – or £800m per week – since the referendum due to prolonged uncertainty, according to Bank of England economist Gertjan Vlieghe. The rate-setter also said a no-deal Brexit would most likely to lead to an easing of monetary policy, while even in the case of [...]
Germany narrowly avoids recession as GDP remains flat in the fourth quarter February 14, 2019 Germany narrowly avoided a recession at the end last year as GDP remained flat in the final quarter of 2018. The Eurozone powerhouse’s economy had contracted in the third quarter and another contract would have seen it enter a technical recession. Read more: Eurozone industrial production suffers sharpest fall in almost three years But the [...]
Options are running out for the man who destroyed Venezuela February 14, 2019 It takes some front for a man who has presided over a double-digit recession for three successive years to claim that his country is being destabilised by a “gang of extremists” rather than his own inept economic performance. But that is exactly what Venezuela’s embattled President Nicolas Maduro did this week, when he stated that the [...]
US considers 60-day extension to looming China tariff deadline February 14, 2019 US President Donald Trump is mulling a 60- day extension of the 1 March deadline for higher tariffs on Chinese imports, according to reports. Trump is considering an extension to the 1 March deadline for more than doubling tariffs on $200bn (£156bn) of Chinese exports in order to give the two sides more time to come to [...]
US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China is following a familiar path February 13, 2019 It has been nearly a year since Donald Trump infamously tweeted that “trade wars are good, and easy to win,” adding, for extra emphasis, “it’s easy!” How things change. America’s most enthusiastically protectionist modern-day President isn’t finding talks with China so simple after all. This week he rowed back on a supposedly-hard deadline that was [...]