Australian trade minister hits the brakes on quick-fire trade deal September 7, 2016 Just hours after announcing the UK and Australia have opened talks on a free trade deal, the Australian trade minister has dismissed the idea of a deal being signed straight after the UK leaves the EU. Steven Ciobo, counterpart to UK trade secretary Liam Fox, told the BBC Today programme this morning: "The UK is [...]
Think tank hits back at businesses trying to neuter Osborne’s living wage September 7, 2016 A leading think tank has urged Theresa May to ignore the complaints of businesses and push ahead with raising the national living wage (NLW) over the coming years. The Resolution Foundation has today called on the prime minister to “stick to her guns”, warning watering down the policy could result in low-paid workers losing out [...]
That massive UK current account? Don’t worry about it, yet September 6, 2016 The UK has been told its record-high current account deficit may not be cause for concern, despite the result of the EU referendum raising fears over a potential balance of payments crisis. Ratings agency Fitch has said it is too early to begin fretting about whether the UK economy will come under pressure from a [...]
UK and Australia to start planning free trade deal September 6, 2016 The UK and Australia will start to lay the groundwork for a sweeping free trade deal ahead of the UK's formal exit from the EU. At an event in London this evening, trade secretary Liam Fox and his Australian counterpart Steven Ciobo announced the creation of a "bilateral trade working group" to shape out the details [...]
Wake up, Britain: Your post-Brexit future is brighter than you realise September 6, 2016 This is an extract from a speech to be given at the Institute for Turnaround Conference in London on 8 September 2016. Britain's future is brighter than the British realise. This is perfectly obvious to outsiders but the British can’t believe it. Britain has been for some time the second most compelling investment destination after [...]
The IMF’s Brexit failures were the final straw: It’s time to scrap these inept pundits September 6, 2016 Sports fans will all be familiar with the commentator who almost always gets things wrong. “Arsenal are very much on top here” he – it is invariably a “he” – will pronounce, or “Root is looking very settled”, only for the opposition to score a goal immediately and for the Yorkshireman to be clean bowled. [...]
Aiming high: Junior market hits £80bn milestone September 6, 2016 The Alternative Investment Market (Aim) soared over the summer, taking its combined market cap to £80bn at the end of August. The UK's junior market, which is designed to attract smaller companies to go public, climbed by 3.4 per cent in August. Combined with a sprinkling of new listings, the rise helped the index pass [...]
Pound storms to two-month high against dollar after shock fall in key US indicator September 6, 2016 The pound has surged to a new two-month high against the dollar after a crucial indicator of activity in the US economy crashed, raising yet more question marks over the timing of the next interest rate rise. The closely-watched Institute for Supply Management (ISM) non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) dropped from 55.5 in July to 51.4 [...]
Retail sales sunk back in August in a “U-turn” of fortunes for the sector September 6, 2016 Retail sales slowed in August, representing a "U-turn in retail fortunes" compared to figures from July. Overall sales fell by 0.3 per cent – the biggest month-on-month decline since September 2014, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG. Like-for-like sales were down 0.9 per cent as compared to August last year; on [...]
US Presidential Election 2016: Donald Trump blasts US Federal Reserve for creating a “false economy” September 5, 2016 Donald Trump has hit out at the US Federal Reserve, saying the era of record low interest rates since the financial crisis has created a "false economy". On the campaign trail in the key swing state of Ohio, the Republican presidential nominee waded, once again, into the thorny issue of monetary policy, stating the Fed would [...]