Britain risks ‘sleepwalking’ towards Swedish-style cashless society December 19, 2018 An unplanned rush towards a cashless society would risk excluding millions of vulnerable people, especially the elderly and those living in rural areas. Ten years ago, cash was used for six out of every ten payments, but the number of cash payments are now down to one in three. If cash use continues to go down [...]
Why 2019 might be a better year for investors December 19, 2018 | City Talk 2018 has been a disappointing year for most investors. Almost all markets, both stocks and bonds, have fallen in value this year, under pressure from rising interest rates, political developments such as Brexit, and the trade dispute between the US and China. With hindsight, markets were priced for perfection at the start of the year [...]
Celebrations Twix vs Mars… the lesson for investors December 19, 2018 | City Talk Christmas, as my colleague Andy Williams crooningly reassures us, may well be the most wonderful time of the year but, in social terms, it is also potentially the most blunderful. And while solutions to age-old concerns such as gifts people truly have always wanted and friction-free family get-togethers are still works-in-progress, our Value Perspective blog [...]
The year crypto went crazy: what’s next for bitcoin in 2019? December 19, 2018 This was the year the world woke up to cryptocurrencies. When the Bitcoin price bubble burst in December last year, having hit almost $20,000 (£15,886) per coin in value, governments, banks and tech giants alike began to sit up and take notice. The City was faced with a decision: is Bitcoin a vehicle for fraud [...]
Softbank slumps in Tokyo debut after record-breaking IPO December 19, 2018 Shares in Japanese telecoms giant Softbank fell 15 per cent during its Tokyo debut as it record-breaking IPO failed to live up to expectations. Softbank raised roughly ¥2.65tn (£18.5bn) after pricing its shares at ¥1500 a piece in the country’s largest-ever IPO. But shares in the tech giant closed down 14.5 per cent at ¥1,282, [...]
From tech to Trump – here’s what prompted the big market moves of 2018 December 18, 2018 From Brexit to trade wars, nothing has been plain-sailing about 2018. It’s been a year of peaks and troughs across all major markets, so let’s have a look at the big moves of the past 12 months. Tech in turmoil This was the year when the tech giants raced to become the first ever $1 [...]
Oil prices drop to lowest level in a year amid increased US and Russian output December 18, 2018 Oil prices dropped sharply this morning to their lowest point in over a year as US output looks set to reach 8m barrels per day by the end of 2018. International standard Brent crude fell off a cliff at around 9am UK time, plummeting around four per cent to $57.27 per barrel. However it later [...]
Global markets fall ahead of US Federal Reserve interest rates decision December 18, 2018 Global stock markets have fallen in anticipation of today’s US Federal Reserve meeting which could lead to an interest rate hike. US markets fell sharply last night and European markets initially followed suit this morning before rebounding. The Dow Jones, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite all fell more than two per cent last [...]
Breaking the current Brexit impasse could land Theresa May in even deeper trouble December 18, 2018 Despite efforts by the Labour party and other political opponents of the government in the House of Commons, it now looks very unlikely that Theresa May will put her Brexit proposal to a parliamentary vote this side of the New Year. But there may still be plenty of public disagreements and political wrangling ahead when [...]
The age of the electric car? Not before we talk about metals December 17, 2018 SINCE exuberance for electric vehicles (EVs) started to gain traction in recent years, there has been no shortage of bullish forecasts predicting that the end of the internal combustion engine is nigh. In other words, cars as we know them are on their way out. Governments are setting ever more aggressive targets on reducing – [...]