Bank of England chief wonk backs ‘steady handed’ approach to rate hikes February 9, 2022 The chief wonk at the Bank of England today backed a “steady handed” approach to rate hikes despite a projected more than seven per cent inflation peak. Huw Pill, the Bank’s chief economist and successor to Andy Haldane, said the Bank needs to hold fire on pursuing an “activist” approach to tightening monetary policy. Pill’s [...]
Consumer price cap: Is the safety net fit for purpose? February 9, 2022 Ofgem remain committed to the price cap, but how much of a role has it played in the ensuing energy crisis?
Exclusive: Sceptical environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg on 50 years of misguided climate panic February 9, 2022 Bjorn Lomborg is President of the Copenhagen Consensus and Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. His latest book is “False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.” Writing exclusively for Morning Wire today, Lomborg zooms in on half a century of what has been, [...]
Investing’s first principles and why the discounted cash flow model remains an absolute necessity February 9, 2022 | City Talk I couldn’t sleep. I knew something was wrong. The numbers just didn’t make sense. For years, pipeline energy analysts seemed to be adjusting their valuation models for pipeline master limited partnership (MLP) stocks in order to explain what was happening to the price. But why? Why adjust the models for one set of companies and [...]
Hunting for “10 baggers” – how the UK beat the US February 9, 2022 | City Talk The ups and downs of US technology stocks dominate headlines. Before this year’s tech correction it would have been hard to miss the news, for instance, that Apple’s market capitalisation had exceeded $3 trillion. That was not too far short of the entire value of the UK stock market. What is less well known, however, [...]
Govt told: ‘Don’t overpromise but be honest’ about Brexit as red tape, costs and delays hit UK firms February 9, 2022 The public spending watchdog warned this morning that UK trade with the EU has been knocked by Brexit and businesses have faced higher costs, more paperwork and border delays since Britain’s withdrawal. A report by the Public Accounts Committee found that while it was difficult to untangle how much of the hit to trade since [...]
Meta’s threat to close down Facebook and Instagram in Europe backfires as EU leaders embrace shutdown: ‘Life would be very good without’ February 9, 2022 European leaders have responded to Meta's indirect warning to shut down its Facebook and Instagram operations across Europe if the social media giant is no longer able to process Europeans' data on US servers.
More economists warn of cost of living crunch’s drag on UK growth February 8, 2022 The squeeze on households’ living standards from the cost of living crunch will drag on the UK economy this year, reveals fresh forecasts published today. A triple whammy of Inflation topping seven per cent, a heavier tax burden and swelling energy bills is set to erode consumers’ real incomes, prompting a pull back in spending, [...]
Bumper BP profits fail to get City purring as FTSE 100 closes lower February 8, 2022 A resurgence in profits at BP was not enough to prompt investors to flood into the oil giant as London markets posted a muted day yesterday. The capital’s premier FTSE 100 index dipped 0.08 per cent to 7,567.07 points, while the domestically-focused FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK [...]
Treasury’s £4.3bn fraud write-off likely to be eclipsed by £20bn Covid loan defaults as CBILs and BBLs are not repaid February 8, 2022 The £4.3bn of Covid loans that may have to be written-off by The Treasury due to fraud and highlighted by the recent resignation of Lord Agnew, could be eclipsed by businesses failing to repay their CBILs and BBLs Covid support loans, an industry expert warns. £73.8bn has been loaned under the above schemes to around [...]