Alastair Campbell advised Tony Blair through consecutive landslide election victories in the UK. He believes the Labour party should be pointing out the failure of Brexit directly, not just elliptically. Matthew Parris of The Times is the columnist I admire over all others. He urges the Liberal Democrats to stop hedging and to run as
The UK will escape a recession this year, the IMF said on Tuesday, adding that the country’s economy had been “buoyed by resilient demand in the context of declining energy prices”. But the fund cautioned that Britain risked being stuck with persistent inflation unless interest rates stayed high for longer. “Economic activity has slowed significantly
Investors looking at development opportunities may face obstacles this year as speculation about a recession looms and interest rates rise. The market uncertainty and shifting demand could cause extensive delays or abandoned developments. Property developers, who are the parties that oversee the project, will need to make tough decisions ahead. If you’re thinking about investing
European and Asian equities slipped on Tuesday as investors remained concerned about a potential US debt default, with politicians failing to strike a deal on Monday. The region-wide Stoxx Europe 600 index opened 0.3 per cent lower, as did Germany’s Dax and France’s Cac 40. London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2 per cent. In Asia, China’s
The UK government borrowed more than expected at the start of the 2023-24 financial year as rising social security benefits and debt interest pushed up public spending. Public sector net borrowing stood at £25.6bn in April, higher than the Office for Budget Responsibility’s estimate of £22.4bn and £11.9bn more than a year earlier. Tax receipts
Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin (BTC) ATM provider, Bitcoin of America, consented with the Connecticut Department of Banking to halt its operations due to a lack of licensing. In a statement released on May 22, the Department of Banking highlighted that Bitcoin of America failed to obtain a proper license to operate Bitcoin ATM kiosks in the
An obscure footnote in a Ripple opposition brief from 2022 could play a role in the ongoing battle between the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple, according to pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton. Deaton took to Twitter on May 22, explaining that a short footnote in a Ripple legal document that he had just
Private equity groups are increasingly selling shares in portfolio companies at a discount to the price at which they went public, in a sign they do not expect stock market valuations to regain their previous highs soon. So-called follow-on offerings of shares in previously listed companies are a key way for private equity groups to
Boeing’s boss has warned that new climate-friendly biofuels will “never achieve the price of jet fuel”, pouring cold water on a central pillar of the aviation sector’s strategy to slash emissions. Airlines say sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) — made from food waste such as cooking oil and plants — can bring rapid decarbonisation by replacing
Large asset management groups are piling back into fixed income to lock in the higher yields on offer after a “cataclysmic” period of performance for bonds last year. A steep rise in US interest rates over the past 12 months sent bond prices tumbling but has now left yields on Treasury notes higher than they
The writer is CEO of Google and Alphabet This year, generative AI has captured the world’s imagination. Already, millions of people are using it to boost creativity and improve productivity. Meanwhile, more and more start-ups and organisations are bringing AI-powered products and technologies to market faster than ever. AI is the most profound technology humanity
In March last year, Steve Daines, a Republican politician from Montana, discussed the growing role of India at a hearing of the Senate banking committee. He encouraged the US trade representative to start negotiating a trade deal with New Delhi and cited a recent visit to encourage exports and meet “leading technology companies”. What he
A group made up of banks, tech companies and telecoms providers is launching a trial to gather intelligence on scammers in an effort to tackle the most common type of crime in England and Wales. Stop Scams UK, a cross-industry group, aims to launch its pilot scheme next month. It comes after experts and companies
Institutional investor sentiment over digital assets took another beating last week, with “poor sentiment” around Bitcoin (BTC) leading to yet another week of outflows of digital asset investment products. According to CoinShares’ latest edition of its “Digital Asset Fund Flows Report,” published on May 22, outflows for crypto funds totaled $32 million between May 15
The new owner of Silicon Valley Bank has sued HSBC and several former employees for more than $1bn, claiming the group “engineered a scheme to plunder” SVB of top bankers and confidential information. First Citizens, which bought SVB after its dramatic failure, claims in the lawsuit that HSBC and a former senior SVB banker co-ordinated
People in the UK are among the least confident that the financial authorities will bring inflation under control quickly, according to an Ipsos Mori survey of 29 countries around the world seen by the Financial Times. The results show that six in 10 people surveyed in May thought it would take at least a year
In this episode of let’s talk stocks, we are going to go back into the basics of technical analysis, and we’ll talk about the ascending triangle pattern, which is a continuation pattern. We’re going to take a look at what the pattern looks like, its previous trend, volume, projection, entry points and finally, I’ll give
Modern homes are more popular than ever, but many of us think decorating one can be achieved by purchasing the right modern furniture and decor, as if it is a formula. However, this ultimately ends up looking like someone else’s Pinterest Board or worse—a showroom. If you are in the process of decorating a modern
After selling off last week, municipals saw some pressure ease as triple-A yields rose only a few basis points while U.S. Treasuries were weaker and equities ended mixed. Municipal to UST ratios were steady. The two-year muni-Treasury ratio Monday was at 71%, the three-year at 72%, the five-year at 71%, the 10-year at 69% and
Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia on Thursday announced the recipients of $225 million of federal health and public facilities development grants funded by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The state selected142 projects from a crowded field of proposals submitted by local governments and nonprofit organizations as per federal regulation that would help “improve
Labour is ready to force pension funds to invest in a proposed £50bn “future growth fund”, as the party aims to boost the amount of capital available for fast-growing UK companies. Rachel Reeves, shadow chancellor, said she did not believe Labour would need to mandate retirement schemes to invest in the new fund because of