Market Buzz
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Budget, post-Brexit rules, PPI complaints
Solid economic growth and strong tax receipts since the Brexit vote have put Philip Hammond on course to announce a drop in government borrowing when he presents his spring budget next week, a leading thinktank has predicted. The Resolution Foundation said it would be the first time since March 2014 that a chancellor could stand at the dispatch box and announce borrowing will be lower – not higher – than previously thought. - Guardian.
Monday newspaper round-up: Brexit concessions, new referendum, Unilever, Barclays
Labour peers say they are confident that the government will ultimately make concessions as the article 50 bill on leaving the EU passes through the House of Lords this week. Opposition whips will watch keenly how the government responds to the first debate at the committee stage of the bill on Monday, which will focus on the Good Friday agreement, to gauge whether the government appears open to concessions, one Lords source said. - The Guardian.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Warren Buffett, Unilever, Spanish homes
Billionaire Warren Buffett has denounced “Wall Streeters” for charging “high fees” and urged ordinary investors to buy low-cost index funds. In his famed annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, the Oracle of Omaha said: “When trillions of dollars are managed by Wall Streeters charging high fees, it will usually be the managers who reap outsized profits, not the clients. “Both large and small investors should stick with low-cost index funds. ” - The Sunday Telegraph.
Friday newspaper round-up: Boeing, Ryanair, business rates, John Lewis
Boeing plans to open its first manufacturing plant in Britain, picking Sheffield to make critical parts for its best-selling 737 and 777 airliners. The company has earmarked the Northern city for a £20m investment where it will produce complex parts for “actuators” which move flaps on the jets’ wings. The decision is notable as the US aerospace giant is bringing work in-house, rather than subcontracting it out to the supply chain as is common. – Telegraph.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Business rates, Peugeot, AO World
Rising fuel and food prices are eating into household budgets as the impact of the Brexit vote on the value of the pound pushes up inflation, according to a Guardian analysis that casts doubt over how much longer consumers can continue to shore up the UK economy. Cracks are starting to show in the picture of economic resilience seen since last summer’s vote to leave the EU. Wage growth is slowing just as people’s living costs start taking off. Businesses are also feeling the pressures of the weak pound more intensely as it ramps up the cost of imported raw materials and energy while failing to provide the anticipated boon for exporters.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Brexit, business rates, Peugeot
The City of London has warned that the loss of banking jobs to EU countries due to Brexit could threaten British and European financial stability. Interviews with more than half a dozen senior bankers and business leaders reveal growing certainty that the threat of losing single market access will force a wave of relocations this year and may cause an “unwinding” of a cluster of related businesses. – Guardian.
Monday newspaper round-up: Lords Brexit debate, Budget, RBS, defence spending
Allies of Tony Blair will attempt to frustrate Brexit in the House of Lords on Monday by urging peers to rally against the Government. The former Labour prime minister, last week urged people to “rise up” against Brexit and support a new movement to keep Britain in the European Union. - Telegraph.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Budget balancing, Unilever, RBS, BT, Sainsbury's
Philip Hammond is set to get a boost from a bigger budget surplus at the start of 2017, giving the chancellor more leeway to cut taxes or increase spending in next month’s budget. Hammond is under pressure to use his March budget to provide support to companies hit by sharp rises in business rates, as well as hand extra funding to the NHS, but after recent moves in government bond markets raised the Treasury’s borrowing costs he will be likely to think twice about any big giveaways, the Sunday Times said.
Friday newspaper round-up: Vauxhall, Donald Trump, Alcohol
Business Secretary Greg Clark is travelling to Paris this evening for urgent talks with Peugeot executives and the French government about the future of thousands of Vauxhall employees in Britain. General Motors - the parent company of the Vauxhall and Opel - is in negotiations about a sale of the marques to PSA Groupe, the French owner of Peugeot. - The Daily Telegraph.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Debenhams, Amazon, Tata Steel
High street retailer Debenhams has been "named and shamed" as the worst offender in the Government's biggest ever list of companies that have paid their staff below the national minimum and living wage. The department store chain has been found to have failed to pay £134,894. 83 to some 11,858 workers in a move that will heighten tensions around retailers and the rising costs of the living wage. – Telegraph.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Co-op Bank, city rates, Toshiba
Co-operative Bank’s core ethical mandate is expected to pose a major obstacle to a sale of the troubled lender to a rival firm, according to City sources. The bank, which put itself up sale on Monday in a bid to solve its financial woes, has a strict policy that forbids it from funding a host activities, including those that contribute to climate change or animal testing of cosmetics. The mandate sets the lender apart from other high-street banks. – Telegraph.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: BAE Systems, Co-op buyers, Ocado, Toshiba
BAE Systems is poised to confirm Charles Woodburn as its new chief executive in a widely anticipated move that marks a generational shift at the defence giant. Mr Woodburn, 45, who joined BAE Systems last year as its chief operating officer, has long been viewed as the heir apparent to Mr King, who has led the company since 2008. - Telegraph.
Monday newspaper round-up: Rates uproar, Brexit battles, RBS, Laird
Britain’s high streets face losing some of their most popular pubs and restaurants because of big rises in business rates, Philip Hammond has been warned. Companies including the owners of Pizza Express, Greene King pubs, Wagamama, All Bar One and Slug & Lettuce have written to the chancellor to ask him to rethink a plan under which some outlets will be hit with a 42 per cent increase in their rates this year. - The Times.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Inflation, RBS, Brexit defeat, BAE Systems
Higher food and fuel prices drove inflation to a three-year zenith of 2% in January, up from 1. 6% in December, with more increases coming as the year progresses. Figures from the Office for National Statistics are expected to confirm the jump in inflation this week, the Sunday Telegraph said, while price hies from energy companies and shortages of vegetables accelerating the rise in coming months.
Friday newspaper round-up: Greece, Sky, BHS, RBS
The Greek government has expressed hope of an imminent deal with its EU creditors, despite a warning from the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, that the country could cut its debts only by leaving the single currency. Athens is in a familiar stand-off with the German finance ministry as it seeks easier repayment terms on its €330bn (£280bn) debt pile, which the International Monetary Fund has described as unsustainable and explosive. - Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Waitrose, Greece, Brexit, energy suppliers
Waitrose is planning to close six stores and remove a level of management in its supermarkets, putting 600 jobs at risk. The upmarket grocer began consulting with staff at the six stores – in Hertford, Staines, Leek, Huntingdon, Cardiff Queen Street and Palmers Green in north London – on Monday ahead of planned closures later this year. The company said it hoped to replace the Palmers Green store with a new outlet in nearby Winchmore Hill. – Guardian.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Brexit, Greece, Shell
The UK could lose 30,000 finance sector jobs as a result of Brexit, but EU rivals need to act to avoid importing banking risk to the continent, according to an influential thinktank with close ties to the European commission. The City of London stands to lose 10,000 banking jobs and 20,000 roles in accountancy, law and consulting, as EU clients move business worth €1. 8tn (£1. 6tn) to the continent after Brexit, according to Brussels-based Bruegel. – Guardian.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Housing, Brexit bill, PwC forecast, Rolls-Royce
Councils will be made to earmark land for tens of thousands of new homes in the latest effort to fix Britain’s “broken” housing market. Two fifths of local authorities in England have failed to plan for enough new homes, ministers will say today as they take on councillors, countryside campaigners and big housebuilders. - The Times.
Monday newspaper round-up: Rolls-Royce, Booker, Deutsche Bank
Civil servants are carrying out an internal inquiry to establish whether the engineering giant Rolls-Royce fraudulently obtained financial support worth hundreds of millions of pounds from the government. The inquiry was launched after the multinational manufacturer admitted last month it had used multimillion-pound bribes to secure export orders across the world over four decades. – Guardian.
Sunday newspaper round-up: US recession, Housing policy, RBS
Donald Trump's economic honeymoon could come to an end as soon as next year, senior City fund managers have forecast, with the US at risk of plunging into recession. Nine years on from the start of the financial crisis, the US recovery may be overheating, Legal & General Investment Management economist James Carrick has warned. He has predicted a series of interest rate hikes will tip the US into a 2018 recession. - The Sunday Telegraph.