Deja vu: Eurozone businesses back in decline as Covid cases jump October 23, 2020 The Eurozone’s private sector slipped back into decline in October as coronavirus ripped through the region and new restrictions hit countries’ service sectors and wider economies, according to a new survey. The preliminary IHS Markit Eurozone composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI) – which measures the health of businesses – dropped to 49.4 in October from [...]
UK retail sales smash expectations but analysts flag trouble ahead October 23, 2020 UK retail sales rose well beyond expectations in September, with Britons buying 1.5 per cent more goods than a month earlier as they stocked up on food and turned to online retailers. The 1.5 per cent growth was much better than economists had expected. It also beat the 0.6 per cent expansion in sales in [...]
Rishi Sunak’s new business support: What does it mean for you? October 22, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak has overhauled key parts of his winter economy plan to support struggling businesses as coronavirus cases rise and the government imposes new restrictions. He made the job support scheme more generous for employers and boosted support for the self-employed. But what exactly will the new changes mean for employers, employees and the [...]
Businesses welcome Sunak’s change of tack but say many still ‘left behind’ October 22, 2020 Business groups have praised Rishi Sunak’s change of course on his winter economic support package, which the chancellor has made more generous to employers hit by Tier 2 restrictions. Yet organisations said there was a lack of support for companies further down supply chains, for freelancers and for many self-employed people. Addressing Parliament today, Sunak [...]
CBI: Decline in UK manufacturing slowed in October but activity still weak October 22, 2020 UK manufacturing activity continued to decline in the three months October but fell at their slowest pace since March despite a resurgence in coronavirus cases, a new survey showed. Output dropped in 10 of the 17 manufacturing sub-sectors monitored by the CBI’s industrial trends survey, with the aerospace sector leading the drop as the pandemic [...]
JP Morgan strategists: Markets desperate for more stimulus at US election October 22, 2020 The markets want a decisive outcome from the 3 November US presidential election that will lead to big near-term fiscal stimulus, which the country’s economy “really needs”, strategists at JP Morgan Asset Management have said. Karen Ward, the London-based firm’s chief market strategist for Europe, said investors were now seeing the election in a “completely [...]
FCA says 12 million people in UK will struggle to pay bills October 22, 2020 Some 12 million people in Britain are likely to struggle with bills or loan repayments amid the continued economic disruption triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said. A survey by the watchdog found that 12 million people in the UK had low financial resilience, and that two million of those people [...]
BoE deputy says the ‘time is not right’ for negative interest rates October 21, 2020 High levels of economic uncertainty and a bruised banking system mean now is not the time to experiment with negative interest rates, a deputy governor of the Bank of England has said. Sir Dave Ramsden today struck a more cautious tone on the novel monetary policy than his colleague Gertjan Vlieghe did yesterday. Vlieghe said [...]
UK public borrowing unexpectedly picks up to hit record £209bn this year October 21, 2020 UK government borrowing rose unexpectedly in September, pushing the budget deficit to a new record high of just under £210bn and the total debt pile to its biggest level as a proportion of GDP since 1960. The government borrowed £36.1bn last month, according to the Office for National Statistics’s (ONS) best estimate. That comfortably beat [...]
UK investors most downbeat in world on own economy October 21, 2020 UK investors are more downbeat about the short-term prospects for their own economy than their global peers, according to new research. Some 43 per cent of UK investors surveyed by UBS in the third quarter said they were optimistic about their own region’s economy over the next 12 months. While the figure represents a three [...]
