‘Euphoria’: Silver price surges and gold nears all-time high July 22, 2020 Silver hit its highest price in seven years and gold surged close to an all-time record as investors bought up the commodities in anticipation of yet more economic stimulus from the world’s biggest economies. Silver rose as much as seven per cent to around $22.80 per ounce in morning trading. However, it then slipped back [...]
Why you should read the small print on alarmist Covid-19 death projections July 22, 2020 Another day, another lurid, headline-grabbing number of deaths to expect from Covid-19. This time, it was a study from the Academy of Medical Sciences. A second wave, we were warned, could kill 120,000 this winter in hospitals alone. To be fair, this study was a projection rather than a forecast. A forecast is what is [...]
Rishi Sunak launches spending review and warns of ‘tough choices’ July 21, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak has warned that “tough choices” will have to be made over government spending from 2021 onwards as he launched a comprehensive review of public sector budgets. The spending review comes as Sunak revises the overall spending plans made in the March Budget to reflect the huge impact coronavirus has had on the [...]
Small companies slam plans for big Making Tax Digital extension July 21, 2020 Small businesses have slammed the government’s planned expansion of the Making Tax Digital programme, saying it means more cost and paperwork for companies at a time when they are under great pressure. The government today said it will extend its tax digitisation programme to 4.7m of the UK’s smallest companies and self-employed workers from April [...]
Companies borrow £48bn through UK coronavirus loan schemes July 21, 2020 Close to £48bn has now been lent out through the government’s coronavirus loan schemes, with the bounce back loan (BBL) programme offering by far the most support for businesses. It comes as the UK government accelerates plans to reopen the economy. Pubs, restaurants and cafes were opened at the start of this month and gyms, [...]
Government borrowing hits record £128bn in coronavirus quarter July 21, 2020 Government borrowing rocketed to an all-time record £128bn between April and June 2020, official statistics showed today. That was a massive £103.9bn rise compared to the same period in 2019, and more than double the £55.4bn total borrowed in the previous financial year. June borrowing hit £35.5bn for the government, the Office for National Statistics [...]
Lockdown blues: Breakups and divorces support UK house prices July 21, 2020 The property market is currently defying gravity, with asking prices hitting an all-time high in July and spirits buoyant after the chancellor slashed the stamp duty homes tax. But estate agents say a less-publicised factor has been helping the property sector ride out economic turbulence better than most had predicted: A surge in lockdown breakups [...]
BoE’s Haldane: V-shaped recovery ‘a description of the past’ July 20, 2020 The Bank of England’s chief economist Andy Haldane has said discussion by experts of a so-called V-shaped recovery for the UK economy were not meant to be “a prediction of the future”. Haldane told the Treasury Select Committee that the use of phrase V-shaped recovery was “so far, a description of what has happened”. “The [...]
Financial pressure on UK households eases but pessimism sets in July 20, 2020 Britons’ views of their financial situation continued to improve in July after deteriorating at a record pace in April, figures have shown, but households became more pessimistic about the future. IHS Markit’s household finance index rose to 41.5 in July from 40.7 in June. That was above the long-term average but still lower than the [...]
EU leaders make progress in €750bn coronavirus fund talks July 20, 2020 European leaders edged close to agreeing to the terms of a €750bn coronavirus bailout fund this morning after the “frugal four” governments signalled they were willing to compromise. Negotiations ended in the small hours of the morning after the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden were satisfied with €390bn of the emergency fund being made available [...]
