Oil gushes higher as it heads for best week in five April 8, 2016 Oil prices sprung into action this afternoon, helped by rising hopes for a freeze deal when the world's major oil producers meet next Sunday. Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose 4.6 per cent to $41.23 per barrel this afternoon, and it's up 6.6 per cent for the week. If it holds onto these gains Brent [...]
Niesr: GDP growth set to shrivel this year as a smaller manufacturing sector weighs on UK economy April 8, 2016 Britain’s economy is growing at its slowest pace since 2012, according to the latest estimates of GDP from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr). Niesr estimated that the UK economy grew by just 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2016 – a marked slowdown from the 0.6 per cent growth clocked [...]
Antofagasta names replacement to outgoing chief executive April 8, 2016 London-listed copper miner Antofagasta has appointed an insider to replace outgoing chief executive Diego Hernández who is retiring with immediate effect. Iván Arriagada, who has been head of the FTSE 100-listed company's minerals division since last February, was widely tipped to be Hernández 's successor. Read more: Antofagasta's revenue falls on copper price rout He'd previously worked for a string of commodity titans, including BHP [...]
PwC tells emerging economies to get their act together on banking reforms April 8, 2016 Some of the world’s largest economies would be dangerously exposed in the event of a fresh banking crisis, PwC has warned, as it calls for emerging economies to push forward on reforming their financial sectors. With commodity prices volatile and GDP growth slowing, PwC has raised fears that the developing world has not made sufficient progress on [...]
UK’s stubborn trade deficit shrinks slightly, poor exports despite a weaker pound suggest it isn’t going away soon April 8, 2016 Britain's trade deficit narrowed by a miniscule amount in February 2016, nowhere near enough to allay concerns about a failure to rebalance the economy and increase sales of British products around the world. The deficit – the difference between imports and exports – came in at £4.8bn in February, shrinking slightly from an eye-watering £5.2bn in January. Exports [...]
Why the UK’s record current account raises Brexit tail risk April 8, 2016 The UK is a serial debtor. In every quarter since 1998, its current account balance has been negative. In the last few years this deficit has grown rapidly. Currently, it is the largest in the G7. While modest deficits can be sustained even in the long-run providing gross domestic product growth is strong and stable, very [...]
Brent crude and WTI: Where big banks think the oil price is heading next April 8, 2016 Speculation about when the tarnished black gold will recover continues to swirl around financial markets. The chatter is growing louder as the world's major oil producers prepare for a crunch meeting due to take place in Doha next Sunday. They're widely expected to firm up a preliminary oil freeze deal in February between four countries – Saudi Arabia, [...]
Mother’s Day and Easter fail to bring growth to high street, as March sees “disappointing” start to 2016 continue April 8, 2016 Mother's Day and Easter weren't enough to save a high street sales decline last month. Sales were down one per cent year on year in March after a month of peaks and troughs. March started strongly, partly due to an early Mother's Day, according to BDO's high street tracker, released today. Read more: High street bounces back thanks [...]
London house prices: Here’s how living near a regeneration scheme can boost the value of your property April 8, 2016 Living close to a major regeneration scheme in the capital can boost the value of your property by an average of 4.7 per cent a year above the wider house price growth, research released today by CBRE has found. The property services giant has conducted a study across seven regeneration schemes in London and found [...]
Commercial property returns forecast to halve this year as slowing GDP growth and Brexit uncertainty bites April 7, 2016 Commercial property returns are forecast to halve this year, according to industry experts, as slowing GDP growth and Brexit uncertainty among other factors takes its toll on the market. Cluttons’ latest report on the outlook for the commercial property market predicts total returns will reach 6.5 per cent in 2016, which is less than half [...]
