Under any scenario, the UK’s exit from the European Union will leave the country worse off. Free trade deal or not. Cuts to migration or not. Trade barriers or not. Every way you look at it, Brexit will make the the economy smaller compared with remaining in the bloc. That’s the assessment of both the UK Treasury and the Bank of England in separate assessments released today.
The UK’s exit from the European Union is just four months away. As politicians continue to squabble over how best to proceed, companies are taking serious precautions. The latest: stockpiling wine.
The level of carbon dioxide trapped in the atmosphere and contributing to climate change, along with methane and nitrous oxide, hit a new record in 2017, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said in a new report.
Once a favorite of investors, FAANG stocks are being abandoned. The popular tech stocks—Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google-parent company Alphabet—have lost more than $1 trillion in market value since their recent highs. Yesterday, they officially entered into a bear market, meaning they had plunged more than 20% from their high. “Red October,” as last month’s stock rout is being dubbed, was particularly painful for tech companies, and the suffering isn’t over yet.
The UK is the fifth-richest country in the world. And yet more than 14 million people—one-fifth of the UK’s population—live in poverty (pdf). There is something so troubling about the current state of Britain’s society that the government has appointed both a minister for loneliness and a minister for suicide prevention.
The International Monetary Fund has decided its time to sound the alarm about leveraged loans. It’s a $1.3 trillion global market comprised of debt built up by companies in precarious financial positions.
The relief that a Brexit deal between the UK and European Union had been reached barely lasted the night. The draft agreement, running to a cool 585 pages, was just the end of the beginning. British prime minister Theresa May now needs to drum up support for the deal from her government and then from a divided and skeptical UK parliament. (Oh, and the other 27 member states of the EU need to agree to it too.)
The world’s third- and fourth-largest economies are shrinking. The European Union is battling with the UK and Italy over Brexit and a deficit-boosting budget, respectively. Traders are reeling from a plummet in oil prices that sent shockwaves through the stock market.
The rollercoaster ride that is the British pound has picked up the pace. The pound soared by more than 1% this afternoon on reports that UK and EU negotiators had agreed to a draft text of a Brexit agreement. Ever since the Brexit referendum in 2016, the possibility of Britain crashing out of the bloc without a deal spelling out the details of its future relationship with the EU—on trade, travel, security, and a host of other issues—has loomed large over markets.
A growing wave of investors want to put their money where their morals are. And in the so-called “Year of the Woman”—christened as such because of the impact of the #MeToo movement and record gains by female candidates in the US midterm elections—there are more opportunities to use finance as a tool to promote gender equality.
One moment, the UK and the European Union are reportedly on the verge of a deal leading to a close future relationship between the two, avoiding the dreaded “no-deal Brexit.” The next, infighting in the British government and growing calls for a second referendum threaten to blow everything up.
Can the UK still be considered a nation of shopkeepers if there aren’t any shops?
Yes, Brits love to talk about the weather. It’s a safe, inoffensive subject unlikely to make waves as we go politely about our days trying to avoiding emotions, awkwardness, and eye contact. Supposedly, the average Brit spends more than four months of their life talking about the weather, which frankly seems like an underestimation.
The economic well-being of British households has fared far worse than other major economies over the past two years, the period since the UK voted to quit the European Union, according to the OECD.
In the end, the US midterm elections went mostly as expected but, as analysts at Dutch Bank ING put it, it was more of a “blue ripple” than a “blue wave.” Democrats clinched enough seats to gain control of the House of Representatives, while Republicans strengthened their majority in the Senate. With a Congress as divided as the nation, several analysts have concluded this is ultimately bad news for the US dollar.
The best way to describe expectations for the global economy is, in a word, “meh.” Three-quarters of the 138 countries with sovereign credit ratings by Moody’s have a “stable outlook,” the agency said in a report published today. The remaining countries are almost evenly split between negative and positive outlooks. This overwhelmingly “stable” outlook is a sign of the rather uninspiring outlook for growth. It’s not necessarily bad, but not all that great either. There is a “continued, albeit slowing, growth momentum in the global economy,” Moody’s analysts wrote.
Earlier this week, British chancellor Philip Hammond delivered the UK’s final budget before it exits the European Union. Hammond went to lengths to try and paint a picture of a bright future after Brexit, with a smattering of spending giveaways for schools, road repairs, and taxpayers. He also got a blessing from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the independent group that provide the economic forecasts (pdf) that the Treasury bases its budget on. The OBR upgraded its forecast for UK GDP growth next year to 1.6%, up from a 1.2% forecast it made in March.
For more than 40 years, Muhammad Yunus has been building a financial system for people who lack sufficient access to the one that already exists. In 2006, the now 78-year old won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work as “banker to the poor.”
“The oil prices in the world are too high and it’s unhealthy for the world,” said Bob Dudley, the chief executive officer of British oil-and-gas giant BP.
In 2011, all fracking in the UK was suspended after evidence suggested it had caused minor earthquakes in the northwest of England. Seven years later, it’s back.
The UK government announced a plan yesterday (Oct. 11) to cut or reduce the subsidies it offers to buyers of eco-friendly vehicles. Starting next month, grants for new plug-in hybrids will be scrapped, and discounts on all-electric cars will be lowered from £4,500 ($5,900) to £3,500.
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing is all the rage in finance today. Major banks and asset managers are rushing to provide clients with socially responsible investment strategies and creating exchange-traded funds to meet every interest, from gender equality to low carbon.
In January, Tencent’s share price hit a record high. The Chinese firm, creator of popular video games and the WeChat messaging service, boasted a market valuation of more than $500 billion and had become one of Asia’s most valuable companies.
The British government has announced a plan to make it mandatory for all large companies to report pay gaps by ethnicity.
