Financial news

• Trump and Brexit put global economic growth at risk, World Bank says

  10-01-2017 22:00
  
  Washington-based bank says policy uncertainty and protectionist tendencies could undermine pickup in 2017A tentative pickup in the global economy this year is at risk from the political uncertainty unleashed by Brexit and the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House, the World Bank has said.The Washington-based organisation said 2016 had been the weakest year for the global economy since the deep recession of 2008-09 and expressed concern that protectionist pressures would continue to increase
  
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• Corbyn’s wage cap plan labelled unworkable but keeps pay on agenda

  10-01-2017 21:05
  
  City figures attack Labour leader’s idea that bosses should not earn more than 20 times the wage of their lowest-paid workerJeremy Corbyn’s idea for a maximum wage cap has been branded unworkable, but the Labour leader’s focus on tackling the pay gap between bosses and workers was given a warmer reception by campaigners against inequality.Major companies are on alert to attacks on boardroom pay after Theresa May put the issue on the agenda during her campaign to become Conserva
  
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• FTSE 100 hits another record high; Davos founder criticises populism – as it happened

  10-01-2017 18:55
  
  Sterling recovers after hitting 10-week low against the dollar as investors fret about the lack of details about BrexitFTSE 100 posts nine day record breaking runWEF’s Schwab criticises populism as Davos loomsPound was down against euro and dollar again todayCity bosses warn of Brexit job losses 5.55pm GMTWhile the FTSE 100 was breaking new records, European markets were more subdued but still managed to end the day in positive territory, for the most part. The final scores showed: 4.41pm
  
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• Financial Times opposes new UK press law - Financial Times

  10-01-2017 18:14
  Financial Times
  Financial Times opposes new UK press law
  Financial Times
  Several UK newspaper groups, including the Financial Times, have complained about a new legal provision that will force them to accept state-backed regulation or face paying the legal costs of both sides even in court cases they win.en meer »
  
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• Hard Brexit threatens global financial system, City chiefs tell MPs

  10-01-2017 18:12
  
  Finance chiefs demand clarity on EU exit strategy as MPs hear concerns for tens of thousands of jobs if London loses euro clearing and passporting rightsBrexit poses a risk to the global financial system and could spark more than 230,000 job losses, senior City figures have told MPs as they called for clarity on the UK’s future relationship with the EU.Xavier Rolet, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, said Brexit could have an impact on “unimaginably large” contracts
  
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• Poorer countries fail to act on smoking due to big tobacco threats, says WHO

  10-01-2017 18:06
  
  Industry lobbying means low- and middle-income countries fear raising cost of cigarettes which is most effective way to curb smokingMany low- and middle-income countries are too scared by the threats and misinformation of big tobacco to raise the price of cigarettes, even though it would hugely benefit both health and the economy, according to a major new report.The most effective measure to help people stop smoking is to impose high taxes on cigarettes, says the report by the World Health Organ
  
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• Sir David Clementi: City grandee ready to do the business at the BBC

  10-01-2017 17:40
  
  The ex-Bank of England deputy governor advised the government to introduce a corporate-style BBC board – and has the experience to run it Sir David Clementi, who has been named as the next chair of the BBC, didn’t apply for the job. The former City grandee and deputy governor of the Bank of England was asked to put his name forward after he advised the government that it should scrap the BBC Trust – the corporation’s governing body.In his government-commissioned review, C
  
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• Maximum wage cap: how might it work?

  10-01-2017 17:27
  
  The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, wants a cap on high earnings to address inequality in the UKThe Labour leader’s remarks appeared to be off the cuff in his morning interviews, but by his Peterborough speech it had become a formal policy. Labour would not offer public contracts to any firm that paid the boss more than 20 times the wage of its lowest-paid worker. Continue reading...
  
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• UK inequality narrows but many working people are worse off

  10-01-2017 17:16
  
  Boost in pensions is main driver of rising standards for low-income groups, ONS figures showThe gap between Britain’s rich and poor fell sharply last year after a boost to the incomes of the poorest 20% and a squeeze on the richest fifth.The Office for National Statistics said median disposable income for the poorest fifth of households had risen by £700, or 5.1%, in the year to April 2016, while the richest fifth of households saw their incomes fall by £1,000, or 1.9%, over th
  
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• Former Saatchi boss returns after sexism row with new chair role

  10-01-2017 16:41
  
  Kevin Roberts, who denied that the lack of women in leadership roles was a problem, to head UK company BeattieKevin Roberts, the former chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi who resigned after a sexism row, has taken a role chairing a UK communications group that says 70% of its leadership team are women. In August, Roberts was put on leave and subsequently resigned from Publicis Groupe, the parent company of Saatchi & Saatchi, after provoking fury with his comments about women in an interview w
  
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• Businesses and investors renew plea to Trump: don't ignore climate change

  10-01-2017 16:17
  
  A letter released today contains signatures from 530 companies including Campbell Soup and Johnson & Johnson, urging the president-elect to take actionMore than 600 businesses and investors signed and released a letter on Tuesday urging president-elect Donald Trump to fight climate change – a move that coincides with the start of the Senate hearings to confirm his cabinet nominees, who are poised to gut existing climate policies.The letter contains signatures from roughly 200 more comp
  
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• Basic shop disciplines deliver Morrisons a merrier Christmas

  10-01-2017 16:13
  
  Use of an automated system for reordering stock is one of the ways the supermarket has stopped shooting itself in the footThank goodness Morrisons never succumbed to the briefly fashionable, but always absurd, idea that shareholders should flog the freehold-rich company to a crew of private equity barons to conduct a salvage operation. Morrisons was always a better business than that, as the injection of a few basic retailing disciplines as demonstrated. At Christmas 2015, when Aldi and Lidl wer
  
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• Restaurants run by labor secretary nominee report 'disturbing' rates of sexual harassment

  10-01-2017 15:00
  
  Survey finds two-thirds of female workers reported harassment at brands owned by CKE Restaurants, run by Andrew Puzder, Trump’s labor pickTwo-thirds of female fast food workers at restaurants operated by Andrew Puzder, Donald Trump’s controversial nomination for US labor secretary, experienced sexual harassment at work, a rate much higher than the industry average, a stinging advocacy survey has claimed.Many female workers, according to the research conducted by Restaurant Opportunit
  
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• Majestic Wine sales up 7.5% over firm's 'biggest ever' Christmas period

  10-01-2017 14:53
  
  With figures up nearly 30% at its Naked Wines website and 62.3% at Lay & Wheeler, overall group sales rose 12.4% Soaring gin and sparkling wine sales helped Majestic Wine outperform City expectations to deliver its “biggest ever” Christmas.Majestic said gin sales were up 55% on last year, with upmarket products such as Warner Edwards rhubarb gin and Sipsmith sloe gin performing particularly well. Sparkling wine sales rose 12%, with sales of prosecco increasing three times faster
  
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• Renewed strike action on Southern rail adds to commuter misery

  10-01-2017 13:38
  
  Hundreds of thousands of rail travellers affected a day after London tube strike, and British Airways cabin crew walkout begins Renewed strike action on Southern rail has left hundreds of thousands of commuters again struggling to get to work by alternative means.Cabin crew at British Airways have also started a two-day strike, while efforts continued to restart talks to avert further action on the London Underground. Continue reading...
  
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• Prices of Oxo, Bisto and Mr Kipling to rise after pound's Brexit plunge

  10-01-2017 13:38
  
  Premier Foods joins companies seeking to offset weakness of sterling, after Unilever’s row with Tesco over Marmite pricesShoppers will have to pay more for Oxo stock cubes, Bisto gravy and Mr Kipling cakes as the firm behind the brands prepares to raise prices to offset the fall in the pound triggered by the Brexit vote.Premier Foods, which also owns Homepride, Batchelors and Ambrosia rice pudding, will become the latest in a string of companies to offset the weakness of sterling after Uni
  
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• FTSE 100 closes at new high in longest-ever winning streak

  10-01-2017 13:19
  
  London index hits record high for ninth consecutive day, beating its eight-day run in May 1997 after Tony Blair swept to powerThe FTSE 100 reached another new peak on Tuesday and broke a near 20-year record for its longest run of closing highs. The index jumped 37.70 points or 0.52% to end the day at 7,275, its ninth consecutive day of closing highs, beating the eight-day run in May 1997 following Labour’s general election landslide under Tony Blair.Continue reading...
  
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• Post Office to cut more than 420 jobs

  10-01-2017 12:11
  
  Workers told 300 jobs will go with closure and franchising of 37 more crown post offices, and cutting of 127 financial roles
  The Post Office is to close and franchise a further 37 of its flagship crown offices, with the loss of 300 staff, and cut 127 financial specialist roles, workers have been told.The Communication Workers Union said that, on top of the 62 branches announced for closure and franchise in 2016, the job cuts brought more “misery” to Post Office workers and their cust
  
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• Trinity Mirror confirms talks with Richard Desmond's Express Group

  10-01-2017 11:20
  
  Daily Mirror parent company in ‘early stage’ talks with Northern & Shell over merger of back office and sales operations to make significant savingsThe Daily Mirror group, Trinity Mirror, has confirmed it is back in talks with Richard Desmond about a potential tie-up with Express Newspapers, owner of the Express and the Star.Trinity Mirror, which has seen its share price fall by 42% in the last year, said it was in “early stage” talks with Desmond’s Northern &am
  
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• Snapchat to set up main international hub in UK

  10-01-2017 10:42
  
  Snap Inc announces it chose Britain due to its ‘strong creative industries’, in move seen as vote of confidence for UK tech following EU referendum resultSnap Inc, the company formerly known as Snapchat, has announced that it will set up its main international hub in the UK, in what is likely to be seen as a vote of confidence for British tech following the EU referendum result.The company says it chose Britain because of the nation’s “strong creative industries” in
  
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• Morrisons enjoys some 'remarkable' Christmas cheer

  10-01-2017 09:05
  
  CEO says supermarket has found its ‘mojo’ after having best Christmas in seven years thanks in part to new premium rangesMorrisons had its best Christmas for seven years after the supermarket chain revamped its premium ranges, opened more tills and cut fewer prices.
  Britain’s fourth-largest retailer reported a 2.9% increase in sales excluding fuel in the nine weeks to 1 January, with fresh fruit and vegetables, beers, wine and spirits, and its new upmarket The Best range faring
  
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• Last-minute Christmas rush lifts UK retail sales

  10-01-2017 08:40
  
  Industry figures add to signs that the economy ended 2016 strongly – although some analysts see slowdown aheadUK retail sales continued to grow at the end of last year as Britons made a late dash for Christmas gifts and festive foods, according to industry figures that add to signs the economy ended 2016 on a strong note.The British Retail Consortium (BRC) pointed to challenges ahead from rising costs and political uncertainty but said its members went into the new year having enjoyed soli
  
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• Why tech businesses are tackling society’s most taboo subject

  10-01-2017 08:15
  
  It’s an overwhelmingly traditional sector, but death businesses need to be brought into the 21st century, say these entrepreneursDeath will happen to us all, but it’s not something we like to talk about or prepare for. The UK population is now older than it has ever been – by 2039, more than one in 12 of the population is projected to be aged 80 or over – and the death rate has risen. There were 602,786 deaths in the UK during 2015, according to the cumulative England and
  
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• What can this Peru slum teach the world about stopping the spread of TB?

  10-01-2017 08:00
  
  Peru, one of the hotspots for tuberculosis, has some of the highest global recovery rates thanks to a community-based method for fighting the diseaseFor Jasmin Bueno, aged seven, and her brother Aaron, aged six, there is little that can make swallowing chemo-profilactic pills any less bitter. But the tablets they stoically gulp down daily during the next six months are the best protection they can get from contracting tuberculosis.Just a sheet draped over a washing line separates their sleeping
  
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• We have a TV licence, so why send in the enforcer?

  10-01-2017 08:00
  
  Even TV Licensing has confirmed we have one but the letters don’t stopFor a number of months we been threatened with an enforcement investigation by TV Licensing, despite having a valid licence since 2010. Even though we received a letter in November acknowledging that we do have a licence, it is still threatening us with an imminent visit “to find out if a TV is being watched, recorded or downloaded illegally”. Continue reading...
  
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• One blunt heckler has revealed just how much our economists are failing us | Aditya Chakrabortty

  10-01-2017 07:00
  
  A booming Britain? Whose GDP do we mean, when the wealth gains of the past decade have all been in London and the south-east?There’s a lady I’ve been thinking about for the past few days, even though we’ve never met. She’s the central character in a true story told by the Europe expert Anand Menon. He was in Newcastle just before the referendum to debate the impact of Britain leaving the EU. Invoking the gods of economics, the King’s College London professor invited
  
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• Government review likely to back Swansea Bay tidal lagoon

  10-01-2017 07:00
  
  £1.3bn plan is seen as ‘pathfinder’ for six bigger plants, which could generate more than 10% of UK’s electricity Plans for a pioneering tidal power lagoon in Swansea Bay are expected to be supported by a government-commissioned report this week, potentially unlocking a multibillion-pound series of projects harnessing electricity from the rise and fall of the tide around the UK.When ministers last year ordered a review to see if the technology could affordably provide gre
  
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• Financial services firms already moving operations out of UK - economia

  10-01-2017 01:12
  Financial services firms already moving operations out of UK
  economia
  Your current browser is not capable of using this site without JavaScript. Please use an updated browser or enable JavaScript to continue. News Sinead Moore 9 Jan 2017 01:31pm. Financial services firms already moving operations out of UK. The fourth ...
  
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• UK throwing away £13bn of food each year, latest figures show

  10-01-2017 01:01
  
  Waste and recycling advisory body says 4.4m tonnes of household food waste thrown away in 2015 could have been eatenUK households binned £13bn worth of food in 2015 that could have been eaten, according to new figures which suggest that progress in reducing the national food waste mountain has stalled.Despite concerted efforts to reduce food waste through the entire supply chain, a new national update from the waste and recycling advisory body Wrap revealed that an estimated 7.3m tonnes of
  
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