Financial news

• Theresa May's post-Brexit industrial strategy ducks tough decisions | Nils Pratley

  23-01-2017 20:38 via theguardian.com
  
  The government’s long list of good intentions lacks a clear sense of which sectors should get priorityHurrah, the UK will embark on its post-Brexit adventure with an industrial strategy, or at least a government that is prepared to use the term without embarrassment. What’s more, the business secretary, Greg Clark, hit some of the right notes in his introduction to the green paper. The goal is not to pick winners, which would be to repeat the mistakes of the 1970s. Nor is it to prote
  
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• The Guardian view on industrial strategy: hot air but no liftoff | Editorial

  23-01-2017 20:29 via theguardian.com
  
  The green paper suggests small sensible steps forward, but all will be lost in the great leap backwards of BrexitBritish politicians have been talking about a modern industrial strategy for long enough that the idea counts as neither original nor radical. But if the government makes real progress towards enacting such a strategy – setting into reverse patterns of short-termism, weak productivity, trade deficits and regional imbalances – it will be a significant achievement. The
  
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• Jeanette Winterson to close London shop due to business rates surge

  23-01-2017 20:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Author of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit to shut deli in Spitafields after rateable value rises from £21,500 to £54,000The writer Jeanette Winterson is to close her shop in London because of an overhaul of the business rates system, which will dramatically increase the amount of tax retailers pay in the capital. The award-winning author of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit said the delicatessen store she owns in Spitalfields, east London, would have to shut because the rateable value ha
  
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• Bernie Sanders supports Trump's TPP order while McCain criticizes opting out

  23-01-2017 19:35 via theguardian.com
  
  The former Democratic candidate called for new trade policy for working families as the Republican senator and economists expressed concerns over global impactDonald Trump has officially killed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the controversial trade deal that became a lightning rod for critics on the left and right during the election campaign. Related: Trump withdraws from Trans-Pacific Partnership amid flurry of ordersContinue reading...
  
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• MPs question post-Brexit viability of May's industrial strategy

  23-01-2017 19:24 via theguardian.com
  
  PM pledges extra support for life sciences and other sectors but unions say plans could be ‘hobbled’ outside single marketTrade unions, MPs and business leaders have questioned whether the government’s new industrial strategy will succeed if Britain leaves the single market in Europe, despite Theresa May pledging that it will create a platform for businesses to grow after Brexit.The industrial strategy, unveiled in Warrington, Cheshire, shows the prime minister is prepared to t
  
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• Brothers jailed for trafficking people from Poland to work at Sports Direct

  23-01-2017 19:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Markowski brothers given six-year prison terms after conning staff supplied by agency to Shirebrook warehouseTwo brothers who trafficked vulnerable men from Poland to work in a Sports Direct warehouse have been jailed for six years each under the Modern Slavery Act.Erwin Markowski, 38, and his brother Krystian, 35, lured 18 men from Poland to work at Sports Direct’s Shirebrook warehouse, Nottingham crown court heard. Continue reading...
  
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• Trump withdraws from Trans-Pacific Partnership amid flurry of orders

  23-01-2017 18:46 via theguardian.com
  
  President begins effort to dismantle Obama legacy by scrapping trade deal, and reinstates ban on providing federal funding to aid groups that perform abortionsDonald Trump has begun his effort to dismantle Barack Obama’s legacy, formally scrapping a flagship trade deal with 11 countries in the Pacific rim.
  The new president also signed executive orders to ban funding for international groups that provide abortions, and placing a hiring freeze on non-military federal workers. Continue readi
  
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• Pound hits five-week high as Trump fears weaken dollar – as it happened

  23-01-2017 18:43 via theguardian.com
  
  All the day’s economic and financial news, as Donald Trump’s protectionist approach alarms the markets.FTSE 100 heads for third day of fallsPound hits $1.245 in early trading
  Gold rises to two-month high5.43pm GMTInvestors were cautious as Donald Trump made a number of moves in his first day in office as US president, including plans to renegotiate the free trade agreement with Canada and Mexico and withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He also threatened massive border taxes
  
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• Financial firms in talks with Amsterdam over relocation from London

  23-01-2017 18:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Dutch capital confirms negotiations in wake of Brexit vote but country’s strict cap on bankers’ bonuses remains an obstacleAmsterdam is in talks with major financial institutions based in the city of London about their imminent relocation to the Dutch capital, but its deputy mayor has warned the national government that the country’s strict cap on bankers’ bonuses could put it at a disadvantage in the Europe-wide scramble to capture Britain’s financial sector.
  The A
  
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• Ticket touts rebrand as investigations put them in spotlight

  23-01-2017 16:16
  
  Competition watchdog and HMRC to examine industry in which big operators have stranglehold on tickets for top eventsSome of the UK’s most prolific and successful ticket touts appear to be rebranding their organisations as the industry braces for investigations by the competition watchdog and the taxman in the UK.Moves among touts to alter their public profiles follow increased scrutiny, including an inquiry by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) into whether they are breaking the l
  
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• How ticket touts beat you to the punch ... and what you can do about it

  23-01-2017 16:16
  
  Fans seeking tickets for Hamilton, Adele or Take That face battle against touts armed with bots and multiple credit cardsHip-hop musical Hamilton and tours by Adele, U2 and Take That are among the latest must-see events to be seized upon by touts, hoovering up tickets at the expense of ordinary fans. But how do they get their tickets, is it legal and what can be done about it? Continue reading...
  
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• Event: Are slum-free cities achievable?

  23-01-2017 15:23 via theguardian.com
  
  On 31 January join a discussion about surging city populations and slums co-hosted by the Global Development Professionals Network and the London International Development CentreThe global population is projected to rise to 9.7bn people by 2050, and it is estimated that around 66% of that total will be living in cities, with the majority of urban growth expected to take place in developing regions in Africa, Asia and Latin America.On the one hand, slums give people opportunities, allowing them t
  
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• The UK’s economy is London-centric. Brexit is the chance to change that | Laurie Macfarlane

  23-01-2017 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  We need a new, decentralised banking system that invests in local initiatives to create jobs and industries in the regions that have been left behindIf Brexit means leaving the single market and the customs union, as the prime minister told us last week, it is no great surprise to hear that major banks are planning to shift operations out of the UK. It could be the beginning of the end for an economic order that has favoured London’s status as a global hub for financial services, while who
  
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• The 10 most unaffordable cities for housing … and the most affordable city – in pictures

  23-01-2017 14:51 via theguardian.com
  
  The 13th annual Demographia international housing affordability survey ranks the affordability of ‘middle-income’ housing in 406 cities – and for the seventh year running, one stood above the rest Continue reading...
  
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• Seaford: the town cut off by the Southern rail dispute

  23-01-2017 13:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Commuters hope for relief as planned strikes are suspended, but long-running dispute has taken a toll At one time, so many visitors would bother him for directions that the newsagent next to Seaford station put up a sign on his door, with exact instructions on how to get to the Seven Sisters, the chalk cliffs that run east from the town to Beachy Head. Lately, with train services eroded and finally halted by the long-running dispute between unions and Southern railway, the sign has barely been n
  
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• Paddy Power Betfair takes £5m hit from Trump election win

  23-01-2017 13:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Bookmaker paid out £800,000 early to punters who bet on Clinton victory, also losing out after Man United goal rushPaddy Power Betfair blamed the unlikely pairing of Donald Trump and the Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic as it cut its full-year profit forecast.The “unexpected US election outcome”, in which Trump triumphed over Hillary Clinton in November, cost the bookmaker £5m as it paid out to punters who backed him for the White House. Continue reading...
  
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• Lloyds bank accounts targeted in huge cybercrime attack

  23-01-2017 13:20
  
  Banking group says none of its 20m accounts were hacked or compromised after fending off two-day denial of service attack Lloyds Banking Group suffered 48-hour online attack this month as cybercriminals attempted to block access to 20m UK accounts.The denial of service attack ran for two days from Wednesday 11 January to Friday 13 January, as Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland were bombarded with millions of fake requests, designed to grind the group’s systems to a halt. Usually in a den
  
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• Theresa May’s industrial plan signals shift to more state intervention

  23-01-2017 10:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Prime minister’s offer of support to five key sectors will exploit post-Brexit lifting of EU state aid rulesTheresa May is to signal an era of greater state intervention in the economy as she launches her industrial strategy with a promise of “sector deals”, a new system of technical education and better infrastructure.The prime minister will publish the strategy at a cabinet meeting in the north-west of England, naming five sectors that could receive special government support
  
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• 'There's a danger of a generation who can't afford to retire'

  23-01-2017 09:05
  
  Is the idea of a financially comfortable retirement increasingly unattainable – and are we being honest about how much we need to save? At 19, working full-time and studying for an Open University degree, Rachael Ingram is already saving for her retirement. But she’d rather be spending the money elsewhere. Continue reading...
  
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• UK GDP preview: sharp slowdown expected in 2017

  23-01-2017 08:46 via theguardian.com
  
  Growth figures this week are expected to confirm resilience of UK economy. But weaker sterling and higher inflation will dent that, warn economistsOfficial figures this week are expected to provide fresh evidence that the UK economy remained resilient in the face of Brexit uncertainty at the close of 2016 but economists warn Britain is headed for a sharp slowdown this year.
  After confounding most economic forecasters with solid GDP growth of 0.6% in the three months following June’s refere
  
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• The psychologists' guide to networking

  23-01-2017 08:15 via theguardian.com
  
  It’s something many people loathe and find awkward, but here’s how to do it well and make a good impressionThe idea of introducing themselves to a room of strangers fills many business owners with dread. They know networking is important for growing their business, however they loathe it all the same. But what is it that makes people feel so uncomfortable ?Paul Russell is the co-founder of training company Luxury Academy and has an MSc in occupational psychology. He says people get n
  
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• Can post-Brexit London survive as Europe's cultural and financial capital?

  23-01-2017 08:07 via theguardian.com
  
  The UK capital perhaps felt the greatest shock when Britain voted to leave the EU. In the first in a series on post-Brexit cities, Tom Campbell examines whether the impending split really will be ‘economic self-sabotage’ for LondonOn a balmy July evening in 2012, London officially opened the Olympic Games. As with so much else that summer, the opening ceremony projected a city that was full of confidence: open, diverse, prosperous and good humoured. London had shaken off the financia
  
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• Sainsbury's chairman sanctioned for using staff to work on country home

  23-01-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  City grandee David Tyler paid £5,000 to charity after being sanctioned by supermarket for breaching code of conduct Sainsbury’s chairman David Tyler was sanctioned by the supermarket’s board after using the company’s staff and suppliers to help revamp his country bolthole.The board sent Tyler, a City grandee who has led Sainsbury’s since late 2009, a warning letter after an internal investigation concluded there had been “material breaches” of three comp
  
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• My employer is putting me through an accountancy course, but I want to quit

  23-01-2017 08:00
  
  How can I move on without them thinking I just used them to get my qualification?
  Twice a week we publish problems that will feature in a forthcoming Dear Jeremy advice column in the Saturday Guardian so that readers can offer their own advice and suggestions. We then print the best of your comments alongside Jeremy’s own insights.I’m studying towards my AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) level three qualification, having previously been put through level two and an NVQ leve
  
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• Car registration space on Parkmobile app cost me £100

  23-01-2017 08:00
  
  We paid the parking charge and got confirmation, but UK Parking Control won’t budge on the fineCan you help me with a £100 fine levied by UK Parking Control? In October my partner parked in Cheltenham and paid via the mobile app promoted by signs in the car park – Parkmobile. She entered the registration of the hire car she was in, paid the £4.10 charge and received confirmation messages, leaving her confident that all was as it should be. Continue reading...
  
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• If Brexit Britain is to survive, Theresa May must get industry right | Matthew d’Ancona

  23-01-2017 07:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Speeches about skills aren’t enough. To weather looming economic storms, the UK needs a fearless assessment of work and its futureAmid the hurricanes of Donald Trump’s inauguration and Brexit’s advent, a sapling of policy dares to break from the soil. On Monday, the government will launch its industrial strategy green paper – no less significant, in its way, than Theresa May’s speech last week on leaving the European Union. Related: Hurrah for the industrial strateg
  
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• Textile firms paying UK workers £3 per hour, investigation finds

  23-01-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Channel 4’s Dispatches reveals River Island, New Look, Boohoo and Missguided used factories paying workers between £3 and £3.50 an hour British-based factory workers producing garments for a string of top fashion brands are being paid less than half the legal minimum wage, a new undercover film claims. Textile firms making products for fashion retailers such as River Island, New Look, Boohoo and Missguided are paying their UK workers between £3 and £3.50 an hour, Ch
  
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• Optimism continues to drop amid mixed picture for UK financial services - CBI (press release)

  23-01-2017 01:09
  
  CBI (press release)
  Optimism continues to drop amid mixed picture for UK financial services
  CBI (press release)
  Sentiment amongst financial services firms deteriorated further in the three months to December, but there are signs of an improvement in business conditions over the next quarter for some sectors, according to the latest CBI/PwC Financial Services Survey.
  CBI-PwC survey 2016: Optimism in UK financial services firms slips furtherInternational Business Times UK
  Financial services firms
  
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• UK's new towns surpass national average for house price growth

  23-01-2017 01:01
  
  Milton Keynes, now 50 years old, identified as the best-performing new town for property price growth over last 30 yearsHouse price growth in Britain’s new towns has outperformed the national average over the past decade, a report has found.Milton Keynes, which is celebrating its 50th birthday, was identified as the best-performing new town for property price growth over the last 30 years. New towns generally have seen house prices go up by 32% over the last 10 years, increasing by just ov
  
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