Financial news

• Lloyds Pharmacy closes 190 stores, blaming government cuts

  26-10-2017 22:38 via theguardian.com
  Reduced funding, higher business rates and the apprenticeship levy created ‘challenging market conditions’Lloyds Pharmacy has announced it will close nearly 200 stores across England because of changes in government policy, with its parent company also blaming funding cuts and the apprenticeship levy. In an internal letter to staff Cormac Tobin, the managing director of Lloyds Pharmacy’s owner, Celesio UK, said around 190 pharmacies would cease to trade through a combination of
  
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• REVEALED: New pensions investment to rival Bitcoin available to boost retirement pots

  26-10-2017 20:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  PENSIONS have made the step into the digital age with the creation of funds that track cryptcurrencies as the likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum continue to grow.
  
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• Deutsche Börse boss resigns over insider dealing allegations

  26-10-2017 19:41 via theguardian.com
  Accusations concern buying €4.5m worth of shares in the German stock exchange prior to merger talks with London Stock ExchangeThe chief executive of Germany’s stock exchange has resigned to avoid distractions caused by allegations that he has been involved in insider dealing.
  The Frankfurt-based Deutsche Börse announced Carsten Kengeter would leave at the end of the year just days after a German court refused to back a settlement over the allegations under which he had agreed to
  
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• World's witnessing a new Gilded Age as billionaires’ wealth swells to $6tn

  26-10-2017 17:48 via theguardian.com
  Not since the time of the Carnegies, Rockefellers and Vanderbilts at the turn of the 20th century was so much owned by so fewThe world’s super-rich hold the greatest concentration of wealth since the US Gilded Age at the turn of the 20th century, when families like the Carnegies, Rockefellers and Vanderbilts controlled vast fortunes.Billionaires increased their combined global wealth by almost a fifth last year to a record $6tn (£4.5tn) – more than twice the GDP of the UK. Ther
  
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• ECB halves stimulus programme; UK suffers falling retail sales and car production - as it happened

  26-10-2017 16:54 via theguardian.com
  The eurozone’s central bank has halved the pace of its money-printing programme, and extended it for another nine monthsSummary: Mario Draghi’s press conferenceNEWSFLASH: ECB has cuts its stimulus programmeQE will run until at least September 2018Earlier:NEWSFLASH: UK retail sales balance tumbles50% of retailers report falling sales, vs just 15% with rising salesUK car production tumbled in September
  Fourth piece of bad auto news this monthSMMT: No-deal Brexit would be our worst outc
  
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• Paddington Bear to front M&S Christmas advertising campaign

  26-10-2017 16:38 via theguardian.com
  Peruvian character to take over from Mrs Claus in tie-in with UK launch of Paddington 2 filmMarks & Spencer has signed up Paddington Bear for its Christmas advertising campaign. The Peruvian character will take over from Mrs Claus, a James Bond-style character played by Janet McTeer, who fronted last year’s adverts. In previous years the high street chain has relied on celebrities including Joanna Lumley, Stephen Fry and Jamie Redknapp to pull in Christmas shoppers. Continue reading...
  
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• Barclays bank: a sense of deja vu is creeping in ... again | Nils Pratley

  26-10-2017 15:54 via theguardian.com
  The restructured investment banking arm is failing to deliver healthy returns. No surprise there then. It’s a 20-year problemChief executives come and go at Barclays but one debate remains the same: can the bank make decent money from investment banking consistently? The question has been asked for 20 years, in which time Barclays has had seven permanent chief executives and two stand-ins.The debate has burned most fiercely since the wild risk-taking of the early and mid-2000s turned out h
  
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• Greece financial crisis: Threat for EU as Athens problems remain ... - Express.co.uk

  26-10-2017 15:27
  Express.co.uk
  Greece financial crisis: Threat for EU as Athens problems remain ...
  Express.co.uk
  GREECE in on track to end its bailout programme in less than a year - but was warned today more financial doom is around the corner.en meer »
  
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• New Zealand wants to ban rich foreign homebuyers. Labour, take note | Polly Toynbee

  26-10-2017 13:49 via theguardian.com
  While London continues to be a haven for overseas property investors, Jacinda Ardern is banning sales to oligarchsRemember that first thrill of a Labour government arriving in office, armed with radical policies that eons of Conservative governments had always labelled impossible? Related: 'Tower for the toffs': UK's tallest skyscraper and playground of the richContinue reading...
  
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• Alarm sounds over state of UK high street as sales crash

  26-10-2017 13:06 via theguardian.com
  CBI survey shows sales dropping at fastest rate since 2009 recession, with consumers cutting back and inflation eroding spending powerHigh street sales are falling at their fastest rate since the height of the recession in 2009 as struggling households put the brakes on spending, according to a survey that is a grim omen for struggling retailers this Christmas.The CBI’s closely watched survey recorded a “steep drop” in retail sales in October. The slump sent shockwaves through
  
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• UK retail sales fall at sharpest rate since financial crisis - Fund Strategy

  26-10-2017 13:01
  Fund Strategy
  UK retail sales fall at sharpest rate since financial crisis
  Fund Strategy
  UK retail sales have slipped at their sharpest rate since the height of the global financial crisis, according to the latest CBI Distributive Trades Survey. The figures add to mixed economic signals ahead of the Bank of England's monetary policy ...en meer »
  
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• Pound v US dollar: GBP slips on concerns as Brexit negotiations rumble on

  26-10-2017 12:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE Pound rallied against the US dollar yesterday, but has since started to decline as Brexit negotiations continued to drag on.
  
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• Barclays shares tumble after poor trading despite rise in profits

  26-10-2017 12:07 via feedproxy.google.com
  SHARES in Barclays tumbled after poor trading at its investment banking arm overshadowed a rise in third-quarter profit.
  
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• UK markets unfazed as ECB on brink of pulling plug on quantitative easing

  26-10-2017 11:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE UK stock market was unmoved on Thursday as the European Central Bank prepared to pull the plug on its money printing programme.
  
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• Central bankers must learn to speak in plain language

  26-10-2017 09:55 via theguardian.com
  To manage public expectations over rising interest rates, the banks should take a leaf from Donald Trump’s book and speak – and tweet – in simple termsAs global economic growth gathers pace, with the International Monetary Fund reporting that all of the G20 countries are now in an expansion phase, we are at last entering a process of normalisation of interest rates and monetary policy. That shift has been a long time coming, and in 2008 few would have forecast that the impact o
  
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• Brexit fears grip UK car industry as production tumbles – business live

  26-10-2017 09:26 via theguardian.com
  All the day’s economic and financial news, including a worrying fall in UK car production and an important European Central Bank meetingUK car production has fallen
  Big drop in domestic demand
  SMMT: No-deal Brexit would be our worst outcomeComing up: Will ECB taper its stimulus programme?8.15am BSTThe storm clouds gathering over Britain’s car industry have darkened this morning, after manufacturers suffered a sharp fall in production.Output shrank by 4.1% in September, new figures fr
  
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• Talking to My Daughter About the Economy by Yanis Varoufakis – review

  26-10-2017 08:30 via theguardian.com
  Economics is political, and should be discussed in terms everyone can understand, argues this brief history of capitalismNot many authors write a book in nine days, and fewer still are likely to announce it in the prologue. Yanis Varoufakis has no qualms about doing so in this brief history of capitalism, structured around the device of talking to his daughter, Xenia, not long a teenager. It was first published a few years ago, when she was even younger, and has been updated for British rea
  
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• BA delayed my luggage for four days and it spoiled my holiday

  26-10-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Am I entitled to compensation for all the stress it caused?In August my family and I flew with British Airways to Toulouse, but my suitcase didn’t arrive. I was given a number to ring and an operator, who struggled to speak either English or French, assured me that it would be delivered to my lodgings (90 minutes’ drive away) the following day, which was a Sunday. I spent most of the first day of my holiday waiting for it. It turned out that the delivery service employed by BA does n
  
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• Asic could pursue criminal charges against Rio Tinto executives

  26-10-2017 05:27 via theguardian.com
  Corporate watchdog is working with US SEC over claims the mining giant failed to accurately value a Mozambique coal assetAustralia’s corporate regulator has revealed it could pursue criminal charges against Rio Tinto executives after the company failed to promptly tell shareholders about a multi-billion dollar write-down of a coal asset in Mozambique. Related: Rio Tinto charged with fraud in US and fined £27.4m in UKContinue reading...
  
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• Mental health problems are forcing thousands in UK out of work – report

  26-10-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Thriving at Work report commissioned by government urges employers to commit to six core standards around mental healthAbout 300,000 people with a long-term mental health problem lose their jobs each year, a review commissioned by Theresa May has found.The Thriving at Work report, published on Thursday, puts the annual cost to the UK economy of poor mental health at up to £99bn, of which about £42bn is borne by employers. Continue reading...
  
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