Financial news

• Steel and aluminum tariffs trigger sharp US stock market sell-off

  01-03-2018 22:52 via theguardian.com
  Threat of a trade war with China led investors to sell off US manufacturers including Caterpillar and BoeingUS stock markets tumbled on Thursday after Donald Trump said the United States would impose tariffs of 25% on steel imports and 10% on imported aluminum next week.The threat of a trade war with China and higher goods prices led to a sharp sell-off. The Dow Jones Industrial Average initially fell more than 570 points, with heavy losses for manufacturers like Caterpillar and Boeing. The inde
  
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• GKN shareholders aren't quite in the mood for love – yet | Nils Pratley

  01-03-2018 20:16 via theguardian.com
  Melrose’s bid is too low – and the stock market is getting the messageIt would be an exaggeration to say GKN’s shareholders, after being blasted by management presentations for the past week, have suddenly fallen in love with their misfiring engineering giant. But something may be stirring.For almost the first time since Melrose launched its £7bn reverse takeover bid, GKN’s shares are trading consistently above the value of the offer. GKN closed on Thursday at 435p
  
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• New Look seeks 60% store rent reduction to tackle £1.2bn debt

  01-03-2018 19:54 via theguardian.com
  Fashion chain wants to dump loss making units and agree a deal with landlords to stay afloatNew Look wants its landlords to slash store rents by up 60% as part of a rescue plan drawn up by the loss-making retailer to tackle its £1.2bn debt.The fashion chain is seeking a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), a legal agreement which would enable it to jettison loss-making stores and agree rent reductions with landlords. Continue reading...
  
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• US unemployment claims hit 48-year low as factory growth surges - as it happened

  01-03-2018 18:04 via theguardian.com
  Strong jobless and manufacturing data suggest America’s economy remains solid.Latest: Best weekly US jobless figures in almost 50 yearsJust 210,000 initial claims filed last weekUS factory growth hits 13-year high.Earlier:UK manufacturing PMI dropsCarpetright shares plunge after fresh profits warningEuropean markets down after selloff on Wall StreetNationwide: House prices fell 0.3% last month 5.04pm GMT And finally, European stock markets have closed with losses across the board.WPP are s
  
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• 13 Picasso works bought for £113m by one London buyer

  01-03-2018 18:02 via theguardian.com
  Bulk purchase includes 1937 portrait of lover Marie-Thérèse Walter, sold for nearly £50mA London art adviser has spent more than £110m bulk buying 13 works of art by Picasso on behalf of unnamed wealthy clients. Harry Smith, executive chairman and managing director of the art advisory firm Gurr Johns, bought four Picasso works, including a 1937 portrait of the artist’s lover Marie-Thérèse Walter for £49.8m, at a Sotheby’s auction in Londo
  
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• Council tax rises to boost bills by £81 in England

  01-03-2018 16:58
  Survey reveals impact of financial woes faced by local authorities after funding cutsHouseholds in England will pay on average an extra £81 in council tax from April, in the steepest increases for 14 years, as cash-strapped local authorities struggle to fill gaping holes in their budgets caused by years of austerity.
  The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (Cipfa), which represents public sector finance officers, said the findings of its survey highlighted the increasing
  
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• UK manufacturing growth drops to eight-month low

  01-03-2018 16:50 via theguardian.com
  Uncertainty over Brexit and strengthening pound hitting British factories, survey showsBritain’s factories suffered a slowdown in growth to an eight-month low last month as manufacturers were hit by the twin headwinds of Brexit uncertainty and a stronger pound.The IHS Markit/CIPS survey showed that manufacturing output remained robust and above the historic average, but the purchasing manager’s index (PMI) that measures activity across the sector slipped to 55.2 in February, its seco
  
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• UK running out of gas, warns National Grid

  01-03-2018 16:36 via theguardian.com
  Perfect storm of freezing weather and supply problems prompts call for more fuel immediatelyNational Grid has warned that the UK would not have enough gas to meet public demand on Thursday, as temperatures plummeted and imports were affected by outages.But the government said households would not notice disruptions to their supply or any increase in energy bills because suppliers, including British Gas, bought energy further ahead. The energy minister Claire Perry said people should cook and use
  
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• Home entertainment spending overtakes print sales for first time

  01-03-2018 15:32 via theguardian.com
  UK music, video and games sales higher than those of magazines, books and newspapers last yearThe soaring popularity of services like Netflix, Amazon and Spotify has pushed the amount consumers spend on home entertainment products past the amount spent on books, magazines and newspapers for the first time.UK consumers spent a record £7.2bn last year on all forms of music, video and games, from CDs, DVDs and vinyl records to console software and subscriptions to music and TV streaming servi
  
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• Carpetright warns of annual loss amid UK consumer spending squeeze

  01-03-2018 15:25 via theguardian.com
  Another home furnishings firm feels effects of falling consumer confidence More high street store closures could be on the cards after Carpetright warned it would slump into the red this year and said it was asking its banks for help to ride out the financial storm.The floor covering chain’s third profit warning in four months comes the day after Toys R Us and Maplin, two of the high street’s best known retailers, went into administration, casting doubt over the future of 5,500 jobs
  
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• UK house prices fall as incomes squeeze in slowing economy

  01-03-2018 13:51
  Unexpected dip in property market marks weakest growth in six months, says NationwideUK house prices fell unexpectedly in February for the first time in six months, as the squeeze on household incomes and weaker economic backdrop weighed on the property market, according to the mortgage lender Nationwide.The average price of a home fell by 0.3% last month to £210,402, following a 0.8% increase in January. City economists had expected a 0.2% increase. Continue reading...
  
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• We’re still married to the car – even though we don’t love it any more | Cotten Seiler

  01-03-2018 13:07 via theguardian.com
  The age of the automobile may be over. But, largely thanks to capitalist China, the age of the automobile 2.0 is just beginningThese, a chorus of voices tells us, are the bittersweet, waning days of our long love affair with the car. In Los Angeles, the most congested city in the world, the average motorist was stuck in peak-time congestion for 102 hours last year. In London, drivers lost the equivalent of three days sitting in traffic jams.Americans’ rates of car ownership and number of a
  
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• GBP v USD: Exchange rate at six-week low as UK manufacturing slows again

  01-03-2018 12:32 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE pound remains muted against the US dollar this morning following the release of the UK’s latest manufacturing PMI. GBP/USD is currently at around $1.374, virtually unmoved this morning, but down over two cents from the week’s opening levels.
  
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• Premium bond results: Lucky punter wins £1 million on FIRST possible chance

  01-03-2018 12:31 via feedproxy.google.com
  A LUCKY man in Bedfordshire can now afford to crank up the thermostat this winter after winning the top £1million Premium Bonds prize at the first possible opportunity.
  
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• Leading in a digital world: how to harness the power of change

  01-03-2018 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Why is disruption good for business? And how should managers be exploiting new technology? London Business School’s short programmes offer some answersBusiness leaders and managers are under huge pressure to future-proof their organisations. To exploit new markets, organisations must embrace and implement new technologies to transform operations – while also meeting the demands of multiple generations of employees.If the downside of this future scenario is disruption on a massive sca
  
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• Shockwaves in Paris as Riccardo Tisci named new Burberry designer

  01-03-2018 11:48 via theguardian.com
  Appointment of Italian creative at the traditionally British brand hints at a radical turnaround plan Continue reading...
  
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• Bitcoin price LIVE: BTC rises as Winklevoss says bitcoin 'better at being gold than gold'

  01-03-2018 11:12 via feedproxy.google.com
  BITCOIN suffered an overnight dip down to $10,200 but has now recovered and added $324 so far today. Ripple is still below the dollar mark at $0.91 and ethereum is steady as $869.
  
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• Gas price WARNING: Storm Emma and Beast from the East to add £114 to YOUR heating bill

  01-03-2018 10:52 via feedproxy.google.com
  GAS prices in the UK have more than doubled to their highest level in at least 10 years, as an ill-timed outage in Norway follows an extreme cold snap.
  
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• Cryptocurrency endorsements alert: 'Do investors know what they are signing up for?'

  01-03-2018 10:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  CELEBRITY endorsements for cryptocurrencies have come under the spotlight as experts warn the fallout of such backing is "yet to be seen and felt”.
  
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• Martin Sorrell's WPP reports worst year for growth since 2009

  01-03-2018 10:24 via theguardian.com
  World’s largest advertising and marketing services group records 0.9% fall in revenues to £15.2bnThe world’s largest advertising and marketing services group, WPP, has said last year was its worst since the 2009 recession, as it published gender pay gap figures.The UK company reported a 0.9% fall in revenues to £15.2bn in its results for 2017, making it WPP’s worst year in growth terms since 2009 when the company reported a fall of 8.1% during the depths of the rece
  
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• Sky subscribers to get Netflix for the first time

  01-03-2018 10:11 via theguardian.com
  Broadcaster follows rivals such as BT and Virgin Media by offering subscribers access to streaming serviceSky has finally buried the hatchet with Netflix, striking a deal to allow its subscribers across Europe to access shows such as Stranger Things and The Crown as part of their TV subscription.While rivals such as BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk already have deals with Netflix, Sky has resisted offering access to the streaming service via its electronic programme guide for fear it could result i
  
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• Carillion chair planned ‘upbeat’ message before £845m writedown

  01-03-2018 08:49 via theguardian.com
  Select committee says Philip Green had only a ‘tenuous grasp’ of Carillion’s crisisCarillion’s former chairman Philip Green had only a “tenuous grasp” on the crisis in the construction firm’s finances, and was working towards an “upbeat announcement” to the City just five days before unveiling a £845m writedown, board minutes of the collapsed group reveal.The board also rejected advice from its brokers that the company would be unable t
  
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• Carpetright’s uncertain future – Talks with lenders begin as losses bite

  01-03-2018 08:46 via feedproxy.google.com
  CARPETRIGHT has warned it is set to swing to a full-year loss and said it has started talks with its lenders as the woes in the retail sector show no sign of letting up. In its second profit warning in less than two months, the firm said trading has remained under pressure, with like-for-like sales still falling despite a small improvement since January.
  
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• Where was Thames Water as a trickle turned into a stream?

  01-03-2018 08:00
  I had been waiting since July but the leak continued and turned into ice during the cold spellLast July, I noticed water coming up through the pavement outside my house. I reported this to Thames Water. A month later, I’d heard nothing except for an automated acknowledgment, and the trickle had become a stream. I was then promised an engineer would visit in the coming week. None came, so I called again. An engineer did arrive and said it was a simple job and would be sorted within a fortni
  
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• Carillion's upbeat strategy? Shoot the messenger

  01-03-2018 07:01 via theguardian.com
  Minutes of the doomed boardroom show Morgan Stanley was fired after failing to back rights issueYou can’t argue with boardroom minutes. They’re the definitive summary of who said what. They are compiled by the company secretary, or stand-in, with all directors given the opportunity to check for accuracy afterwards. And what do minutes of Carillion’s board meeting on 5 July last year show? Self-delusion on a scale that, outside the banking sector circa 2008, would be hard to bel
  
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• Yes, bacon really is killing us

  01-03-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Decades’ worth of research proves that chemicals used to make bacon do cause cancer. So how did the meat industry convince us it was safe? By Bee WilsonThere was a little cafe I used to go to that did the best bacon sandwiches. They came in a soft and pillowy white bap. The bacon, thick-cut from a local butcher, was midway between crispy and chewy. Ketchup and HP sauce were served in miniature jars with the sandwich, so you could dab on the exact amount you liked. That was all there was to
  
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• UK car industry must be at the heart of Brexit negotiations, say MPs

  01-03-2018 06:59 via theguardian.com
  Investment and thousands of jobs could be lost in booming automotive sector, committee warns
  The UK government must put the car industry at the heart of Brexit negotiations or risk the loss of thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of pounds of investment, MPs have warned.In a gloomy assessment of prospects for UK car manufacturing, the business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) select committee said Brexit was negative for the sector, with “damage limitation” the best possi
  
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• Dyson hoovers up £801m profit in Asian spending boom

  01-03-2018 01:01
  Almost 75% of growth comes from growing far east markets as Dyson sales hit £3.5bn Growing demand for battery-powered vacuum cleaners, hairdryers and air purifiers in flourishing Asian markets has helped Dyson, the British technology company, to a year of bumper profits. Sir James Dyson, the British inventor who revolutionised the vacuum cleaner, said the company he founded had benefited from “extraordinary enthusiasm for technology” in Asia to help boost annual sales by 40% la
  
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