Financial news

• Dow Jones PLUNGES as US trade war with China escalates

  18-10-2018 23:31 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE Down Jones dropped more than 300 points on Thursday, the latest of a string of losses recorded during this month.
  
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• Amazon creates 600 technology jobs in Manchester

  18-10-2018 23:01 via theguardian.com
  Online retailer to expand R&D operations in the city as well as in Edinburgh and CambridgeAmazon has said the UK will be “taking a leading role in global innovation” as it announced plans to hire 1,000 more technology, research and other skilled workers by next year.The US online retailer is to open its first office in Manchester, with room for 600 new jobs in the Hanover Building in the city’s Northern Quarter – once the headquarters of the Co-operative Group. Contin
  
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• EU leaders ready to help May sell Brexit deal to parliament

  18-10-2018 22:03 via theguardian.com
  PM will receive backing to build ‘coalition of the reasonable’ in desperate bid to avoid no dealEU leaders are preparing to back Theresa May in building a “coalition of the reasonable” in the UK parliament, in a desperate bid to avoid a no-deal Brexit.Following what has been described by diplomats as a “call for help” by the prime minister at a crunch summit in Brussels, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, stressed that the EU had to pursue “all avenue
  
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• After Cobalt, will any more European airlines go bust?

  18-10-2018 20:04 via theguardian.com
  The Cypriot carrier has gone the way of Primera Air and Monarch. What is going on in Europe’s aviation industry?Cobalt has become the latest European budget airline to go bust, following Danish carrier Primera Air, which ceased trading earlier this month. While the Cypriot airline had only two years of flying behind it, after stepping into the breach left by the failure of the national carrier Cyprus Airways, Primera had flown for 14 years. Both carried a fraction of the passengers of Brit
  
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• The Fed is ignoring Trump: this is a fight he cannot win | Nils Pratley

  18-10-2018 19:58 via theguardian.com
  The US president has attacked Jerome Powell again, but the central bank is simply dealing with economic realityIn the past month Donald Trump has called the US Federal Reserve “crazy”, “out of control” and “loco”. This week he returned for another bite. The Fed is the “my biggest threat”, said the president, and he is “not happy” with the chairman, Jerome Powell, an official he nominated to office less than a year ago. The upwards adjus
  
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• Banks to check account names to beat transfer fraud

  18-10-2018 19:47 via theguardian.com
  ‘Confirmation of payee’ system will stymie increasingly sophisticated criminal scamsName checks will be carried out when UK bank customers send money to other people from next year in a bid to halt a rising tide of bank transfer fraud.At the moment, anyone wanting to transfer money is asked for the recipient’s account name, account number and sort code. However, the bank does not currently check if the account name is correct. Continue reading...
  
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• Sky warns Disney and Discovery of no-deal Brexit blackout

  18-10-2018 19:08 via theguardian.com
  Broadcasters would need new licences for Sky to carry them on UK and Ireland service Sky has delivered an ultimatum to broadcasters including Disney and Discovery to sort out their post-Brexit licensing plans by the end of 2018 or face being taken off its pay-TV service.Sky has sent the deadline letter because it needs to know the licensing plans of its channel partners to make sure it abides by European broadcasting regulations in the event of a no-deal Brexit in March. Continue reading...
  
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• Hundreds join growing list of Britain's ultra-rich

  18-10-2018 18:31 via theguardian.com
  Fortunes of already wealthy people grow much faster than that of general population The UK’s ranks of the ultra-rich have swelled by 400 over the last year, taking the number of people with fortunes of more than $50m (£38m) to nearly 5,000.The fortunes of the already very wealthy are growing at a far faster rate than the general population, according to a report by the Swiss bank Credit Suisse published on Thursday. Continue reading...
  
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• India rupee crisis 'WILL get WORSE before better – and it will happen within six months'

  18-10-2018 17:18 via feedproxy.google.com
  INDIA could be braced to see its financial troubles deepen, with the rupee languishing even further before stabilising against the US dollar, according to an economic analyst. The rupee has been crippled by soaring oil prices and higher interest rates, with the crisis-hit currency losing around 15 percent of its value versus the American tender this year.
  
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• Turkey's only oil refiner 'set to SIDELINE US sanctions on Iran oil'

  18-10-2018 17:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  TURKEY’S only oil refiner is poised to sideline United States sanctions by obtaining a wavier allowing it to keep purchasing Iranian oil, according to industry sources. The US is braced to reinstate sanctions on Iran’s oil industry next month after Washington withdrew from a nuclear deal between Tehran and other global powers earlier this year.
  
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• EU members should be wary of stealing London's super-sized financial sector | Howard Davies

  18-10-2018 16:44 via theguardian.com
  Paris and other cities have put out Brexit welcome mats for the City, but does banking unbalance the wider economy?As the UK’s Brexit negotiations stumble on, other European countries are using the uncertainty about the future regulation of the continent’s financial markets to tempt firms and activities away from London.The French have been particularly active in support of Paris, but Frankfurt, despite lukewarm support from the government in Berlin, has not been far behind. And othe
  
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• Cobalt Air warns passengers that all flights are cancelled

  18-10-2018 16:26 via theguardian.com
  Cypriot carrier says operations are suspended and asks travellers not to go to airportsThe Cypriot airline Cobalt Air has cancelled all its flights and indefinitely suspended operations, advising customers not to go to the airport.Cobalt, which was based at Larnaca airport, had operated since 2016 and flew to 23 destinations. In the UK, the airline operated flights at Heathrow, Stansted, Gatwick and Manchester. It cancelled all flights from 11.50pm on Wednesday night, the airline said in a state
  
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• China stocks PLUNGE as yuan closes at WEAKEST level against US dollar in 21 MONTHS

  18-10-2018 16:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  CHINA stocks plunged to an almost four-year low today as the Asian stock market was rattled over fears of a slowdown in economic growth. The yuan also ended trading at its weakest close against the US dollar since January 2017.
  
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• UK heading to CASHLESS future ‘SOONER than we think’ – but consequences could be DIRE

  18-10-2018 15:24 via feedproxy.google.com
  BRITAIN could be heading towards a cashless future “sooner than we think” as debit cards continue to overtake physical money as our main payment method. The number of people using notes and coins has more than halved compared to figures from 20 years ago, with forecasts predicting just one in six people will be using cash in ten years time.
  
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• New Look to pull out of China with closure of 120 stores

  18-10-2018 15:13 via theguardian.com
  Fashion chain’s decision comes as it continues to face tough conditions on UK high streetNew Look is to close all its 120 shops in China by the end of the year after disappointing sales, as it continues to battle tough conditions on the UK high street.The fashion chain, which persuaded landlords to back the closure of up to 60 of its 593 UK stores and rent reductions on dozens more via an insolvency process in March, said it was reviewing all its international markets. Continue reading...
  
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• Gatwick plans using emergency runway to increase flight capacity

  18-10-2018 14:52 via theguardian.com
  London’s second airport hopes to rival Heathrow with 70m passengers a year by 2032Gatwick is proposing to spend £500m to widen its emergency runway and bring it into daily use as a second runway, as part of a plan to bring more than 100,000 additional flights a year to the airport by 2032.The core proposal in an ambitious 15-year masterplan published on Thursday shows that Gatwick, the UK’s second-biggest airport, in south-east England, hopes to serve up to 70 million passenger
  
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• Tell us: have you retired early? What are the realities?

  18-10-2018 14:25 via theguardian.com
  If you have taken steps to retire early or left the workforce earlier than usual we would like to hear from you
  Early retirement is a dream for workers but for many people it remains just that – a dream. Related: At least 1,000 women protest at changes to UK pension ageContinue reading...
  
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• Unilever reports sales boost after HQ row but investors unimpressed

  18-10-2018 13:48 via theguardian.com
  A 3.8% rise in third quarter for firm behind Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Dove soap Unilever, which this month was forced to scrap plans to move its headquarters from London to Rotterdam after a shareholder rebellion, said a hot summer across Europe and a recovery in Brazil boosted sales in the third quarter.The firm behind brands such as Hellmann’s mayonnaise and Dove soap reported a 3.8% rise in underlying sales to €12.5bn (£11bn) during the three months to the end of
  
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• HSBC 'to become first foreign company to list in China with London-Shanghai stock connect'

  18-10-2018 13:07 via feedproxy.google.com
  HSBC has its sights set on the long-awaited new stock exchange link between London and Shanghai with plans to become the first foreign company to trade on a Chinese index. The London-Shanghai stock connect is reported to go live at the end of this year, building a bridge between the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange .
  
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• When council leaders petition No 10 to end austerity, things are bad | Polly Toynbee

  18-10-2018 12:35 via theguardian.com
  Labour councils have had enough. As another round of devastating cuts looms, the leader of Newcastle council has gone to the sourceWith the budget barely more than a week away, the queue of desperate petitioners would stretch down Whitehall, far out of sight. If austerity is over, who’s first in line? In the battle of crises, whose need is greatest?This morning an actual petition was handed into No 10 by one sector among those that have suffered the worst in the great state shrinkage of th
  
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• Pound euro exchange rate: GBP muted as UK retail sales contract faster than expected

  18-10-2018 12:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE pound euro exchange rate is currently trading at around €1.138, virtually unchanged from today’s opening rate and still slightly up on the week so far. Sterling is treading water against the euro and the majority of its other peers this morning as investors digest the UK’s latest retail figures.
  
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• UK retail sales fall in September as shoppers spend less on food

  18-10-2018 11:58 via theguardian.com
  ONS snapshot shows drop of 0.8%, which is bigger than expected after summer splurge A strong summer for Britain’s retailers came to an abrupt end in September as weaker demand for food hit supermarkets and dragged down spending overall.The latest spending snapshot from the Office for National Statistics showed the volume of sales for shops and online businesses had dropped by 0.8%, twice the monthly fall analysts had been expecting. Continue reading...
  
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• From nail bars to car washes: how big is the UK's slavery problem?

  18-10-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Across Britain, there are thousands of victims of this often invisible crime. To mark Anti-Slavery Day we look at the scale of hidden exploitation More than 250 years since the end of the transatlantic slave trade, there are close to 41 million people still trapped in some form of slavery across the world today. Yet nobody really knows the scale and how many victims or perpetrators of this crime there are in Britain. Continue reading...
  
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