Financial news

• Business leaders demand May answers 20 questions on trade

  12-02-2019 23:30
  British firms say they urgently need clarity to limit chaos of a no-deal BrexitBusiness leaders have demanded the prime minister answer 20 crucial questions before the 29 March deadline to prevent a chaotic no-deal Brexit.The British Chamber of Commerce (BCC), the UK business trade body, said that without greater clarity over import and export duties, border controls and customs procedures, Theresa May risked thousands of companies suffering a potentially catastrophic shock when the UK quits the
  
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• Digital ad market under fresh scrutiny amid competition concerns

  12-02-2019 20:35
  UK government backs investigation into dominance of Facebook and GoogleFacebook and Google could be forced to open up their businesses and share details of how their advertising model works, after the government backed an investigation into concerns that their dominance of the online advertising business is hurting news publishers. Related: Google and Facebook fuel UK ad boom despite print slumpContinue reading...
  
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• Debenhams hopes rise as major supplier adds support to cash fillip

  12-02-2019 20:22
  Shares in the department store chain are up, but analysts say its future is still in the balanceHopes for the survival of Debenhams have risen after the department store confirmed it had agreed a £40m lifeline from lenders and a deal with a major supplier to improve the quality of its own-label clothing.The company said it had secured an additional 12-month credit facility with its existing lenders as “a bridge” towards longer term refinancing. Continue reading...
  
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• Bitcoin news: Venezuela trading of bitcoin hits ALL TIME high as faith in currency fails

  12-02-2019 20:18 via feedproxy.google.com
  BITCOIN has broken trading volume records in Venezuela as people turn to cryptocurrencies amid the country's worsening economic and political crisis - but the government has reacted sharply.
  
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• Fracking firm Cuadrilla loses planning appeal for second UK site

  12-02-2019 20:08
  Communities secretary James Brokenshire cited traffic issues in rejecting plans for four wellsCampaigners have welcomed the government’s decision to reject a planning appeal by shale gas firm Cuadrilla to frack at a second site in Lancashire, capping a week of bad news for the industry.James Brokenshire, the communities secretary, said he was turning down the appeal for planning permission to develop four fracking wells in the Fylde area because of traffic concerns. Continue reading...
  
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• Spread betting slump shows regulators are on the right track | Nils Pratley

  12-02-2019 19:58
  Drop-off follows overdue intervention in industry adept at parting punters from their cashLife moves quickly in the daredevil world of financial spread betting, where paper profits can turn into real losses in no time at all. Just ask Plus500, one company catering for retail punters’ appetite for making leveraged bets on the short-term price movements of shares, commodities, currencies and even cryptocurrencies.Back in December, Plus500 said it had “performed well” even after r
  
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• Liberty London department store could be sold for £350m

  12-02-2019 19:03
  Luxury retailer has hired UBS to seek private buyer, according to reportsThe department store Liberty London has been put on the market with a potential £350m price tag.The retail landmark, which was founded by Arthur Lasenby Liberty in 1875 with a £2,000 loan from his future father-in-law, has grown to become an international brand that sells its tana lawn fabrics and luxury leather goods around the world. Continue reading...
  
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• Labour to set out plans to decarbonise UK and fulfil green jobs pledge

  12-02-2019 17:00
  Party says Labour government would tackle climate change by starting economic revolutionLabour is to set out how the UK can move swiftly to a decarbonised future to tackle the unfolding climate crisis and put “meat on the bones” of its promise to create hundreds of thousands of high-skilled, unionised green jobs.Trade unionists and industry leaders will come together with academics, engineers and public institutions to build detailed regional plans setting out the challenges and oppo
  
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• What are the different measures of inflation, and are we being conned?

  12-02-2019 16:24
  The UK uses three measures and each has its fans, but it does seem unnecessarily complicatedMPs press Treasury to abandon ‘absurd’ inflation measureIs inflation really that difficult to calculate?
  It seems so. There are three main estimates produced by the ONS: the consumer prices index (CPI); consumer prices index including owner-occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH): and the retail prices index (RPI). The rates for December 2018 – January’s figures are out tomorrow &nda
  
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• The EU looks like the Soviet Union in 1991 – on the verge of collapse | George Soros

  12-02-2019 16:12
  In May’s European elections, anti-EU forces will be on the rise. Those who want to preserve the union’s values must wake upEurope is sleepwalking into oblivion and its people need to wake up before it is too late. If they don’t, the European Union will go the way of the Soviet Union in 1991. Neither our leaders nor ordinary citizens seem to understand that we are experiencing a revolutionary moment, that the range of possibilities is very broad, and that the eventual outcome is
  
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• MPs and peers press Treasury to abandon 'absurd' inflation measure

  12-02-2019 14:04
  Ministers urged to ditch RPI, which it is claimed penalises students and rail passengersWhat are the different measures of inflation, and are we being conned?The government is coming under intense pressure to either abandon or fix the “grossly unfair” retail prices index inflation measure, which MPs say is penalising students and rail passengers.In a rare combined letter from parliamentarians in the House of Commons and the House of Lords, RPI was described as “absurd” an
  
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• Pound euro exchange rate: GBP/EUR steadies as crumbling Eurozone worries Eurogroup

  12-02-2019 12:58 via feedproxy.google.com
  The pound euro exchange rate is rangebound today and is currently trading around €1.1406. The euro steadied against the pound today following a speech by Germany’s president of the Deutsche Bundesbank, Dr Jens Weidmann, who commented that “it could become more and more difficult for the European Central Bank to focus on its promise of a stable currency".
  
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• Pound US dollar exchange rate: GBP/USD dips as US government avoids another shutdown

  12-02-2019 12:47 via feedproxy.google.com
  This morning the pound remains under pressure against the US dollar, and is currently trading at a rate of $1.284.
  
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• Nissan cuts profit forecast as it takes £65m Carlos Ghosn charge

  12-02-2019 12:06
  Japanese carmaker says it will face extra expenses related to scandal around former chairmanThe Japanese carmaker Nissan has cut its full-year profit forecast and taken a 9.2bn yen (£65m) charge related to the scandal around its former chairman Carlos Ghosn, who was arrested over allegations of financial misconduct and breach of trust.Nissan said it had booked the charge to cover additional expenses linked to payments to Ghosn, in its first results since his arrest in November for allegedl
  
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• Is Bitcoin bouncing back? Has cryptocurrency been written off too soon?

  12-02-2019 11:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  BITCOIN’S mini renaissance could prove to be the turning point in the fortunes of a cryptocurrency that has been losing favour with investors and enthusiasts for more than a year. The fervent chants of capitulation were still ringing as the weekend gave rise to a sudden upward surge that few had predicted.
  
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• BREXIT ROW: Bankers ’STAGGERED’ at Treasury for IGNORING small business fears

  12-02-2019 11:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE Treasury has been accused by bankers of ignoring the decline of small businesses and turning its back on coordinating an emergency funding programme under a no deal Brexit scenario.
  
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• My faith in John Lewis has been shattered over TV refund

  12-02-2019 08:00
  It made an ‘amazing’ promise after TV developed a fault and nothing has happened sinceI bought a TV from John Lewis in March 2015. It came with an extended five-year guarantee, which I topped up with the store’s accidental damage cover.Last November, the TV developed a fault. John Lewis attempted to fix it but, when it couldn’t, it offered a full refund for both the TV and the added cover – a total of £418. I thought this was amazing and had so much faith in J
  
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• Heineken claims its business helps Africa. Is that too good to be true?

  12-02-2019 07:00
  The Dutch beer giant likes to blow its own trumpet about the economic and social benefits it brings to Africa – but revelations of sexual harassment and low pay show a different picture.
  By Olivier van BeemenThe first time Heineken amazed me was in Tunisia, in early 2011, when I was covering the Jasmine revolution and the fall of President Ben Ali for a Dutch business newspaper. During my reporting, I discovered that Heineken maintained close ties with the kleptocratic family clan that had
  
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• Calls for regulator to ensure access to cash after bank IT failures

  12-02-2019 01:01
  New watchdog required to protect 25 million people who still rely on cash, says Which?The government is facing calls for a new regulator to protect consumers’ access to cash, following several bank IT failures and thousands of cash machine and branch closures across the UK.The consumer group Which? said cash is still a necessity for more than 25 million people in the UK. It also noted the combined closures of cash machines and branches have left people struggling to pay for essential goods
  
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