At time of writing, the UK’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares is at 6,882 – up 7% on where it ended 2020. In the US the Dow Jones index is up 11% for the year at 33,821 with other major markets around the world also making significant gains in the first four months of …
Over the past year we’ve seen tens of thousands of people lose their jobs. We’ve seen businesses up and down the country cease trading and we’ve seen enough uncertainty to last most of us a lifetime. At the moment the forecasts are that the UK economy will be back to pre-Covid levels by the second …
At a seminar in March, Haruhiko Kuroda, Governor of the Bank of Japan, suggested that the central bank should immediately start “preparing thoroughly” for a future with its own cryptocurrency. While there were no immediate plans to introduce a cryptocurrency Kuroda stressed the importance of being ‘thoroughly prepared’ should the need arise. In April it …
Introduction In some ways, May was a relatively quiet month. Although, it did bring us the marriage of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the first PM to marry in office since Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, in 1822. Having eaten a slice of wedding cake and gone straight back to the office, Boris Johnson will …
As we look back on the 12 months since the UK first went into lockdown one thing is abundantly clear – financially, the last year has been good for some people. We’re not talking about the billionaires who have seen their shares rocket during lockdown but rather the many, many people who have saved money …
Budget were made by the tax rises, both for individuals and companies, and by the inevitable bill for the pandemic. There was a strong ‘green’ theme running through the Budget. This was shown through the National Infrastructure Bank being established in Leeds, and the Bank of England’s remit being revised to reflect the Government’s stated …
At the beginning of March Chancellor Rishi Sunak presented his Budget. His aim: to chart a course out of the economic damage wrought by the pandemic. A year earlier he had said he would do “whatever it takes” to protect jobs and businesses. Twelve months on, with Government borrowing breaking all records, it is clear …
Introduction Some of the numbers in this month’s Bulletin are simply staggering. Whether it’s Amazon’s profits or the ‘investment’ (which could alternatively be considered ‘spending’, depending on your political viewpoint) announced by President Biden. There was a time where the ‘standard unit’ of currency we talked about was a million. Company profits and valuations were …
Whichever side you were on in the Brexit debate there was little doubt about one of the central arguments: leaving the EU would free the UK to do its own trade deals with countries and trading organisations around the world. At the end of January the BBC reported that the UK was applying to join …
The newspapers are constantly full of stories about the ‘richest men in the world.’ We are all familiar with some of the historical names on the list such as John D Rockefeller and Henry Ford, and today the title is being disputed by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, depending on the respective share prices of …
