Wanderlust

Tag: business

  • Oil prices rise to hit four-year high of $70 a barrel

    Petrol pump Image copyright Getty Images

    The price of oil has hit $70 a barrel for the first time since December 2014.

    Brent crude climbed after members of Opec, the cartel of 14 oil-producing nations that accounts for 40% of the world’s output, said it would continue to limit supplies.

    The RAC, the motoring group, has warned that rising oil prices could lead to higher forecourt costs for motorists.

    However, the AA said that drivers would benefit if supermarkets resumed their petrol price war.

    Suhail al-Mazrouei, the UAE oil minister and Opec president, said it was committed to limiting output until the end of the year.

    The US Energy Information Administration on said crude inventories fell by almost five million barrels to 419.5 million barrels in the week to 5 January. US production also fell by 290,000 barrels per day to 9.5 million.

    US oil also rose 1.5% to $64.51 a barrel.

    The RAC said that rising oil prices were likely to have “a knock-on effect in the forecourt due to the increase causing the wholesale price of fuel to rise”.

    The price of unleaded petrol has already risen by nearly 5p since November to 121.27p per litre, while diesel prices have jumped 3p to 123.97p over the same period.

    It said that cost of filling an average 55-litre family car was now £66.69 for petrol and £68.18 for diesel.

    An RAC spokesman said: “If oil stays at this level, pump price hikes will be almost inevitable.

    “With households across the country still feeling the cost of Christmas this is not the start to 2018 anyone would have wanted. It could also negatively affect business and further fuel inflation.”

    But the AA said: “Oil at $70 a barrel has yet to threaten a pump price surge on UK forecourts.”

    An AA spokesman said petrol prices had risen in recent weeks after supermarkets put their fuel price war on hold.

    According to data from the AA, supermarkets lowered petrol prices several times last year to a low of 111.8p a litre in July.

    While the AA conceded that wholesale prices have risen, it added: “The current higher prices are more a reflection of reduced fuel price competition at supermarkets.”

    By December, petrol was an average of 117.6p a litre at supermarkets and 121.9p ea litre at other outlets.

  • Lehman gamble paid out for brave investors

    Lehman UK staff Image copyright Reuters Image caption This Reuters picture of Lehman Brothers staff being told the bank would survive at a meeting on 11 September 2008 is one of the images that defines the financial crisis

    Investors who took a gamble on the wreck of Lehman Brothers’ UK operations after the investment bank collapsed made up to seven times their money.

    The assets of Lehman’s UK arm greatly exceeded its liabilities.

    Tony Lomas, the partner at the accountancy firm PwC who was appointed lead administrator, told the BBC there was a surplus of about £8bn.

    Lehman’s collapse into administration a decade ago marked the height of the financial crisis.

    Creditors able to wait while the administrators unwound millions of trading positions received back more than they were originally owed, said Mr Lomas, who has recently left PwC.

    Image copyright PA

    Lehman UK was far from flush when he first took over. The US parent company had grabbed all the cash available – a normal practice for large multinational companies with central treasury units – and the British operation was unable to meet its bills. “There was £3bn that had to go out on the Monday morning and it didn’t have it,” Mr Lomas said.

    As a result, Lehman UK was put into administration, and the search for assets began. “The first thing is you are looking for assets – and for liabilities – and first of all for liquid assets, things that you might be able to sell quickly,” Mr Lomas said.

    “We had a September payroll due and the quarterly rent was due. We needed about £100m quickly. We couldn’t find liquid assets quickly enough, so we had to borrow £100m from a hedge fund.”

    Lehman collapse: ‘These were very dangerous times’ How did the financial crisis affect your finances? Who’s to blame for the financial crisis?

    That search for ready funds was itself fraught. “You had to be sure you were borrowing from the right legal entity – from the right bit of Lehmans that you were sure assets would fall into,” he explained. “Most of the counterparties to Lehman trades just identified them as trades with Lehman – not the actual legal entity, so you had to be sure.”

    “We have been able to pay everybody everything they were owned – and we had £8bn left over, which was mainly the bank’s own capital.”

    Separately, the senior Bank of England official who dealt with the fallout from the Lehman collapse has revealed the Bank arranged to bring $86bn from the US to help keep London markets running in the wake of the collapse.

    Sarah Breeden, now executive director for international banks supervision at the Prudential Regulation Authority, said the Lehman administration meant London markets were running short of US dollars, leading the Bank of England to agree a “swap” deal with its US counterparts. “Eventually that totalled $86bn,” she said.

    The Bank of England lost no money from its interventions after Lehman, Ms Breeden added.

  • Hammond: ‘Shock’ of financial crisis still with us

    Philip Hammond Image copyright Reuters

    The “shock” of the financial crisis continues to impact the economy and peoples’ finances, UK chancellor Philip Hammond has said.

    Ten years after the financial system went into meltdown, he admitted “people are still suffering the effects”.

    But he said, in an interview with BBC economics editor Kamal Ahmed, there is “light at the end of the tunnel”.

    Rising wages and falling inflation were good news, he said, but uncertainty about Brexit was an economic dampener.

    A decade ago this week, the US investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed, sending shockwaves through the global financial system.

    Research carried out for the BBC to mark the occasion showed that wages remain substantially below what they would have been with the crisis.

    Mr Hammond told the BBC: “We suffered a very big shock to our economy in 2008/09, and that’s a shock from which people are still suffering the effects today.”

    He was “acutely conscious” of the impact on wage stagnation and living. But he added: “We have got through this in much better shape than many of our neighbours.

    “We haven’t suffered catastrophic rises of unemployment, on the contrary, we’ve seen employment grow by three million jobs over this period.

    “We didn’t see widespread repossessions of homes, collapses of businesses, in the way we’ve done in previous recessions, so I think the way this has been managed has minimised the impact.”

    Independent analysis from the Office for Budget Responsibility projected real wage growth over the coming years, he added.

    Workers are £800 a year poorer post-crisisCarney warns against complacencyLehman gamble paid out for brave investors

    Mr Hammond also defended government efforts to cut debt, which many people argue led to austerity and worsened the impact on peoples’ incomes and the economy.

    “In the aftermath of the crisis, the urgent need was to reassure markets and investors about our intentions,” Mr Hammond said. “Government borrowing had grown to unprecedented levels – almost 10% of our total national income in the year after the crash – and the markets needed to know that we were going to be able to get that under control.”

    Debt burden

    He had, in fact, relaxed fiscal rules when becoming chancellor in 2016, Mr Hammond pointed out. That gave “more headroom” he said.

    But the challenge the economy faces “is not lack of demand, it’s poor productivity. It we want to see sustainable rises in living standards and real wages, we have to address the productivity challenge,” he said.

    He understood the calls for more spending on, say, the NHS and police. “We’ve made a huge commitment to the NHS, committing to spending £24bn across the UK by the end of this five-year period,” Mr Hammond said.

    But he added: “We do have to get our debt down. We have to do that for two reasons: Firstly the cost of our debt, is crippling – £50bn a year of money that we could be spending on schools and hospitals and police forces, being paid out in interest on the debt.

    “Secondly, having a debt that is this high, 85% of our GDP, reduces our ability to respond to another shock to the economy, another recession.”

  • US plans crackdown on e-cigarette firms citing ‘epidemic’ teen use

    Dr. Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Image copyright Getty Images Image caption FDA Chief Scott Gottlieb has warned of a crackdown on e-cigarette companies

    The US Food and Drug Administration is considering banning the sale of flavoured e-cigarettes, citing an “epidemic” of use among teens.

    The proposal, announced on Wednesday, is part of a broader effort to curb teen use of the nicotine devices.

    FDA chief Scott Gottlieb said: “The disturbing and accelerating trajectory of use we’re seeing in youth, and the resulting path to addiction, must end.”

    The toughened approach comes after firms ignored prior concerns, he added.

    “I’ve been warning the e-cigarette industry for more than a year that they needed to do much more to stem the youth trends,” he said.

    “In my view, they treated these issues like a public relations challenge rather than seriously considering their legal obligations, the public health mandate, and the existential threat to these products.

    “Well, I’m here to tell them that this prior approach is over.”

  • Free cash machines closing at record rate

    ATM Image copyright Getty Images

    More than 250 free-to-use cash machines are disappearing a month as operators shut unprofitable ones, the network co-ordinator Link has said.

    There are 53,000 free machines in the UK – but the number is shrinking at a record rate as people use less cash.

    Now the Payment Services Regulator (PSR) is cracking down on the closures and asking for more network protection.

    “Free-to-use ATMs continue to play a vital role in helping people access their money,” the regulator said.

    Hannah Nixon, the PSR’s managing director, said: “The requirements we intend to place on Link will help ensure that Link achieves their commitment to protecting the geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs across the UK.”

    Falling demand

    Link’s ATM Footprint Report found that between the end of January and the start of July 2018, the number of free-to-use ATMs fell from 54,500 to 53,200.

    That is partly because people are using cash less, Link said, thanks to the rise in popularity of new payment methods such as contactless transactions.

    But it is also because cash machine operators such as Cardtronics and Note Machine, who get a fee from our banks each time we use one, are finding that fewer of their machines are economic to run.

    Row intensifies over cash machines fee Who do we trust after cash? The High Streets with ‘too many’ ATMs

    Under pressure from banks, Link is cutting the fee it pays to operators while trying to restrict the resulting closures in city centres,

    Link said it had set up “specific arrangements to protect free-to-use ATMs more than 1km away from their next nearest free-to-use ATM”.

    The organisation has earmarked some 2,365 free machines in remote and rural areas that it wants to remain open.

    But 76 of these protected cash machines closed between January and July, 21 of them without even a Post Office nearby to get cash over the counter.

    The PSR says it is concerned and is taking action to ensure Link meets its commitments.

    It is also seeking renewed commitments from banks that consumers will continue to be offered services, allowing them to access their cash.

  • Brexit: Jaguar boss problems stark warning for jobs and profits

    JLR plant in Solihull Symbol copyright Getty Images

    The boss of the united kingdom’s greatest carmaker has warned the government to get “the correct Brexit” or it might wipe out his firm’s earnings and lead to large job cuts.

    Jaguar Land Rover’s Ralf Speth referred to as the chance of a cliff-facet holiday with the ecu Union as “scary”.

    He was talking at a convention in Birmingham, where Theresa Would Possibly unveiled a £106m “green” vehicle initiative.

    A spokesman for the prime minister stated her Chequers Brexit proposals incorporated protections for the car trade.

    Mr Speth, who has up to now warned of Brexit’s impact on JLR, mentioned that if the “mistaken selections” were taken in the negotiations with Brussels, it will consequence within the “worst of times” for the united kingdom and price the corporate more than £1.2bn a 12 months.

    “Any friction at the border places industry at jeopardy,” he stated at the uk’s first 0 Emission Car Summit.

    “We Are absolutely firmly devoted to the united kingdom, it’s our house. But a troublesome Brexit will value Jaguar Land Rover greater than £1.2bn a 12 months – it’s frightening, wiping our profit, destroying funding within the independent, zero-emissions, we would like to percentage.”

    He mentioned that if negative UNITED KINGDOM productivity worsened after Brexit, he could be pressured to move production to somewhere similar to Poland, the place it was cheaper to make automobiles.

    About 1 / 4 of 1,000,000 people within the UK rely in an instant, or not directly, at the good fortune of his company, Mr Speth said.

    ‘Good deal’

    He also criticised policymakers for putting in place more rules and higher taxes on all diesel cars, while he stated that more recent diesel automobiles produced by JLR had been as green as petrol cars.

    Mrs Would Possibly’s legit spokesman said the government’s Brexit plan would give protection to industries that depend on fast import and export of goods.

    “The Chequers plan contains specific proposals to give protection to jobs within industries like the car trade that rely on just-in-time provide chains.

    “the common rule book would assist be certain that frictionless business with the ecu and might see our automobile sector continue to flourish,” he added.

    The spokesman said the federal government have been “engaged with the automobile industry all over this process… We Are working to safe a good deal and the PM is confident that we will achieve this.”

  • Mark Carney: The ‘film star’ Financial Institution of england governor

    Mark Carney Symbol copyright Getty Photographs Image caption Mark Carney has “star quality and is aware of the best way to use it,” says Scott Reid

    Financial Institution Of Britain governor Mark Carney has stated he’s going to be staying on an extra 12 months after his preliminary term involves an end in 2018, to help oversee the united kingdom’s Brexit negotiations with the european Union.

    Mr Carney’s resolution got here after increasing hypothesis about his future because the head of the Bank Of England.

    Governors are historically appointed for an eight-yr time period, but when Mr Carney took the process in 2013 he first of all signed up for 5 years, with an choice for a further three. He has now said he’s going to stay until June 2019.

    In his letter to Chancellor Philip Hammond, Mr Carney said his move may help “give a contribution to securing an orderly transition to the uk’s new courting with Europe”.

    During the referendum, Mr Carney had come stressed from a few Brexit campaigners for his feedback that vote casting to leave the european could push the uk right into a recession – observed by some as outdoor the governor’s non-political remit.

    Image copyright Getty Photographs Symbol caption Mr Carney has overseen the creation of the Financial Institution’s first polymer banknotes

    Nevertheless, this sparked calls for him to resign.

    Mr Carney “by no means seems to wish to realize the end result of the referendum and get on with it,” said one MP, Jacob Rees-Mogg, lately.

    Governor’s role

    Since his arrival three years in the past, Mr Carney has presided over measures designed to spice up the united kingdom economy within the aftermath of the worldwide financial main issue.

    There have been bouts of quantitative easing – pumping cash immediately into the financial system.

    He presented a coverage of “forward guidance” on the Bank, also aimed toward elevating confidence; regardless that simply six months after its implementation in 2013 this wanted a rethink.

    The Bank had in the beginning mentioned it would now not imagine raising rates of interest until the unemployment fee fell to 7% or below.

    But whilst that gave the impression more likely to happen much earlier than expected the Bank altered its stance, pronouncing it would do something about a variety of financial variables as opposed to just the jobless numbers sooner than changing rates.

    Symbol copyright Getty Pictures Image caption Likened more than once to Hollywood actor George Clooney, Mr Carney has develop into one the united kingdom’s perfect-identified relevant bank governors

    In March 2008, only a month after his appointment, he reduce Canadian rates of interest. This and different measures helped spice up market confidence and enabled Canada to recover from the problem more quickly than some of its peers.

    Likened greater than as soon as to the Hollywood actor George Clooney, ahead of his arrival in the uk Mr Carney was touted as a “rock megastar” banker, a transformation from the usual Bank Of England head.

    “He Is got celebrity quality, and he is aware of methods to use it,” stated fellow Canadian and former govt colleague Scott Reid.

    Mr Carney’s appointment used to be a holiday with tradition in many tactics.

    He had a commercial banking, as well as a public sector historical past – in contrast to his most recent predecessors who had spent their careers throughout the Financial Institution Of England and academia.

    Mr Carney worked for funding banking massive Goldman Sachs in Big Apple prior to returning to Canada to paintings for the country’s Finance Division – after which Canada’s central bank.

    Mark Carney: Occupation highlights

    Symbol copyright Getty Pictures Born SIXTEEN March 1965: Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada 1988: Graduates from Harvard School 1991-95: Profits a doctorate in economics at Oxford University 1995: Marries economist Diana Fox, whom he met at Oxford. The couple now have 4 children Works at Goldman Sachs in London, Tokyo, The Big Apple and Toronto, emerging to position of managing director 2004-07: Senior place at Canada’s Department of Finance 2008-13: Governor, Financial Institution of Canada 2013-provide: Governor, Bank Of England

    Some Other difference was the size of his pay packet, which was once well above that of his predecessor, Sir Mervyn King.

    His starting annual revenue of £480,000 (plus £144,000 pension allowance) was once £175,000 more than Sir Mervyn gained – and that is the reason not counting his £250,000 annual lodging allowance.

    A ‘sensible banker’

    So what’s it about Mr Carney that separates him from different principal bankers?

    “He Is extremely charismatic,” says Scott Reid. “You go to his speeches and you’ll to find them simply as dry as anyone’s.

    “But it’s the method he does issues, he takes the time to linger on you… and the general public and the press find that very intoxicating.

    “He one of these fetching figure – but let’s not be shy about that. He Is aware of it. He Is shrewd while it comes to his symbol.”

    Symbol copyright Getty Images Image caption Following the united kingdom’s Brexit vote, many in the markets see Mr Carney as certainly one of the few voices of continuity

    Married to an Englishwoman, the 48-12 months-vintage’s postgraduate training was once at Oxford College, where he studied economics.

    His former show all through his Masters stage, economist Peter Oppenheimer, says “he used to be a in most cases vibrant, transatlantic pupil”.

    “That sounds extraordinarily old skool, but he wasn’t the kind of young man who walked round in torn sweaters.”

    Prof Oppenheimer says Mr Carney used to be a fascinating choice to run the Financial Institution Of England. “He wasn’t an insider, he wasn’t an academic economist, and he was a sensible banker of a undeniable type.

    “The really good governors of the submit-2Nd International Battle duration have been individuals with sensible banking revel in, akin to Gordon Richardson and Robin Leigh-Pemberton.

    “They had been the outstanding governors. Extra so than Financial Institution insiders, or individuals with long instructional careers.”

    Marketplace hopes

    It’s been said Mr Carney wanted to stay to help the united kingdom in the course of the challenges of Brexit, and that leaving early might be seen by means of a few of his critics as admitting defeat.

    Symbol copyright Getty Pictures Symbol caption Mrs Would Possibly believes Mark Carney is “the appropriate man for the process”

    Crucially, he has the backing of the Prime Minister, Theresa Would Possibly, who believes he’s the fitting person to be Bank Of England governor.

    There could also be the problem of marketplace confidence.

    Following the referendum outcome and all the body of workers adjustments within the Conservative government, many in the markets see Mr Carney as considered one of the few voices of continuity in the united kingdom.

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  • Mark Carney describes ‘toughest day’ as Financial Institution governor

    Mr Carney mentioned he were involved that something might go wrong, without reference to how cautious the Bank’s advanced making plans had been.

    “you could have a plan however you’ve got to put it into place and there’s all the time a little bit of outrage that it may not paintings completely, you haven’t anticipated the whole lot, or that somehow or different it just would possibly not execute the way it’ll,” he explained.

    But within the end, not anything went unsuitable.

    “It surely labored because the whole thing that used to be presupposed to happen, came about,” Mr Carney stated.

    Bake Off and pizza

    Questioned on different problems, the governor mentioned if Scotland become independent it will have to surrender some of its sovereignty if it desired to continue the usage of the pound.

    “If it have been ever an unbiased country and wanted to proceed to percentage the pound sterling – you need to percentage some extent of your sovereignty,” he said.

    He declined to mention if he preferred operating with David Cameron or Theresa Would Possibly as Top Minister.

    “They Are both very professional, incredibly simple to work with, each keen on making the country higher. And that holds for the chancellors that I’ve worked with each here and in Canada,” he mentioned.

    And asked about his favourite TV programme, movie and food, he nominated the good British Bake Off, the 1981 war drama Gallipoli, and pizza.

    (more…)

  • Mark Carney to stick on at Bank of britain until 2020

    Mark Carney Image copyright Reuters

    Mark Carney will stay Bank of england governor till the tip of January 2020, Chancellor Philip Hammond has informed MPs.

    Mr Hammond said the seven-month extension may “beef up a smooth exit” from the eu Union.

    The extension was agreed in an trade of letters between the governor and the chancellor revealed on Wednesday.

    Mr Carney mentioned he was once “willing to do no matter what i will in order to promote each a a success Brexit and an effective transition on the Financial Institution of britain”.

    The governor had been due to step down from the position at the top of June 2019 – two years wanting the usual eight-12 months term.

    Symbol caption Nicky Morgan chairs the Commons Treasury committee

    Nicky Morgan, chair of the Commons Treasury committee, said the announcement supplied “so much-wanted steadiness and clarity”.

    “The Government must now use the additional seven months to proceed its succession making plans. it should establish a candidate in excellent time for the Treasury committee to scrutinise the appointment,” she added.

    Mr Carney gave evidence closing week to the Treasury committee while he said that “offering a degree of continuity during this duration” was essential.

  • Pound rises on Barnier’s Brexit feedback

    Michel Barnier Symbol copyright Getty Photographs

    The pound rose more than 1% in opposition to the greenback on Monday, after the eu’s leader negotiator stated it was “realistic” to expect a Brexit deal inside of 8 weeks.

    Sterling later fell back somewhat to $1.3042 through the end of the afternoon.

    It is the second one time in not up to a week, Michel Barnier has made feedback suggesting the eu could also be softening its negotiating stance.

    The euro also rose in opposition to the buck via around HALF%.

    The possibility that the uk may crash out of the european with no negotiated settlement has weighed on sterling in recent weeks.

    Brexit: Barnier says settlement conceivable through early November The Chequers plan defined Brexit: Key dates and attainable hurdles

    On Monday, Mr Barnier advised a industry forum in Slovenia that the possibility of a negotiated cost through early November used to be “practical”. He has up to now known the end of October because the contemporary aspect at which a few agreement need to be present in order to avoid a disorderly no-deal Brexit.

    At the top of final week, Mr Barnier was once quoted as announcing that the european used to be open to discussing the important thing Brexit hindrances, particularly the Irish border factor, which might lend a hand pave the way in which to an total agreement.

    But on the weekend political divisions within the Conservative Celebration had been within the highlight again, following Boris Johnson’s controversially worded complaint of Top Minister May’s “Chequers” proposals.

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    “It simply displays that’s the important thing thing that individuals want to see: Brexit progress,” stated Viraj Patel, a currency strategist at ING in London.

    “you may have a market that is closely quick on sterling because of Brexit. It needs that tail risk to be taken off prior to sterling can rally.”

    Connor Campbell, analyst at Spreadex said: “Although, of course, the content material of any deal is the item that truly matters, at the second the pound will take what it might probably get”.

    Figures that confirmed the British economic system growing at its quickest rate for almost a year additionally boosted sterling’s price.