Here is something a little different this week. It is still investment related and I venture to suggest that it may be something that will surprise and even shock you. Particularly if you have investments within an offshore fund which makes investments into the UK or perhaps work for an offshore fund! Long story […]
Spain……officially know as the Kingdom of Spain, is the second largest country by size and the 4th largest economy within the European Union. Its 46m population reside within 17 “autonomous regions,” including two archipelagos, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, with Madrid being its capital city. Spain suffered badly following the financial crisis with […]
The cross-winds are swirling in respect of the Oil price, as confusion reigns. In the words of a typical economist, “on the one hand,” OPEC appear likely to renew their recent production cuts, in particular from Saudi Arabia and Russia who are desperate for higher prices, whilst “on the other hand” is the new swing […]
“Bread and circuses” was how the government kept the Roman populace happy by distributing free food and staging huge spectacles, whereas today’s equivalent is the welfare state and to bomb someone as a means of distraction during problematic periods. Well, stock-markets took a hit this week, following the release of a memo by former FBI […]
Impeachment…..Is defined as a charge of misconduct made against the holder of a public office and they do not get any higher in the United States of America than the office of The President. The airwaves and financial talk-shops are abuzz today following the allegation that President “the Donald” Trump asked the former FBI Director […]
When Harold Wilson commenced his first stint as the British Labour Party Prime Minister in 1964, he inherited an unusually large external deficit on the balance of trade from the Conservative administration and despite fighting the markets for a couple of years, the inevitable devaluation of the £GBP came in 1967, when Wilson famously assured […]
“793”…… Global merger and acquisition (M&A) deals have been completed this year as of the end of April 2017, according to “dialogic” who collates the data involving publicly traded corporations. This is 20% lower than the comparable period of 2016 and is the lowest number since 1998, which given that stock and bond markets are […]
French voters face a stark choice in Sunday’s presidential election between joining the wave of populism that has swept across the European and American political landscape over the past year or an attempt to renew the governing principles that have guided their country for decades, albeit via a 39-year-former untested Socialist turned Centrist. With the […]
“3% annualised GDP”…… Is the expectation/hope/dream set out by the new US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin this week, as he and his fellow ex-Goldman Sachs colleague and now White House chief economic advisor Gary Cohn, set out “the biggest tax reform in American history.” Tax cuts, set to slash corporate rates from 35% to […]
“7th May 2020”…… was to be the date of the UK’s next General Election, in line with the fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011. However, the British Prime Minister, Teresa May, called for an 8th June 2017 snap election this week and was backed by the two-thirds majority required from the 650 MPs in the House of […]