A tripling in Q1 profits for Royal Bank of Scotland failed to serve as the silver lining to the UK lender’s otherwise cloudy prospects, with a sharp fall in mortgage lending, and how much it will ultimately cost to settle litigation from across the Pond. Pre-tax operating profits +70% to £1.21B easily beat consensus of…
Car insurance group Hastings today admits to being the latest victim of the Beast from the East, with March’s snow and ice resulting in higher than expected Q1 claims costs. Management also pointed to “challenging” price competition in Jan and Feb, which is code for “we had to offer lower premiums to secure business”. This…
Takeda will be hoping that it’s a case of fifth time’s the charm, after revising higher its takeover offer for Shire. The new offer of £49/share (up 4% from Friday’s £47/share, up 11% from initial bid) comprises £21.75 cash, with the remaining £27.26 in newly issued Takeda shares. This is also the first time that…
Shares in William Hill are 13% lower this morning having faltered once again at 335p, preventing any imminent revisit of January’s 2018 highs – the highest since summer 2016. This drop is in response to an overnight Times article suggesting UK Chancellor Philip Hammond is close to a deal that would cap the stakes for…
Macroeconomic Background Understanding the macroeconomic background is important to FX traders because relative strength of national currencies (and thus FX rates) depends on key economic indicators, such as unemployment, inflation, wage growth, retail sales and, crucially, the key interest rates set by the Bank of England (BoE) and other key central banks (e.g. Federal Reserve, European…
Shares in Clarkson have traded as low as 1960p (-36%), as the world’s largest shipbroker warned that both half-year and full year 2018 profits will be “materially below” those of last year on the back of “the challenging environment in shipping and offshore capital markets”. Maritime trade is the life-blood of world economy, so such…