Author: Steven Sahiounie

The US central bank has slowed the pace of interest rate hikes further but indicated more rises are likely despite official figures suggesting price pressures have peaked in the world’s largest economy. The Federal Reserve revealed its verdict hours before counterparts in the UK and Europe made their next moves in the battle against inflation – with both the Bank of England and European Central Bank set to raise borrowing costs further. The Fed, as it’s known, raised its target interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point – as financial markets expected – following an aggressive set of…

Data also shows an increase in the number of people cutting back on essential buying to cover bills, including on groceries, medicines and housing costs. About 2.3 million households missed an essential payment in January – an increase of 400,000 on the month before, but similar to previous years. Essential payments – which include mortgages, rent, loans and credit cards – often peak in January, according to Which?’s consumer insight tracker. The monthly poll of approximately 2,000 people discovered that almost 59% made at least one financial adjustment, such as selling items, dipping into savings or cutting back on essentials,…

British Gas has suspended the use of court warrants to force-fit prepayment meters after a report alleged it sent debt collectors to break into customers’ homes to install them – ignoring their vulnerabilities. Centrica, the owner of British Gas, said in a statement that “all warrant activity” had been suspended and that protecting vulnerable customers is an “absolute priority”. It followed an investigation by The Times that alleged a company used by British Gas to pursue debts, Arvato Financial Solutions, had broken into homes to fit the devices, despite signs children and disabled people were living there. The paper reported…

The UK economy is continuing to lose billions annually following Brexit, according to an analysis by Bloomberg Economics released on Tuesday. The report states that the British economy is currently 4% smaller than it might have been had the country stayed within the bloc, and has been losing roughly £100 billion ($124 billion) a year after its exit from the EU in 2020. “Did the UK commit an act of economic self-harm when it voted to leave the EU in 2016? The evidence so far still suggests it did. The main takeaway is that the rupture from the single market…

The number of bankruptcies in Sweden surged to the highest level in at least a decade in January amid growing pressure on construction companies from an ongoing housing-market crunch, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. According to the media outlet, citing credit reference agency UC, the number of bankruptcy filings rose to 622, marking a 47% increase from a year earlier. Sweden has been struggling with its worst housing-price slump in three decades. The situation has contributed to a surge in defaults in the construction sector, with 130 builders filing for bankruptcy last month. Home prices have reportedly fallen by 16% from…

The British economy will perform worst among the major industrialized nations, the International Monetary Fund has predicted. The UK will be the only G7 member to face a recession in 2023, falling behind the Russian economy, the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook update, published on Tuesday. In its latest report, the IMF again sharply downgraded its forecast for the UK, predicting the economy will contract by 0.6% against the 0.3% growth expected last October. That places the expected performance even lower than sanctions-hit Russia, which is projected to expand by 0.3% after contracting 2.2% in 2022. A UK recession this year would…

Nearly $81 billion in funds belonging to Russian investors have been blocked by Western financial institutions, according to estimates revealed by the Bank of Russia on Tuesday. As of November 30 last year, the volume of frozen assets held at Western financial institutions totaled 5.7 trillion rubles ($80.8 billion). More than 20% of the funds are owned by retail investors, the regulator pointed out. Last year, in an effort to minimize risks and protect investors, the Russian central bank banned brokers from executing trades for unqualified investors to purchase securities from so-called ‘unfriendly’ countries. The regulator has also imposed…

US oil major ExxonMobil earned $55.7 billion in profits last year, the company disclosed on Tuesday. The figure was a new high for Exxon, whose previous record was $45.2 billion in 2008, when a barrel of oil cost close to $150 – some 30% higher on average than in 2022. According to company CEO Darren Woods, profits soared on the back of recovering post-Covid-19 demand amid energy supply constraints. “While our results clearly benefited from a favorable market, the counter-cyclical investments we made before and during the pandemic provided the energy and products people needed as economies began recovering and…

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, Government Pension Fund Global, posted a record loss of 1.64 trillion kroner ($164.4 billion) in 2022, according to data published on the fund’s website on Tuesday. The return on investment last year was negative 14.1%, according to the released figures. The fund’s equities holdings posted a 15.3% loss, while its fixed-income portfolio was down 12.1%. Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, the entity that manages the fund, commented: “The market was impacted by war in Europe, high inflation, and rising interest rates. This negatively impacted both the equity market and bond market at the same time,…

American multinational financial technology company PayPal has announced a wave of layoffs that will impact some 2,000 employees, joining a slew of tech firms announcing job cuts aimed at reducing costs. The decision to cut around 7% of its global workforce will help address the “challenging macroeconomic environment,” President and CEO Dan Schulman wrote in his message to employees published on Tuesday. “Change can be difficult – particularly when it includes valued colleagues and friends departing,” the statement reads. “These reductions will occur over the coming weeks, with some organizations impacted more than others.” Schulman promised the company “will treat our departing colleagues with the utmost respect and…