With my time as CIBS Research Group Director coming to an end, I thought the most fitting way to write my last article would be to reflect back on my first. 2021 has marked the busiest-ever start to a year for M&A activity in China, with a record pace of […]
On Friday February 19th, following a lengthy legal fight, Uber lost a momentous battle at the Supreme Court in one of the most significant employment cases in recent decades. The UK’s highest court ruled against the firm, concluding that its drivers should be classed as workers rather than independent third-party […]
With the huge amounts of government spending that have taken place throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, it is no surprise the question of how it will be paid for has arisen. For the month of January 2021, the UK government budget was £8.8bn in the red; the first time there has […]
Italy is a country that has faced numerous economic and social problems in the past decade, and has been struggling to integrate into the world economy. These problems include political volatility and excessive bureaucratism for firms, and have hindered economic progress for numerous decades as the country fell behind its […]
The biotech industry has stolen the limelight after being pushed to the forefront of people’s minds as the world races to manufacture vaccines and restore a sense of normality. Early this month, we passed a historic milestone – the number of Covid-19 vaccinations globally finally surpassed the total number of […]
With the inauguration of the 46th US President on Wednesday January 20th, a new page turned for the US economy. Stocks opened higher on Wall Street ahead of the inauguration ceremony. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) was up 1% shortly after the open, while the Dow Jones Index (^DJI) was up […]
With the start of 2021 ushering in a new era for Britain, having left the EU’s single market, the agreed trade deal continues to be debated and questioned. But with a deal on financial services to be negotiated separately in the coming months, there is uncertainty surrounding the sector which […]
Bitcoin hit an all-time high again. Of course, not before slumping shortly afterwards. It peaked at an intraday all-time high of $19,510, more than 300% above its low point in March earlier this year. It last attained such numbers in December 2017, a year which saw its value skyrocket nearly […]
Since President-elect Biden won the election at the start of this month, many have been left wondering about the consequences this will have for the environment. The US has by no means a good reputation in this sector, especially after four years of the Trump administration who were actively hostile […]
Over the last century or so, most Western economies have demonstrated distinctively cyclical behaviour. Known as the boom-bust cycle, the credit cycle or the economic cycle, the superposition of inflationary and deflationary oscillations over a reasonably linear increase in productivity growth, has defined the natural order of the financial markets […]
Earlier this week, the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, announced the government’s new 10-point plan towards a greener future; in which £12bn of government investment will be mobilised and up to 250,000 new jobs will be created. He wrote “This 10-point plan will turn the UK into the world’s number […]
Despite the UK entering its largest-ever recession this year, with the economy shrinking by more than 20% in Q2, house prices have shown strong growth, rising by 5.8% year-on-year to reach a record high of £227,826 in October 2020, the biggest annual rise in almost 6 years. The UK property […]
On Wednesday October 21st, the European Fiscal Board, an independent body that advises the European Commission, urged policymakers to take advantage of the opportunity for much-needed fiscal policy reform. The Stability and Growth Pact’s current temporary suspension has led for calls to rethink whether the pact’s target of a 60% […]
Monetary policy, in its traditional form, has been taken for granted over the past few decades, with central banks relying heavily upon the monetary transmission mechanism to steer the direction of the demand side. Since 2008, we have had to fundamentally rethink the interest rate mechanism as rates remain near […]
As Japan’s longtime PM, Shinzo Abe, steps down after almost a decade of service, his successor inherits the third-largest economy which has emerged relatively unscathed from the aftermath of a cancelled Olympic games and the largest fall in GDP since records began in 1980. Yoshihide Suga was confirmed as the […]
Introduction The cost of coronavirus-related government expenditure in recent months has sent the UK national debt above the £2tn mark in August 2020 for the first time since records began. National debt now stands at more than the value of the economy – representing 101.9% of GDP. The central government’s […]
Introduction In an attempt to aid the UK economic recovery, Chancellor Rishi Sunak introduced the “Eat Out to Help Out” Scheme in early August, which received over 130 million claims during its course of operation. The scheme, which provided discounts on food and drinks in participating restaurants, was aimed to […]
As part of his £30bn summer statement to avert mass unemployment, Rishi Sunak announced a £2bn Kickstart Scheme to try and reduce unemployment in minimum wage jobs. The scheme, which started on September 2nd, will cover the cost of any minimum wage jobs being taken on by young people (aged […]
The disconnect between the stock market and the real economy, particularly in the US, has been evident throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Between February 19th and March 23rd, the S&P 500 benchmark lost a third of its value, with investors selling shares as the COVID-19 pandemic escalated in Asia and Europe. […]
The UK has recently slipped into the deepest recession since records began, the worst of any of the G7 countries. Following a decline in growth of 2.2% in the first quarter of the year, the second quarter has seen a 20.4% contraction in the size of the UK economy. Therefore, […]
This week, Argentina reached an agreement with creditors for a restructuring of $65bn in foreign bonds. This grants significant debt relief to Latin America’s third largest economy, allowing Argentina to focus on economic recovery, necessary even before the economic impact of COVID-19, and taming excessively high levels of inflation. This […]
Following a five-day marathon summit, EU leaders agreed on a €750bn recovery fund to help European economies because of the devastating effects of the pandemic. To finance the fund, the commission will be borrowing up to the full amount from financial markets via bonds. About €390bn of this will then […]
With the recent exclusion of Huawei from the 5G network by the UK government and the strong rhetoric from the US, tensions between China and the West are at an all-time high. This week’s closing of the PRC Consulate in Houston follows new national security laws imposed in Hong Kong, […]
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