Post by account_disabled on Feb 20, 2024 5:28:51 GMT -4
Microsoft's bid to acquire game developer Activision Blizzard moved closer to completion after the UK's competition regulator provisionally accepted the tech giant's amendments to its $75 billion acquisition proposal. Washington and Beijing created two working groups to address economic and financial issues in a new attempt to stabilize relations between the United States and China. EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis arrived in China with a long list of trade grievances to discuss. The opposition Labor Party said it would strengthen the UK's fiscal watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, to avoid a repeat of the government's disastrous “mini” Budget, which occurred 12 months ago tomorrow. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves described her plan to “regain stability” in the Financial Times.
Fresh news updates, visit our live blog Good night. It has been an eventful few days for the global economy, with some critical decisions by central banks and a growing view that the end of interest rate increases Job Function Email Database is in sight, while new surveys indicate that Difficult times lie ahead for the UK and Europe. In the UK, the “flash” reading of the Purchasing Managers Index this morning showed that business activity fell at the fastest rate since January 2021, suggesting the economy is heading for recession. The score of 46.8 for September was lower than last month's 48.6, where 50 marks the division between contraction and expansion of activity. This follows the Bank of England's decision on Wednesday to keep interest rates at per cent, the first pause after almost two years of rate rises, following the release of better-than-expected inflation data. The S&P data, which the Bank of England took into account before its rate decision, highlighted "the growing cost to the economy of the reality of the rising cost of living and the recent rapid rise in interest rates.
According to the company's chief business economist, Chris. Williamson (although some economists warn that PMI results can sometimes indicate crises that never materialize). Across the Channel, the eurozone PMI reading was also in negative territory at 47.1, but that was an improvement on the 46.7 reading in August. However, a drop in new business orders added to fears of an economic contraction in the third quarter, sending the euro to its lowest level in six months against the dollar. Investors also bet that the gloomy economic outlook made it more likely that last week's quarter-point increase in interest rates by the European Central Bank would be the last. However, Bundesbank chief Joachim Nagel's hawkish comments yesterday, in which he said that "entrenched" inflation must be avoided "at all costs", suggest that investors should not become too optimistic. Earlier this week, the OECD also highlighted the importance of keeping rates at high levels until inflation is truly brought under control.
Fresh news updates, visit our live blog Good night. It has been an eventful few days for the global economy, with some critical decisions by central banks and a growing view that the end of interest rate increases Job Function Email Database is in sight, while new surveys indicate that Difficult times lie ahead for the UK and Europe. In the UK, the “flash” reading of the Purchasing Managers Index this morning showed that business activity fell at the fastest rate since January 2021, suggesting the economy is heading for recession. The score of 46.8 for September was lower than last month's 48.6, where 50 marks the division between contraction and expansion of activity. This follows the Bank of England's decision on Wednesday to keep interest rates at per cent, the first pause after almost two years of rate rises, following the release of better-than-expected inflation data. The S&P data, which the Bank of England took into account before its rate decision, highlighted "the growing cost to the economy of the reality of the rising cost of living and the recent rapid rise in interest rates.
According to the company's chief business economist, Chris. Williamson (although some economists warn that PMI results can sometimes indicate crises that never materialize). Across the Channel, the eurozone PMI reading was also in negative territory at 47.1, but that was an improvement on the 46.7 reading in August. However, a drop in new business orders added to fears of an economic contraction in the third quarter, sending the euro to its lowest level in six months against the dollar. Investors also bet that the gloomy economic outlook made it more likely that last week's quarter-point increase in interest rates by the European Central Bank would be the last. However, Bundesbank chief Joachim Nagel's hawkish comments yesterday, in which he said that "entrenched" inflation must be avoided "at all costs", suggest that investors should not become too optimistic. Earlier this week, the OECD also highlighted the importance of keeping rates at high levels until inflation is truly brought under control.