In June China’s ride-hailing app Didi, the country’s equivalent of Uber, floated on the US stock exchange. The company ended its first day with a valuation of $68.5bn (£49.6bn). That is the biggest flotation by a Chinese company in the US since Alibaba, popularly dubbed “the Chinese Amazon” and founded by China’s most high-profile tech …
If you’re the sort of person who likes their glass half-empty then there will be plenty of opportunities to find something to worry about at the moment. The recovery from the pandemic, global tensions and all the staff shortages in the news can turn anyone into a pessimist. On top of that, some are suggesting …
When Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak delivered his Budget speech in March much of the focus – inevitably – was on the economy’s recovery from the pandemic, and the cost of all the support measures. But Sunak also announced a host of new initiatives including freeports and a new campus for the Treasury. One …
The defining image of August 2021 had little to do with the stock market on the surface, it was, of course, the withdrawal of British and American troops from Afghanistan. As some readers will know, Afghanistan has significant mineral reserves, which some estimates put at $1tn (£730bn). These reserves include lithium, so it will be …
When Joe Biden was inaugurated as President back in January there was much talk of his proposed stimulus package for the US economy. The figure generally talked about was $1.9tn (£1.36tn), an eye-watering sum of money. To give you a comparison, the National Audit Office in the UK is currently saying that the Government has …
One of the great themes of the past 16 months has been accidental savings: the amount people in the UK have “saved” by the simple expedient of not being able to go out and spend. “Thrifty Brits stash the cash in lockdown” has been a typical headline, quickly followed by an estimate of how much …
Is the glass half full or half empty? It’s one of the oldest questions (and clichés) there is. But right now you could be forgiven for thinking that as far as the UK economy goes the glass is not just half full, it’s completely full. The last few weeks have brought us a steady stream …
Introduction As everyone expected, July saw the G20 endorse the plan from the G7 meeting in Cornwall to set a minimum global rate of corporation tax. A headline in City AM proclaimed that US tech giants could face a $28bn (£20bn) tax bill, with suggestions that the tax could raise as much as $87bn (£63bn). …
This March saw the prices of residential properties rising at the fastest rate since just before 2007’s financial crisis, with the average price of a home in the UK increasing by 10.2% in the year up until March. The stamp duty holiday introduced by the Government certainly played a part in this development. Having been …
Government borrowing is at its highest level since the Second World War. According to the Office for National Statistics it reached £303.1bn in the year to March – nearly £250bn higher than in the previous year. Borrowing in March was £28bn – the latest month to set an unwelcome record. Borrowing in the year to …
