| Europe to the East, the US to the West — Britain's losing streak continues. Bank of England policy maker Catherine Mann warned the pound could weaken further as investors absorb the implications of plans by the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank to raise interest rates. Mann told Bloomberg Television today that she is worried about whether the UK economy can grow without sparking inflation, a legacy of Britain's decision to exit the European Union and thousands of people over age 50 dropping out of the labor market since the pandemic.  Catherine Mann during a Bloomberg Television interview Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg A group of business leaders is calling for the government to come up with initiatives to rival President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act. Biden's move was a "game changer" that incentivizes companies to pick the US over the UK for green investments, the Institute of Directors said. Building materials business CRH may not be the last firm to encouraged by the IRA to reject its London listing in favor of the US. Company earnings calls are now being used for check-ins on whether they will stay public in the UK. Ashtead Group, a US-focused business listed in London, said today it is committed to remaining in the city. Still, Ashtead is unusual in that it enjoys a premium valuation versus its closes rival, US-listed United Rentals. Meanwhile, there's a steady stream of businesses looking to take listed companies off the UK market. John Wood Group today said it rejected a £1.64 billion buyout offer from Apollo Global Management as too low. This is New York-based Apollo's fourth proposal. Intriguingly, Macquarie Group's chief executive officer today said recent reports of her firm's proposed takeover of UK fund manager M&G were speculation: "There's so many speculated transactions so we wait and talk about them once they're actually done," Shemara Wikramanayake said at the AFR Business Summit in Sydney. No wonder that the Labour Party, with an eye firmly on the next UK general election, is pushing for a review of the country's business tax regime to boost investment. "What businesses need are certainty, consistency and incentives for investment," Labour's shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves told manufacturing sector leaders at a conference on Tuesday. "Labour will provide that." The only silver lining we can see today is for homeowners, with latest data from mortgage lender Halifax showing that UK house prices in February rose at the quickest pace since June. The million pound question is whether those gains continue into March. More than half of US sell-side firms plan to add headcount in electronic-trading equities roles in the next year and a half, according to a survey of 25 firms by Coalition Greenwich. Almost 30% say they expect to add headcount in execution and analytics consulting, while roughly a quarter report plans to hire in algorithmic sales. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment