Week Ending 23rd June 2017 U.S. stocks halted a three-day slide, while Treasury yields and the dollar edged lower as a week dominated by crude’s tumble into a bear market ended with the three major American assets largely unchanged. The S&P 500 Index finished the period virtually where it began, as rallies in health-care and […]

The 34 largest banks in the US have money on hand to withstand a severe recession, the US central bank said on Thursday. The finding comes from an annual “stress test” conducted by the Federal Reserve. The tests were put in place after the financial crisis to strengthen financial capacity in the event of a […]

Eurozone ministers have struck a deal to unlock the latest tranche of Greece’s bailout cash. The bailout fund will disburse 8.5bn euros (£7.4bn) to Greece, eurozone ministers said in a statement. The latest tranche of the international bailout will help avert a fresh debt crisis in July when the next €7bn euro repayment of loans […]

Fears that political uncertainty will hurt consumer spending have hit shares in UK retailers and housebuilders. The prospect of a hung parliament and speculation about the election result’s impact on Brexit saw the value of sterling slide against the dollar. Although the FTSE 100 closed 1% up – boosted by companies that earn profits in […]

The European Central Bank (ECB) has increased its forecasts for economic growth in the eurozone but kept interest rates on hold. ECB president Mario Draghi also hinted that there was no need to cut rates further. He told a press conference: “We are now confident that inflation will converge with our objectives.” The ECB now […]

US employers added fewer jobs than expected in May, but the unemployment rate dipped further as the economy headed toward full employment. The unemployment rate last month was 4.3%, falling a 10th of a percentage point to its lowest level since 2001, the US Labor Department said on Friday. But payrolls increased by just 138,000. […]

The US economy grew at a faster pace than initially thought in the first three months of the year. The latest official figures indicated the economy expanded at an annual pace of 1.2% in the quarter, up from the previous estimate of 0.7%. The change came after upward revisions to business and consumer spending. The […]

London’s main share index has notched up its fourth straight week of gains. having recovered some of the ground lost in the past two days. At the close on Friday, the FTSE 100 was up 34.29 points at 7,470.71. The FTSE fell on Wednesday and Thursday as markets were hit by the uncertainty surrounding the […]

US retail sales rose by 4.5% in April compared with the same month last year, but department store chains continue to struggle. JC Penney said like-for-like sales fell by 3.5% in its first quarter, against the same period last year. Earlier this week rival retailers, including Macy’s and Nordstrom, also reported declining sales. Meanwhile the […]

The US economy slowed dramatically in the first three months of the year, according to official data. GDP expanded at an annual rate of 0.7% in the first quarter – the slowest rate since the first quarter of 2014. It will be unwelcome news for President Donald Trump who, during his election campaign, made a […]