Business Bites

Feb- 2020 -

28 February

Coronavirus sends ripples through markets, governments, companies and the public

Apologies for the repetition, but the new coronavirus is causing such a serious global reaction today it would be silly to focus on other things, so here are four key stories about what looks to be developing into a full blown international crisis. The FTSE 100 has lost nearly £200…

27 February

Heathrow’s third runway will not be taking off after all

Heathrow’s third runway has been ruled illegal by the court of appeal, because the government did not properly consider its own climate change pledges in line with the Paris Agreement when drawing up its plans. The court is actually on the same street as our offices here at Mulberry Media…

25 February

Chlorinated chicken ain’t the way

The European Union will insist that the UK retains the current ban on chlorinated chicken as part of any free trade agreement that might be struck by the end of this year. It taps into one of the most symbolic arguments made during the last three years by those who…

24 February

Global stocks react badly to coronavirus update

It looks like efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak have not been entirely successful, and stock markets around the world are now beginning to react more profoundly than before. The FTSE 100 was down almost 3.3% at the time of writing, from 7,403 points to 7,159. For those not familiar…

21 February

Barclays as Big Brother, storms batter insurance companies, Redcar steels itself for renewal

The TUC says Barclays’ surveillance of its employees is ‘dystopian’ after it was revealed the bank uses software to monitor how long employees spend at their desks and issues warnings if they are away for too long. Bosses have been running a test of the system in the London office…

20 February

Boeing’s tanks fuel new concerns, house prices on the up, Lloyds in the doldrums, hazardous chemicals a pest in poorer countries

Boeing’s faulty plane woes have worsened after ‘foreign object debris’ (FOD) was found in the fuel tanks of two ground 737 Max aircraft – that’s the model that has had two fatal crashes and become the subject of Congressional investigation in the United States. The manufacturer had to ground the…

19 February

Inflation jumps, physical money nearing the end, immigration to prioritise skills, £150m film studio to launch

Inflation has reached its highest rate in six months, at 1.8%, after the price of fuel and energy rose over the course of the last year. The consumer prices index (CPI) which measures the rate by monitoring the price of consumer goods, was expected to come in at 1.6%, so…

18 February

HSBC to cut 35,000 jobs, new chancellor sticks to schedule, Bezos creates $10bn ‘Earth fund’

HSBC has announced plans to cut 35,000 jobs over the next three years after a dire set of financial results. Profits have fallen by 33% year on year and that is before the impact of the coronavirus can even be fully measured in Q1 and the months to come. The…

14 February

German stagnation, Javid out, RBS gets environmental, Norton no-show

The German economy has stagnated due to significant falls in spending and exports. New figures show that GDP ‘flat lined’ (financial jargon for neither growing nor contracting) in the final quarter of 2019, bad news since economists and analysts had hoped that it would grow about 0.1%. It means Germany’s…

12 February

Parasite boosts Spanish crisp sales

Now that’s the kind of headline journalists like to write. But unfortunately, now that you’re reading the article, the subterfuge must be exposed. We’re not talking about parasites that look for hosts, and we’re not talking about infected food. Instead we’re talking about the Korean movie sensation that just won…