News from Worldwide
House prices in Scotland fall for first time since Covid
Property experts are reporting the first fall in the price of buying a home in Scotland since the market was disrupted by Covid. Most chartered surveyors told their trade association that they had seen prices going down since April. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) last reported such a decline in June 2020. Last week Nationwide said UK house prices dropped at their fastest annua...
Eurozone interest rates reach joint record high
The European Central Bank (ECB) has raised interest rates in the eurozone once again, taking its key rate to a record high last seen in late 2000. The bank raised the deposit rate in the 20-nation bloc for the ninth time in a row – to 3.75%, up from 3.5%. The ECB said inflation continued to ease, but was still expected to remain “too high for too long”. On Wednesday, the US centr...
Banks: Is this a banking crisis – how worried should I be?
The news is full of emergency meetings, central banks offering credit lifelines and tumbling bank shares. No wonder people are asking: is this the start of another financial crisis? Politicians, including the UK prime minister, and central banks, say the situation is now stable. But banking shares have continued to fluctuate. So how bad is this and what does it mean for you? What is happening with...
Bed Bath & Beyond files for bankruptcy
Bed Bath & Beyond, the store for seemingly everything in your home during the 1990s and 2000s, filed for bankruptcy on Sunday. “Thank you to all of our loyal customers. We have made the difficult decision to begin winding down our operations,” a statement at the top of the company’s website said Sunday morning. The company’s 360 Bed Bath & Beyond locations, along with its 120 buybuy BABY s...
UK economy flatlines with no growth in February as strikes hit productivity
The lack of growth was unexpected – 0.1% had been forecast. Civil service strikes and low energy consumption offset growth in areas such as construction – which grew 2.4%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data showed. The flatlining was unexpected. Economists polled by the Reuters news agency had forecast slight growth of 0.1% for the month. ONS figures showed services producti...
Binance accused of breaking US financial laws
US regulators are seeking to ban Binance, the world’s largest crypto trading platform, alleging that the firm has been operating in the country illegally. The lawsuit from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said the firm cultivated US business while failing to register properly with authorities. It accused Binance of breaking numerous US financial laws, including rules intended ...
IMF chief warns global financial stability at risk from banking turmoil
Kristalina Georgieva joins others in voicing fears about threat to world economy after recent bank collapses. The head of the International Monetary Fund has warned that the global economy faces risks to its financial stability because of the turbulence in the banking sector. Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the Washington-based lender of last resort, said rising interest rates had p...
US interest rates increased despite worst banking turmoil since 2008
The Federal Reserve – the US central bank, known as the Fed – has increased interest rates for the ninth time in a row. The rate has been increased by 0.25 percentage points in an effort to bring down inflation, which in the US stood at 6% over the 12 months to February. A higher increase had been expected prior to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the rescue of regio...
Credit Suisse bank: UBS is in talks to take over its troubled rival
Switzerland’s biggest bank, UBS, is in advanced talks to buy all or part of its troubled rival Credit Suisse. Credit Suisse, the second largest Swiss bank, is facing a crisis of confidence and its shares have fallen sharply in recent days, sending ripples of concern through the markets. According to the Financial Times UBS is offering to pay up to $1bn (£820m) for Credit Suisse. Regulators a...
Why Silicon Valley Bank collapsed and what it could mean
Silicon Valley Bank collapsed with astounding speed on Friday. Investors are now on edge about whether its demise could spark a broader banking meltdown. The US federal government has stepped in to guarantee customer deposits, but SVB’s downfall continues to reverberate across global financial markets. The government has also shut down Signature Bank, a regi...
Extended life for two UK nuclear power stations
Energy giant EDF has announced plans to extend the lives of two of the UK’s five remaining nuclear power stations. Heysham 1 and Hartlepool had been due to close in March next year, but they will now be kept open until early 2026. The company says the move will support energy security, reduce demand for imported gas, and reduce carbon emissions. About 1,400 people work at the two sites, with...
Inflation sends UK debt interest payments higher
Rising inflation led to government interest payments hitting a record high for the month of January, figures show. Interest payments hit £6.1bn last month, the highest amount for January since records began in April 1997 and up from £4.5bn last year. The payments are pegged to the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation – which reached 7.8% in January. January’s interest payment...
Iraq pockets over $7 billion in December oil sales: ministry
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq pocketed more than seven billion dollars from oil sales in December, the ministry announced on Saturday, noting a slight fall in revenues compared to the month before. Iraq exported 101.5 million barrels of oil in December, with an average daily export of 3.27 million barrels, the oil ministry said. The exports brought in $7.37 billion, selling at over $72 per barrel...
Inflation: Seven reasons the cost of living is going up around the world
1. Rising energy and petrol prices Oil prices slumped at the start of the pandemic, but demand has rocketed back since, and have hit a seven-year high. In the US gasoline currently costs an average of $3.31 a gallon – up from $2.39 a gallon a year ago. It’s a similar story in the UK and the EU. The price of gas has also shot up, leaving people around the world with eye-watering central...
Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum post 50% jump in gas production in Iraqi Kurdistan
Dana Gas, one of the largest private natural gas companies in the region, and Crescent Petroleum, its affiliate, said gas production from their operations in the Kurdistan region of Iraq surged 50 percent compared to 2018 levels to reach a record 452 million cubic feet of gas per day (MMscf/d) at the end of 2021. The growth in production is supported by a number of process improvements at the gas ...
Oil prices hit a seven-year high after the attack
The price of oil hit its highest level in more than seven years on Tuesday as traders worried that an attack on a fuel storage facility in the Middle East could affect supply. A suspected drone attack by Yemeni Houthi rebels in the United Arab Emirates blew up three fuel tankers. Three people were killed in the attack on Monday near Abu Dhabi airport. A Saudi-led coalition retaliated with airstrik...