Sterling has fallen against the euro and dollar this morning as EU officials poured cold water on Boris Johnson's hopes of a Brexit deal being agreed ahead of a crucial summit this week.
The pound slid 0.5 per cent before regaining some ground against the single currency following strong gains last week spurred by renewed positivity around Brexit talks.
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Law demanding all service tips be passed on to staff in full proposed by government
Official investigation has found that many employers retain their workers’ tips or take a part of themThe European Union has approved the German government's decision to grant airline Condor, a subsidiary of collapsed tour operator Thomas Cook, a 380 million-euro (£334m) bridging loan to keep it in the air.
Germany's economy ministry said the EU's executive Commission gave its blessing on Monday.
Condor applied for the loan last month to tide it through the winter after British-based Thomas Cook ceased operations.
The airline, which has been profitable, has nearly 60 planes and 4,900 employees.
Condor's management is looking for new investors.
Press Association
Boris Johnson’s first Queen’s Speech as prime minister has been branded an “uncosted wish-list” after he set out an ambitious legislative programme despite having no majority in parliament to deliver it.
The legislative agenda set out in the speech is dominated by seven bills to implement Brexit, including a withdrawal agreement bill needing to be rushed through parliament at breakneck pace to meet its promise of taking the UK out of the European Union on 31 October with a deal which is yet to be negotiated.
Among 26 pieces of legislation unveiled by the Queen at the state opening of parliament were measures for tougher sentencing of serious and sexual criminals, as well as an environment bill with provisions to increase powers to tackle air pollution and introduce new charges on single-use plastic items.
“Perceptions of uncertainty are elevated and corporate risk appetite is vanishingly low,” said Ian Stewart, chief economist at Deloitte. “The priority appears to be curbing costs, not expansion.”
Three US economists, Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer, have won the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”.
Indian-born Mr Banerjee and Ms Duflo, born in France, work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while Mr Kremer is based at Harvard University.
“The research conducted by this year’s laureates has considerably improved our ability to fight global poverty,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on Monday.
The trio’s approach involves dividing the issue of poverty into smaller, more manageable questions – for example, the most effective measures to improve educational outcomes or children’s health. They advocate carefully designed experiments among the people who are most affected and testing not only whether a certain intervention worked or not, but also why.
Banerjee, Duflo, Kremer win Nobel economics prize 2019 for poverty alleviation
Ms Duflo becomes only second woman to win economics prize since it was first awarded in 1969Reuters had reported that SoftBank was in negotiations to make a $1bn investment to enable WeWork to go through a major restructuring.
Without a fresh infusion of cash, WeWork risks running out of money as early as the end of the December, the person said.
WeWork is working with JPMorgan to negotiate a $3bn debt deal after a planned initial public offering was tabled last month because of investor concerns about how it was valued and its business model, Reuters reported last week.
Boris Johnson's Brexit plan would leave everyone in the UK £2,000 worse off, study finds
Prime minister's proposal worse for economy than Theresa May's deal, analysis saysChairman Peter Williams said: "Julian has a clear vision and his creativity, ambition and leadership will be crucial for the turnaround of the business.
"As interim CEO, Julian has already been working closely with the team to execute this plan and, while much remains to be done, the necessary foundations are being laid."
(Reuters) - A Brexit deal between Britain and the European Union is possible, perhaps even this week, but there are still a lot of details to be worked out, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Monday.
“A deal is possible and it is possible this month, maybe even this week but we are not there yet ... there’s still a lot of work to do, so I hope we can make more progress today,” he said as he arrived at a meeting with his EU counterparts.
Budget to be held in November, government announces
Surprise announcement comes at the start of a make-or-break week for prime ministerMastercard, Visa, and eBay have all pulled out of Libra, Facebook’s increasingly embattled cryptocurrency project.
The major financial institutions follow PayPal in withdrawing from the Libra Association. The payments firms Mercado Pago and Stripe have also pulled out, leaving the project with only one of six payments-related firms who were originally involved.
The withdrawals also leave the cryptocurrency project with no major US payment processor.
A spokesperson for eBay said: “eBay has made the decision to not move forward as a founding member. At this time, we are focused on rolling out eBay’s managed payments experience for our customers.”
A spokesperson for Visa also left open the potential for a shift, saying, “We will continue to evaluate and our ultimate decision will be determined by a number of factors, including the Association’s ability to fully satisfy all requisite regulatory expectations.”
Payment giants back out of Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency
Desertions leave project with no US payment processorOfficials said intensive talks over the weekend had been “constructive” but that the pace of progress was not enough for a deal to be agreed this week.
Mr Johnson is desperate for an agreement to be signed off before Saturday to avoid him having to ask for further delay to Brexit.
But while EU sources said that a breakthrough during the prime minister’s talks with his Irish counterpart, Leo Varadkar, last week meant there was now “a deal to be done”, they urged Mr Johnson to make further concessions to secure an agreement.
The latest developments have dampened optimism in currency markets.
Sterling is down 0.65 per cent against the dollar to $1.256 and 0.5 per cent against the euro to €1.14 this morning.
EU tells Boris Johnson he must move ‘further and faster’ to get Brexit deal in time
Brussels officials ‘cautiously optimistic’ that there is ‘a deal to be done’ but warn UK must make further concessions
Shoppers continue to shun high street as visitor numbers drop 10%
'Retailers are facing a sustained drop in footfall,’ experts sayUK renewables have generated more electricity than fossil fuels for the first time, according to an analysis of energy use for the third quarter of this year.
Wind farms, solar panels, biomass and hydropower generated 29.5 terawatt hours (TWh) of energy for the months of July, August and September, compared to 29.1TWh from fossil fuels, according to Carbon Brief.
In 2010, 10 times more energy came from burning fossil fuels than renewable energy, but the cost of renewables has tumbled, with onshore wind and solar power frequently cheaper.
