Barron’s (September 12)
“Be careful what you wish for when calling for zero or negative interest rates, Mr. President.” There’s a downside and the results are not inspiring. “The record of negative rates in the euro zone, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, and Japan has been mixed…. While bond yields have fallen below zero, banks been reluctant to impose negative rates on depositors, resulting in a squeeze on their profits.”
Tags: Banks, Bond yields, Denmark, Depositors, Downside, EU, Interest rates, Japan, Negative rates, Sweden, Switzerland, Trump, U.S.
The Guardian (September 12)
“Here the issue… is that a British prime minister persists in asserting the impossible. He demands that Britain leave the European single market but with a gaping hole in its border, in Ireland. He wants a border and no border.” A no-deal Brexit would cause “chaos” in a worst case scenario, but “in Ireland it is physically impossible.”
Tags: Border, Brexit, Chaos, EU, Impossible, Ireland, No-deal, Prime minister, Single market, UK
The Economist (August 31)
“The sense of inevitability about no-deal, cultivated by the hardliners advising Mr Johnson, is bogus. The EU is against such an outcome; most Britons oppose it; Parliament has already voted against the idea. Those MPs determined to stop no-deal have been divided and unfocused. When they return to work next week after their uneasy summer recess, they will have a fleeting chance to avert this unwanted national calamity. Mr Johnson’s actions this week have made clear why they must seize it.”
Tags: Bogus, Calamity, EU, Hardliners, Inevitability, Johnson, MPs, No-deal, Parliament, UK
Financial Times (August 26)
“British society is so deeply divided—politically, socially, geographically and generationally—that it is unable to react. The UK has become a mere chessboard, a toy in the hands of a force far greater than that of its inhabitants; the geopolitical interests of the Trump administration,” which seeks to use the UK “as the latest battlefield on which to achieve its twin goals of undermining the EU, and challenging its rival China.”
Tags: Battlefield, Chessboard, Divided, EU, Geopolitical interests, Society, Trump administration, U.S., UK
Reuters (August 8)
“Sterling’s recent slide is not yet over as the chances Britain and the European Union part ways without a withdrawal deal have jumped again after arch-Brexiteer Boris Johnson took over as prime minister last month.”
Washington Post (July 23)
Tomorrow Boris Johnson may get “the chance to prove that the manure in Britain smells different” than in the EU. “He has vowed to push forward Brexit, break free of the tyranny of the European Union and lead a liberated Britain to its former global greatness. His supporters are willing to look beyond a cringeworthy record of gaffes, sordid peccadilloes and soft bigotry. Most analysts, though, reckon that he is in for a rude awakening.”
Tags: Bigotry, Brexit, Cringeworthy, EU, Gaffes, Greatness, Johnson, Liberated, Rude awakening, UK
Investment Week (July 17)
“A ‘no deal’ Brexit could result in sterling falling to parity with the dollar,” according to Morgan Stanley. “Exiting the European Union without a deal looks increasingly likely.” In a “worst-case scenario” the pound, currently at $1.24, could plunge roughly 19% “to historic lows of $1-$1.10.”
The Economist (July 13)
Matteo Salvini has in effect “been the most powerful man in Italy since shortly after he became a deputy prime minister in June last year.” His domestic rise has been “relentless,” though it is not connected “to pre-eminence by solving or showing how he might solve any of Italy’s obvious malaises.” Even more worryingly, Mr. Salvini has a very antagonistic relationship with the EU and he could very well instigate a new crisis, willingly or otherwise. “The troubling fact for Europe is that no one knows what this meteor that has flashed across Italy’s skies will do next.”
Tags: Antagonistic, Crisis, Deputy prime minister, EU, Italy, Malaises, Relentless, Salvini, Troubling
Reuters (July 8)
“Europe’s data police have new fangs that are turning out to be pretty sharp. British Airways was told on Monday it faced a 183 million pound penalty for the theft of customer information from its website last year.” The record hacking fine did reward BA for coming forward and owning up to the breech. Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) the penalty could have been up to “4% of global revenue. Yet the fine announced by the ICO amounts to 1.5% of British Airways’ 2017 sales.”
Tags: BA, Customer information, Data, EU, GDPR, Hacking fine, Penalty, Record, Revenue, Theft, Website
The Economist (June 29)
The “metropolis of money, known as the City, generates £120bn ($152bn) of output a year—as much as Germany’s car industry.” Increasingly, Brexit appears to threaten an outcome that “would make the eu poorer and damage London’s position.” In addition, the end result could “change the workings of the global financial system.”
Tags: Brexit, Car industry, Damage, EU, Financial system, Germany, London, Metropolis, Money, Outcome, Output, Poorer, The City
