Author: LoveWorld UK

Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea must go back to basics to boost his confidence and reverse his disappointing run of form, former captain Gary Neville has said. De Gea deflected Steven Bergwijn’s shot into his own net in a 1-1 Premier League draw with Tottenham Hotspur on Friday and the Spaniard was lambasted by another United captain, Roy Keane, who said he was “sick to death” of the goalkeeper. United manager Solskjaer Ole Gunnar Solskjaer defended De Gea after Keane’s comments, though he has also recently tipped academy product Dean Henderson to become first choice for club and country.…

UK shares retreated on Monday as a surge in global coronavirus cases sparked fears of another lockdown and further economic damage from the COVID-19 pandemic, while Glencore slipped after disclosing a criminal investigation into the company. London-listed shares of Swiss commodity miner (GLEN.L) fell as much as 5.8% to a three-week low after it said the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland was investigating it for failure to have measures in place to prevent alleged corruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The blue-chip FTSE 100 .FTSE was down 0.2% and the mid-cap FTSE 250 .FTMC 0.1%, led by declines in battered energy…

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said on Monday that the central bank should start to reverse its quantitative easing asset purchases before raising interest rates on a sustained basis, a reversal of long-standing BoE policy. The BoE increased its bond purchase target to 745 billion pounds ($922 billion) last week, and in March it cut its main interest rate to a record low 0.1%. But Bailey said this level of central bank asset purchases “shouldn’t always be taken for granted”. “When the time comes to withdraw monetary stimulus, in my opinion it may be better to consider adjusting the…

British households remain downbeat about their financial prospects due to the damage caused by COVID-19, but are less pessimistic than in May and April when sentiment sank to its lowest in more than eight years, a survey showed on Monday. IHS Markit’s monthly Household Finance Index for June was in line with other data which has suggested a moderate recovery since economic output collapsed by a historic 20% in April when swathes of businesses were shuttered. The index rose to 40.7 in June from 37.8 in May, but remained below its pre-COVID average of just under 45. “It is reassuring…

British industrial output recorded its biggest quarterly fall on record during the three months to June as COVID-19 heavily disrupted operations, and a further decline is likely in the months to come, a survey showed on Monday. The Confederation of British Industry’s headline industrial orders measure inched up to -58 in June from May’s 38-year low of -62, but remained far below its pre-COVID level, while export orders fell by the most since records began in 1977 at -79. The CBI’s measure of industrial output over the past three months fell to its lowest since that measure started in July…

British shoppers bought much more than expected in May as the country gradually relaxed its coronavirus lockdown and online retailers boomed, adding to signs that the economy is moving away from its historic crash in March and April. But official data also showed public borrowing hit a record high as the government opened the spending taps and public debt passed 100% of economic output. Sales volumes in May jumped by a record 12.0% after an unprecedented 18.0% slump in April. The rise was at the top end of economists’ forecasts in a Reuters poll but still left sales 13.1% down…

British financial institutions that benefited from slavery such as Lloyd’s of London should go further than saying sorry for their role in the Atlantic slave trade and atone for their sins by funding Caribbean development, the region’s countries said. More than 10 million Africans were shackled into the Atlantic slave trade by European nations between the 15th and 19th centuries. Those who survived the often brutal voyage, ended up toiling on plantations in the Americas. While the history of Europe’s scramble for African slaves has been widely known for centuries, the death of George Floyd in the United States has…

A senior French official said on Friday she could not rule out the European Union’s trade talks with departed ex-member Britain ending without a deal though it was in the British interest to reach one. “I am not ruling out anything,” Junior European Affairs Minister Amelie de Montchalin told Europe 1 radio, when asked if she could rule out a no-deal Brexit. “Those who need a deal the most are the British. They cannot withstand a second shock after the epidemic. They wouldn’t have access to the security net that is Europe, they wouldn’t have access to the stimulus fund,”…

Britain’s markets watchdog on Friday proposed enabling consumers to extend a payment freeze on their credit cards by a further three months, as part of measures to support borrowers in difficulties due to the coronavirus pandemic. Those who had not yet asked for a payment freeze on credit cards or for an interest-free overdraft of up to 500 pounds could also seek one up until Oct 31, the Financial Conduct Authority said in a statement. The extension to the payment holiday, which was introduced in April, would also enable customers to ask for a reduced interest rate on any overdraft…

London shares rose on Friday as a sharp rebound in retail sales in May bolstered hopes of a swift economic recovery from a pandemic-driven slump, while energy shares tracked a gain in oil prices. The FTSE 100 .FTSE was up 0.5% and on course to rise for the fourth week in five as optimism around the revival in business activity overshadowed concerns of further lockdowns following a surge in infections in the United States and China. Data on Friday showed retail sales volumes in May surged by a record 12% amid an easing in the nationwide shutdown imposed to contain the spread…