International Monetary Fund publishes new forecasts later today, outlining the state of the world economy and the challenges ahead - a year after claiming Britain was 'playing with fire'.
Coming up, UK industrial production data, as service sector exports hit record high.
Sports Direct shares drop 6% after Ashley cuts stake
9.43am BST
Just in: Britain's industrial sector has recorded its strongest rise in industrial output since last summer, suggesting the UK recovery is gathering pace.
Manufacturing output surged by 1.0% month-on-month in February, the biggest rise since September 2013. And the third monthly rise in a row.
cracker of a UK manufacturing fig. up 1% m/m & 3.8 y/y...
9.28am BST
Greece's cleaning workers, laid off as part of government cutbacks, have become one of the emblems of public opposition to its austerity programme. Last November they famously forcing Troika officials to flee through a fire escape.
They're back in action this morning, gathering outside the finance ministry to prepare for a meeting with finance minister Yannis Stournaras.
The laid off cleaners waving black flags at FinMin ahead of meeting with Stournaras at 12:30 pic.twitter.com/kUQvd0ROwS @dromografos #rbnews
Dock workers on 24h #strike today across #Greece to protest against planned privatizations. Demo at 16:00 in Athens #rbnews
Journalists & technical staff on 24h strike across media outlets. ESIEA union to stage a protest at 12:00 in Athens #rbnews #greece
9.13am BST
Some UK technology and high-growth stocks are coming under fresh pressure this morning, as fears of a tech stock rout linger.
Internet fashion retailer ASOS has dropped another 5%, and Ocado are down 3.3%. Semiconductor maker CSR has dropped 2.5%, but its larger rival ARM is the biggest riser on the FTSE 100, up 1.8%
European equities pare early session gains to trade lower Tuesday, pressured by fresh geopolitical drama together with declines on Wall Street overnight where tech stocks continued their descent amid worries about inflated valuations Amazon, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all registered fat losses.
The surprise is that its taken investors so long to catch onto the fact that a lot of high growth stocks are trading on stupidly high valuations as companies like Twitter, Facebook, Pandora and Zynga continue to get pummelled.
8.50am BST
In the financial markets, shares in UK retailer Sports Direct have tumbled 6% in early trading following the news yesterday afternoon that founder Mike Ashley had ditched £200m of shares.
The latest share sale by Mike Ashley will certainly improve liquidity in Sports Direct, given the limited free float, but it will be interesting to see what sort of institutional appetite there is for the stock in the 850p-870p range, after the recent spike in the share price over 900p and the shenanigans over Mad Mikes dealings in House of Fraser
8.31am BST
What a difference a year makes. Back in April 2013, the International Monetary Fund grabbed the headlines by warning that the UK was 'playing with fire', urging chancellor George Osborne to change his fiscal plans.
Osborne was stung by the criticism from IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard. But ever since, the UK economy has been on an upward path. Britain's independent Office for Budget Responsibility raised its growth forecasts last month; economists say the IMF has every reason to do the same later today.
8.18am BST
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the financial markets, the world economy, the eurozone and business.
A big day for economic data lies ahead, as International Monetary Fund gathers with economists and journalists in Washington DC to announces its new World Economic Outlook.
The quarterly poll of 8,000 firms by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) reports that service exports are at an all-time high and many key manufacturing balances are also at record levels, showing that growth is strengthening in the short term.
However the survey also warned the recovery must become more balanced in the months ahead as it is still too reliant on consumer spending.
Continue reading... |
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com |