Rarely has a multibillion-dollar scandal been quite so boring. For years, the UK has measured inflation using rival indicators, notably the Retail Prices Index (RPI) and the Consumer Prices Index. Each has its place. CPI is used by the Bank of England to guide monetary policy, for instance, while RPI is used as the reference rate for inflation-protected government bonds. ...

Olly Robbins has become the one thing a British civil servant must never be: the news. The government’s most senior Brexit negotiator, the ultimate safe pair of hands, was overheard by an ITV journalist in a Brussels bar this week openly contradicting Theresa May’s policy on at least three fronts. He may, though, have done everyone a favour by bringing ...

Size alone wasn’t enough to shield Amundi SA from the market turmoil that prompted investors to pull money from the asset management industry as a whole in the fourth quarter. But bulk is helping Europe’s biggest fund manager weather the storm better than its competitors. Net outflows of 6.5 billion euros ($7.4 billion) in the final three months of last ...

Taxes on rich Americans are probably going up if Democrats win both the presidency and Congress anytime soon. Whether it’s to provide revenue for more government spending on health care or the environment, or simply to reduce inequality, it seems likely that the well-off will pay more. The idea receives wide support. Exactly which type of taxes would go up, ...

Bloomberg Chinese state media sought to highlight the growing bull case for the country’s shares. A front-page story in the China Securities Journal noted a bullish trend in financial markets, while Shanghai Securities News said insurers are optimistic about the country’s equities. The articles come against the backdrop of the Shanghai Composite Index advancing 12 percent from Jan. 3 and ...

Bloomberg Earnings growth will continue to underpin equity gains despite more frequent bouts of volatility and mounting risks for financial markets, according to Lazard Asset Management. The US economy is in much better shape than investors believe and current market valuations suggest, Ronald Temple, co-head of multi-asset and head of U.S. equity at the $216 billion investment manager, told a ...

Bloomberg US equity futures followed declines across Europe as investors awaited fresh clues on the outlook for global trade and growth. The dollar edged higher with Treasuries. Contracts on the Nasdaq, Dow Jones and S&P 500 indexes all turned lower as traders returned from the long weekend and before the next round of talks between America and China to try ...

Bloomberg Some of the European Central Bank’s heavy hitters are laying the groundwork for action. The top economist and the market chief at the Frankfurt-based institution have already signalled they’re discussing options in case the current euro-area slowdown worsens, and the vice president echoed that on Tuesday. There have been similar hints from Francois Villeroy de Galhau, who is the ...

Bloomberg Greece’s government submitted to the European Commission a plan to help the country’s banks speed up their bad-loan disposals, in a bid to restore confidence in the battered sector, according to two people familiar with the matter. Greek banks are grappling with 88.6 billion euros ($100 billion) of bad loans, a legacy of the country’s financial crisis. That constrains ...

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc is bracing for riskier times after missing fourth-quarter earnings estimates, warning that political tensions in its key markets have made the prognosis for 2019 far less predictable. Chief Executive Officer John Flint has vowed to keep a keener eye on costs while avoiding additional payouts to shareholders, after a disappointing quarter capped his first year in ...