Free Republic

LONDON — The British government has dropped plans to cut income tax for top earners, part of a package of unfunded cuts that sparked turmoil on financial markets and sent the pound to record lows. Treasury chief Kwasi Kwarteng said Monday that he will not scrap the top 45% rate of income tax paid on earnings above 150,000 pounds ($167,000) a year. “We get it, and we have listened,” he said in a statement. The U-turn comes as more lawmakers from the governing Conservative Party turn on government tax plans announced 10 days ago. It also comes hours after the...

Concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus have translated into an economic slowdown. Stock markets have taken a hit: the UK’s FTSE 100 has seen its worst days of trading for many years and so have the Dow Jones and S&P in the US. Money has to go somewhere and the price of gold – seen as a stable commodity during extreme events – reached a seven-year high. A look back at history can help us consider the economic effects of public health emergencies and how best to manage them. In doing so, however, it is important to remember...

China currency devaluation signals endgame leaving equity markets free to collapse under the weight of impossible expectations It is only a matter of time before stock markets collapse under the weight of their lofty expectations and record valuations. Photo: Reuters When the banking crisis crippled global markets seven years ago, central bankers stepped in as lenders of last resort. Profligate private-sector loans were moved on to the public-sector balance sheet and vast money-printing gave the global economy room to heal. Time is now rapidly running out. From China to Brazil, the central banks have lost control and at the same...

DAX -3%FTSE - 5% It's a freefall at the moment.

FTSE Hit By BP Spill Failure, Euro Zone Growth FearsBy David Brett Tue Jun 1, 2010 7:22am EDT * FTSE drops 2.1 percent * BP slumps as "top kill" fails; crude down 2.6 percent * Prudential up; AIG snubs revised offer for AIA LONDON, June 1 (Reuters) - Britain's top shares were down heavily by midday on Tuesday, as BP (BP.L) plunged 15 percent after it failed to stem the major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and euro zone growth fears weighed on sentiment. By 1108 GMT, the FTSE 100 .FTSE was down 107.17 points or 2.1 percent...

London shares dropped more than 400 points in early trading this morning after a seventh day of devastating falls on Wall Street triggered panic selling across Europe and Asia. Within minutes of opening, the FTSE 100 index fell almost 10 per cent to its worst level since 2002, but within 30 minutes shares staged a mild rally which left the index of Britain's leading companies off 253 points at 4050. Bank shares took the brunt of the pain as markets gyrated with Barclays off 15.6 per cent, and HSBC down 4.3 per cent. BP fell 8 per cent and Royal...

FTSE plummets below 6000 but Dow rallies late on The FTSE 100 index has closed at its lowest level since September 2006 as every stock finished the day down. The fall was heavier than last Friday's collapse and wiped nearly £60 billion from the UK's leading companies. Once more the FTSE took its cue from the US where more problems relating to the mortgage sector caused the Dow Jones to slump. Countrywide, America's biggest home loan lender, revealed it has borrowed £11.4 billion US dollars (£5.8bn) from a consortium of banks to see it through the current credit crisis. And...

Fear in the City as shares plunge again By Harry Wallop, Consumers Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 1:34am BST 17/08/2007 Shares on the London stock market plunged yesterday in their biggest one-day fall for more than four years amid fears that the British economy could be badly damaged. Turmoil engulfed the world markets as financial traders, already nursing heavy losses from last week, started to panic again over the American mortgage crisis. London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares ended the day down 4.1 per cent or 250 points at 5,859, the largest loss since March 2003. With £60 billion wiped...

FTSE falls as global sell-off gathers pace By Stephen Seawright Last Updated: 3:04pm GMT 05/03/2007 A nervous investor climate forced down shares in London as a global stock-market sell-off enters its second week. A stock index board in Tokyo reflects the latest market falls The FTSE100 briefly dropped below the 6,000 mark for the first time since October before recovering to 6,018, down 1.6 percent from Friday's close. That fall puts the index on course for its fourth decline in five days, during which time more than £100 billion has been wiped from its value. The market rout began with...

Bird flu returns to plague the FTSE By Tom Stevenson and David Litterick (Filed: 25/05/2006) Markets suffered another volatile day as nervous investors added bird flu to their growing list of worries, star fund manager Anthony Bolton warned the slide in world markets "could last months", and a high-profile flotation in New York dived in first-day dealings. WHO reported that bird flu could be passed between humans In London, the FTSE 100 closed 91.6 points lower at 5587.1, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 index slumped 180.3 points to 9054.0. Metal prices also headed sharply lower after Tuesday's record gains were...