Day: October 27, 2016

    The UK economy grew by 0.5% in the three months after the Brexit vote, the Office for National Statistics has said. The figure for July to September was down from the 0.7% growth recorded in the second quarter of 2016 - the months before Britain voted to leave the European Union. But it is more robust than many economists had expected - and stronger than the 0.2% forecast last month by the Bank of England (BoE). Sky's Economics Editor Ed Conway said: "These are relatively punchy numbers. I think these numbers will be something of a surprise to the City and they will be reassuring to many people who thought that Brexit decision was going to hit confidence, spending and activity in the economy." The higher-than-expected GDP figure was driven by the services sector - which ac...

    PM Theresa May has come under intense criticism from politicians across the UK and Europe after it emerged that she had warned of the dangers of Brexit in a private talk at Goldman Sachs a month before the referendum vote. The prime minister was accused by a string of MPs, headed by Jeremy Corbyn, of ignoring her own concerns about the risks of leaving the single market, as revealed in her remarks to City bankers that were leaked to the Guardian on Tuesday night. In Germany, politicians from both governing parties accused May of failing to show leadership. They said her remarks demonstrated that it would be impossible to leave the European Union without economic consequences. Corbyn attacked May for failing to set out her plan for Brexit to the British people as clearly as...

    When Alasdair Haynes walked onto the market floor of the London Stock Exchange to start a new week one morning exactly 30 years ago today, he was greeted by an eerie sight. The 26-year old, who worked in traded options for stock jobbing firm Pinchin Denny, was accustomed to the usual hustle and bustle of the trading floor. But on Monday October 27, 1986, the LSE had suddenly become a “ghost town”. “We were one corner of the London Stock Exchange,” Haynes, who now runs share trading venue Aquis Exchange, recalls of his time working at the exchange in traded options. “Ninety percent of [the LSE] was filled with jobbers’ booths and brokers all walking around and the runners running around. “And then we all walked in on the Monday morning and there was the traded options marke...