The United States and Britain ended a four-year dispute over U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs on Tuesday, pledging to work together to counter China in a deal that also removes retaliatory tariffs from U.S. motorcycles, whiskey and other products, Reuters reported. In a joint statement, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and U.S.
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Tommy Robinson has failed to appear at the High Court to answer questions about his finances in connection with unpaid legal bills, The Mirror reported. The English Defence League founder was successfully sued for defamation by Jamal Hijazi when the then 15-year-old was assaulted at Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield in October 2018.
British government bond issuance will fall closer toward pre-pandemic norms in the coming financial year, when the market's biggest buyer over the last decade — the Bank of England — will move to the sidelines, according to a Reuters poll of primary dealers, Reuters reported. The Debt Management Office's 2022/23 gilt issuance remit is likely to show about 147 billion pounds ($193.8 billion) of bond sales, compared with 194.8 billion pounds in the current year, according to the median forecast in the poll.
Boris Becker dishonestly “played” the bankruptcy system, hiding cash, property and trophies from authorities, a court has heard at the opening of his trial, The Guardian reported. The multiple-grand-slam-winner is charged with 24 counts relating to concealing assets, nine of which relate to trophies and medals won during his illustrious playing career, including from his first Wimbledon men’s single championship when he burst on to the world scene, aged just 17 years old. Becker denies all the charges.
HSBC is buying a plot of virtual real estate in an online gaming space called The Sandbox for an undisclosed sum, the bank's first major foray into the metaverse as it shrinks its UK branch network, Reuters reported. The digital push will enable HSBC to engage with sports, e-sports and gaming fans via its slice of turf in The Sandbox, a virtual space majority-owned by Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands.
The Bank of England raised interest rates on Thursday for a third meeting running, as expected, but softened its language on the need for further increases from here, Reuters reported. Eight out of nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to raise the Bank Rate to 0.75% from 0.5%, following the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision on Wednesday to raise borrowing costs for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe voted to keep rates on hold, warning of a big hit to demand from higher commodity prices.
Britain’s business leaders are pressing Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak for emergency support in this month’s mini-budget to cope with a historic surge in energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg News reported. Industry groups are calling for targeted help through a six-month extension of the state-backed recovery loan program or a business version of the energy relief granted to households last month.
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Banks may continue to drift away from London if the European Central Bank intensifies its scrutiny of their presence in the bloc, the Bank of England’s deputy governor said, Bloomberg News reported. Jon Cunliffe said the ECB may require some business to move back to the European Union following its ongoing review of banks’ booking models and trading desks. He added that firms may respond by moving to the U.S. instead or elsewhere in the coming years.
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High energy prices are forcing some manufacturers to halt production in a foretaste of what may become a more widespread shutdown that if the war in Ukraine leads to acute shortages of natural gas, Bloomberg News reported. A survey by Make UK, the manufacturing industry group, found that 17% of companies have had to “temporarily halt production of products that are energy intensive to fabricate” this year. Gas prices have risen 59-fold since May 2020, and oil prices are at a seven year high, making it increasingly costly for factories to maintain output.
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Russia demanded the U.K. sell its stake in satellite startup OneWeb Ltd. and threatened to cancel a launch planned for Saturday if it didn’t, retaliating against Western sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg News reported. Kremlin space agency Roscosmos made the ultimatum in a statement on its official Twitter page on Wednesday and blamed “the U.K.’s hostile stance toward Russia.” It also demanded guarantees that OneWeb’s satellites wouldn’t be used for military purposes and gave a deadline of 9:30 p.m. Moscow time March 4 for answers.
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