Monday 4 September 2017

A BBC survey of economists found most do not expect UK interest
rates to rise until 2019, despite inflation remaining above target.
Although last week one member of the Bank of England’s monetary
policy committee said a “modest rise” in rates was needed to curb
high inflation, economists at Morgan Stanley do not expect any
movement until March 2019 at the earliest, with other groups naming
even later dates.

The government should use advances from the greater use of
artificial intelligence to reverse planned changes to the state
pension age, says the TUC. The group said higher levels of
productivity ought to bring greater benefits for working people but
recent progress had mainly benefited owners and bosses.
PricewaterhouseCoopers says GDP could receive a 10% boost from
productivity gains linked to artificial intelligence by 2030.

The Guardian says Britain’s aerospace sector could be “priced
out” after Brexit. For firms such as Airbus, which manufacture
aircraft and parts across Europe, dealing with a country outside
the EU could prove too costly. Paul Everitt of ADS, the trade body
for the aerospace sector, said: “We are concerned that there could
be a long-term erosion of Britain’s competitiveness and that big
projects will not be allocated to the UK.”

A leading buy-to-let mortgage lender is about to unveil plans
for a London stock market listing, reports Sky News. Charter Court
Financial Services, the owner of the Exact and Precise mortgage
brands, is poised to announce its intention to float as soon as
this week. It could carry a market value of about £500m. The firm
cancelled a £400m auction last year due to a row over Brexit.

Three former Tesco directors stand trial today on charges
relating to the company’s £263m accounting scandal. Christopher
Bush, Carl Rogberg and John Scouler are accused of abusing their
positions to falsely inflate the grocer’s profits. The men have
been charged by the Serious Fraud Office with one count of fraud by
false accounting and one count of fraud by abuse of position, which
can lead to prison sentences of up to 10 years. They deny the
charges. 

“Their demands – an end to zero hours contracts by the end of
the year, union recognition and a £10 per hour minimum wage – are
just and should be met.” Jeremy Corbyn backs the striking
McDonald’s workers.

FTSE 100: up +0.11 to 7438.50
Dow Jones: up +0.18 to 21987.56
Dax: up +0.72 to 12142.64
Cac 40: up +0.74 to 5123.26
Nikkei: down -0.90 to 19513.62
Hang Seng: down -0.59 to 27789.17
US dollar: buys €0.84030 and £0.77170
Sterling: buys $1.29570 and €1.08880
Oil: $52.73 down -0.3