The governor of the Bank of England says a "disorderly" Brexit could postpone rises in interest rates as he would be forced to act to protect the economy. Speaking at a London conference, Mark Carney said even if progress is made towards "new trading arrangements" with the European Union, weaker income growth "is likely to accompany that adjustment".
A court in America has ruled that South Korea's Samsung Electronics must pay $539m (£403m) in damages for copying features of Apple's original iPhone. The two firms have been locked in a legal battle since 2011, when Apple claimed Samsung had infringed on some patents. Samsung said the decision "flies in the face" of a separate ruling.
Shop Direct, the retailer behind Very.co.uk and Littlewoods, saw the value of its bonds sink after it failed to adequately explain why £25m had been paid to a holding company controlled by Sir Frederick and Sir David Barclay. Shop Direct described it as an intercompany loan, and admitted it had not been funded from free cash flow. A debt trader described the matter as "a spectacle that ranged from inept to scandalous".
Data from the Office for National Statistics shows stark regional variation. Although the average disposable income per person was £19,432 in 2016, in Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham it was more than three times this at £58,816. Meanwhile, in Nottingham the average income was just £12,232. England had an average of £19,878 but Northern Ireland's was £15,719.
Homebase has been sold by its Australian owner for a nominal fee of £1. The former owner, Wesfarmers, blamed a "deterioration" of the UK economy and took a stinging loss of up to £230m. The struggling British chain is being bought by the restructuring specialist, Hilco, which saved music retailer HMV in 2013. Homebase currently employs 11,500 people across the UK.
"If you want to turn it into a game show, we could call it Pointless, given how you treat shareholders. Perhaps it should be 'Jail or No Jail', you are going in the right direction." Noel Edmonds launches another attack on Lloyds for its handling of past fraud at its HBOS Reading branch.
FTSE 100: down -0.92 to 7,716.74
Dow Jones: down -0.30 to 24,811.76
Dax: down -0.94 to 12,855.09
Cac 40: down -0.31 to 5,548.45
Nikkei: up +0.21 to 22,483.43
Hang Seng: down -0.47 to 30,617.37
US dollar: buys € 0.8541 and £0.7481
Sterling: buys $1.3365 and €1.1415
Oil: $78.55 down -0.24
No comments: