Shutterstock/Jane RixThe poet TS Eliot famously proclaimed April to be the “cruellest month”. Writing after surviving a pandemic – the Spanish flu of 1918 – he was referring to the familiar (often misguided) sense of hope that traditionally accompanies the arrival of spring.
Not looking healthy. hafakotOne key predictor of downturns in the economy is what is known as the yield curve. This typically refers to the market for what the US government borrows, by issuing bonds and other securities that mature over different time horizons ranging from weeks to 30 years.
'Cant wait to reach my new cage.' eamesBotThe great resignation is a buzzphrase that first appeared in May 2021, and has struck fear into the hearts of employers ever since. Coined in the US, the term refers to the unprecedented rise in the number of workers resigning from their jobs following the pandemic.
reppans/Alamy Stock PhotoA week after 800 P&O Ferries workers lost their jobs without notice, the CEO of the company is now facing calls to lose his. Peter Hebblethwaite is under pressure from the UK government to resign after he admitted the company had broken the law.
President Vladimir Putin’s demand that “unfriendly countries” henceforth pay for Russian gas in roubles has had several immediate effects. With the Europeans given one week to switch to paying in the Russian currency, it has driven up the price of natural gas, making it more expensive for them to maintain the sanctions regime.
MemoriesStocker / ShutterstockApril 6 marks the start of the new 2022-23 tax year and the day most workers start to pay a new tax: the health and social care levy. For one year only, the levy will take the form of a 1.25 percentage point increase in the national insurance that employees, their employers and the self-employed pay.
Queues for milk in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where shortages were evident months before the Ukraine crisis. Author providedRussia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to the disruption, by sanctions or war, of two of the world’s largest grain exporters. This means 2022 is shaping up to be a very difficult year for the global food system.
Unsplash/Helena LopesFinancial advisers often say it’s never too early to start thinking about your pension. And with good reason. As recently as ten years ago, less than half of all UK employees were saving into a workplace scheme, leaving many at risk of poverty in retirement.
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s 2022 spring statement was delivered in the haze of an extremely testing economic environment. As the war in Ukraine rages on, inflation has hit a 30-year high, energy bills are about to soar, tax rises are imminent and the fallout from COVID continues. With events straining the financial resources of millions of households, our panel of experts offer their views on Sunak’s announcement.
Energy prices
As the war in Ukraine rages, finance professionals on Wall Street and in Europe recently attracted outrage by suggesting that investing in arms manufacturers should be treated as ethical investing. In the fight against tyranny, they argued that such an investment “preserves peace and global stability” and defends “the values of liberal democracies”.
