Wealth Management news

Early Trading

UK stocks are set to open higher this morning, as markets in Asia closed lower following yesterday’s sell-off in global equity markets.

World Markets

Global equity markets closed lower, reacting to comments by the Federal Reserve head, Janet Yellen, which reignited concerns about the global economy and therefore dimmed hopes of another interest rate rise in the US.

Headlines

David Cameron will dine with the great and the good of Hamburg on Friday evening as part of his final push to secure new European Union membership terms that he can put to UK voters. The Prime Minister will hold talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel before the city’s Matthiae-Mahlzeit banquet, where both will make speeches.

Google’s top global tax executive told UK lawmakers that a new UK tax provision dubbed “the Google Tax” will not actually apply to the US technology giant. The law, officially the Diverted Profits Tax, was introduced last year amid concerns that Google parent Alphabet Inc. and other global tech companies were using their complex corporate structures to shift profits to offshore tax havens.

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, has been nominated for a second five-year term at the helm. The former French finance minister was the only nominee for the directorship. Commentators had said there were no obvious challengers for the job.

First-time buyers who purchase a house this year will have already spent £52,900 on rent, research for a landlords’ trade body suggests. The cost will rise to £64,400 for those starting to rent now, figures published by the Association of Residential Lettings Agents (Arla) claim.