LONDON’S BUSINESS NEWSPAPER
WALKOUT WEDNESDAY (AGAIN) TUBE DRIVERS ON STRIKE – AND TRAIN CHAOS ON THE WAY P2 WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2023
ISSUE 3,950
THE PUNTER PICK OF THE RUNNERS ON DAY TWO P21-26
CITYAM.COM
FREE SUCCESSION IS BACK
Logan Roy to ring market opening bell CHARLIE CONCHIE
‘A BUDGET FOR GROWTH’
LET’S HOPE THIS ONE GOES BETTER THAN LIZ AND KWASI’S.... JESSICA FRANK-KEYES
CHANCELLOR Jeremy Hunt will later unveil what he will call a “budget for growth” as he attempts to insert confidence into a stuttering UK economy. He is expected to focus on efforts to remove barriers to employment, drive investment and support high-growth industries, in what has been dubbed a ‘back to work’ budget. He is likely to be helped by forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility,
released at the same time as he stands up in the Commons, which are expected to paint a slightly rosier picture of both the economy and the public finances than was the case last year. It follows months of economic turmoil following the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic; the war in Ukraine and energy crisis; and city chaos after Liz Truss’ calamitous mini-budget. After Truss sacked Kwasi Kwarteng from the Treasury, she was forced to appoint Hunt into the role, who swiftly
took steps to calm markets and restore financial stability. Hunt slashed spending plans – albeit with much of the pain deferred until after the next election – and hiked taxes to a decades-long high. The Chancellor will tell MPs: “In the autumn we took difficult decisions to deliver stability and sound money. “Today, we deliver the next part of our plan: a budget for growth. Not just growth from emerging out of a downturn.
“But long term, sustainable, healthy growth that pays for our NHS and schools, finds good jobs for young people, provides a safety net for older people, all whilst making our country one of the most prosperous in the world.” Measures will focus on helping Brits back into work, with childcare costs set to be paid to parents on Universal Credit upfront, as well as packages for disabled and 50-plus workers.
THE LONDON Stock Exchange is pinning its hopes on a new figure to whip the capital’s embattled markets into shape this month: Succession star Brian Cox. The 76-year old actor will ring the bell to open markets in a promotional stunt for the fourth series of the Wall Street drama, in which he plays a foul-mouthed, sharp-tongued scion of a business empire named Logan Roy – with a temper more suited to the open-outcry markets of yesteryear than the data-driven trading floors of today. Cox will open the markets prior to being grilled by journalists on a dearth of floats in the capital and the regulatory tweaks most likely to once again tempt top firms to the Square Mile – or, more likely fielding questions on the new series from film critic and interviewer Ali Plumb. Like many founders in the media and tech space, Logan Roy chose to list Waystar Royco in New York.
£ WHAT WE KNOW: PAGE 5
Market stress eases as traders bet Silicon Valley Bank collapse not a warning sign JACK BARNETT CONSIDERED “calm” returned to markets yesterday as traders began to see the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) as more idiosyncratic than systematic on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The FTSE 100 gained more than
one per cent yesterday, whilst in the US banks that had seen catastrophic share price falls at the start of the week, including First Republic Bank, began to recover their stock losses. “There was a sense some calm had been restored to markets after a bruising few sessions,” Russ Mould, investment director at broker
AJ Bell, said. Banking stocks partially reversed their losses yesterday, with HSBC, who stepped in to buy SVB’s UK arm for £1 on Monday, up more than one per cent. Barclays climbed nearly four per cent, while Lloyds Bank, Britain’s largest mortgage lender, added
around two per cent. Just eight shares on the FTSE 100 finished in the red yesterday, a far cry from the steep falls clocked on Monday as traders fretted over the knock-on effects on lending of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse. A series of bets on global interest rates staying lower hit the bank as a
result of the US Federal Reserve raising borrowing costs sharply. Oxford Economics yesterday warned that widespread bank funding stress and the knock-on effects on lending could hit global GDP by some three per cent – but also said they felt such a scenario was “unlikely.”
INSIDE MORE CUTS AT META P3 CREDIT SUISSE IN A MUDDLE YET AGAIN P4 HIGH COURT DRAMA P8 NEIL BENNETT IN THE NOTEBOOK P10 OPINION P16-17 SPORT P27-28