Fitch piles pressure on Brazil with credit downgradepublished at 15:51
BBC South America business correspondent tweets:
Summary
The US Federal Reserve raises interest rates by 0.25%
Fed expects future rate increases to be 'gradual'
US shares rise after rate decision
UK unemployment falls to the lowest in nearly 10 years
Dixons Carphone shares rise on results and a hike in the dividend
Fitch piles pressure on Brazil with credit downgradepublished at 15:51
Brazil gets another ratings downgradepublished at 15:26
Fitch Ratings has stripped Brazil of its coveted investment grade rating, the second agency to do so this year as Latin America's biggest economy sinks deeper into its worst recession in a generation.
Fitch cut the rating to "speculative", which is better known as "junk".
The deeper-than-expected recession, adverse fiscal developments and increased political uncertainty led to the downgrade, Fitch said in a statement.
Rival agency Standard & Poor's downgraded Brazil to junk this year.
No change in Scottish income tax ratepublished at 15:06
Scotland's finance secretary John Swinney has ruled out an increase in income tax when Holyrood gets new financial powers next year.
Mr Swinney made the announcement as he unveiled his draft budget to MSPs in the Scottish Parliament. He warned that he was operating in a "significantly constrained" public spending environment.
And he said the Scottish budget was set to continue to reduce in real terms until the end of the decade.
Holyrood will be given limited powers over income tax rates next April under the 2012 Scotland Act, which was passed under the previous UK coalition government.
EU court overturns airline finespublished at 14:53
An EU court has overturned €790m in fines imposed by Brussels on airlines including Air France-KLM, British Airways and Japan Airlines for running an alleged global cargo cartel.
The General Court of the European Union, the second highest court in the 28-nation bloc, said in a ruling that the 2010 decision by the European Commission's competition watchdog was "contradictory".
Brussels had accused the carriers of coordinating their action on surcharges for fuel and security without discounts over a six-year period between December 1999 and February 2006.
Wall Street opens up ahead of Fed decisionpublished at 14:40
Image source, APIt's still early in the Wall Street trading day, but share markets look to be unfazed by the possibility of an interest rate hike.
Wall Street opened higher ahead of a widely expected hike in interest rates by the Federal Reserve later in the day.
The Dow Jones index rose 69.75 points, or 0.4%, to 17,594.66, and the S&P 500 gained 10.72 points, or 0.52%, to 2,054.13. The Nasdaq added 38.76 points, or 0.78%, to 5,034.12.
Job figures: Rise of the self-employedpublished at 14:25
Quote MessageToday’s figures show the UK economy is edging closer to full employment, due in part to the surge in self-employment over the last ten years. There are now 4.6m people working for themselves. They make up 15% of the labour market – and provide invaluable specialist skills on a flexible basis. The contribution the self-employed make to the UK economy can’t be underestimated, as they raise more than £21bn for the exchequer each year. Independent professionals and people who work on a freelance basis want their contribution to be valued, and we call on government to adopt policies that create conditions enabling even more people to begin working for themselves. We know from our own research that the vast majority of people who decide to work for themselves would never go back to working for someone else.”
Chris Bryce, Chief executive, Independent Professionals and the Self Employed
'Parochial, delusional, foolish'published at 14:12
Image source, PANo one was expecting Donald Trump to respond with measure and moderation after Britain's supreme court threw out his bid to stop a wind farm being built near his luxury Scottish golf course. And so it proved.
A Trump Organization statement says: "History will judge those involved unfavourably and the outcome demonstrates the foolish, small minded and parochial mentality which dominates the current Scottish Government's dangerous experiment with wind energy."
The statement said the turbine project was "nothing more than delusional posturing" that would destroy "the bucolic Aberdeen Bay" and cause great damage to local tourism and Scotland's economic future.
Full privatisation of AIB still up to 10 years awaypublished at 13:50
Anyone who thinks taxpayers won't still own at least some of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in five years avert your eyes now.
Allied Irish Bank's chief executive has said it will likely take five to 10 years for the Irish government to sell its entire 99% stake in the bank following a planned minority stake sale next year.
"I think it's in the five to 10 (year) category. It's not, based on current assumptions, in the 10-plus and it's unlikely to be in the next very short number of years given the amount of value that needs to accrete," Bernard Byrne said.
It may be a different bank, in a different country but it is also a different bank in a different country in a very similar position to our own RBS. That's all we're saying.
FTSE 100 up 1.2% ahead of Fed decisionpublished at 13:40
It's turning out to be a good day so far on the FTSE 100 and with the US Federal Reserve not due to announce its decision on interest rates there is no reason to believe shares are going to slam into reverse this afternoon... yet.
Strong results from Dixons Carphone have continued to help today, it's shares are up 2.4% after reporting a forecast-beating 23% rise in first half profit.
Education publishing company Pearson has gained 5.3% after BNP Paribas upgraded it to "outperform" from "neutral", citing hopes new management would refocus the asset mix and allocate capital towards acquisitions and buybacks.
Rolls-Royce's plans to cut a layer of senior management in order to turn the business around, have sent its shares up 3.5%.
The FTSE 100 index itself is up 1.2% at 6,088.86.
Fed decision awaitedpublished at 13:32 Greenwich Mean Time 16 December 2015
BBC business correspondent tweets
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End of twitter postNorthern Rock mortgage salepublished at 13:21
Andrew Tyrie, chair of the Treasury Select Committee, has written to Harriet Baldwin, economic secretary to the Treasury, about the sale of some former Northern Rock assets to private equity firm Cerberus:
Quote Message“Seven years after the taxpayer bailed out Northern Rock, it’s good news that the chancellor has managed to sell these assets. Concerns have been raised about the suitability of Cerberus as the buyer of the mortgage book. This merits further scrutiny. The Treasury should consider not just short term profitability, but also longer term value in its asset sales. The impact on future tax revenues – as a result of a company’s international tax arrangements – should be taken in to account. Furthermore, the interests of customers need to be considered even after an asset is off the government’s books.
Bonmarché shares tumblepublished at 13:08
Shares in women's clothing retailer Bonmarché have tumbled 30% today after the announcement that chief executive Beth Butterwick was stepping down and joining rival Karen Millen. Bonmarché also slashed its pre-tax profit forecast by as much as 20% to between £10.5m and £12m.
BBC poised in Washingtonpublished at 12:57 Greenwich Mean Time 16 December 2015
The BBC's John Mervin in Washington tweets:
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End of twitter postBloomberg buys Barclays' index business for £520mpublished at 12:44
Image source, Getty ImagesBarclays Bank has agreed to sell its risk analytics and index solutions business , externalto Bloomberg LP for £520m.
Barclays expects to make a £480m gain from the transaction. Bloomberg LP is the parent company of Bloomberg News.
Hoverboard fire riskpublished at 12:23
Image source, Trading StandardsBad news if you've got certain types of hoverboard wrapped under your tree.
Amazon has emailed people who bought some self-balancing scooters amid concerns about non-compliant UK plugs and told them to dispose of the boards.
Apparently customers will be refunded within three days.
Other retailers are also reported to have pulled some hoverboards from sale.
Worked a billion hours this week?published at 12:09
David Freeman, who is in charge of the employment figures at the ONS, says:
Quote MessageAverage total hours worked per week topped one billion in August-October, the first time ever it has passed this mark. This results from the number of people in work continuing to increase, as average weekly hours per person are fairly stable at present."
After further inquiry, it turns out that means the number of hours worked in an average week during the quarter, not the number of hours worked in a week by the average person. You'd get pretty tired...
Unemployment at pre-recession levelspublished at 11:52
Neil Carberry, director for employment and skills at employers' organisation the CBI, says:
Quote MessageThe unemployment rate has fallen to pre-recession levels for the first time as the labour market continues to perform strongly, with youth unemployment also declining. The UK’s strong performance on job creation reflects the fact that our flexible labour market enables firms to create jobs easily and scale up production. With some significant labour market interventions like the apprenticeship levy and National Living Wage on the horizon, it is important this flexibility is not diluted further.
Stronger wage growth neededpublished at 11:41
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said:
Quote MessageWhile it’s good news that employment continues to rise, the slowdown in pay growth is a real cause for concern. With living standards still not fully recovered, many families will be worse off this Christmas than they were before the recession. For the recovery to deliver for everyone, we need stronger growth in pay and productivity in 2016.
Productivity puzzle remainspublished at 11:29
The Institute of Directors has just given its reaction to the latest unemployment figures:
Michael Martins, economic analyst at the IoD says:
Quote MessageYet again, these latest jobs figures make for welcome reading. The facts are impressive, and, given the turbulence which is affecting many parts of the world, worth repeating. In nearly every aspect, the labour market is tightening... all of this indicates we are closing in on full employment. What this means for wages and inflation over the next 12 months, however, is less clear. In theory, a tightening labour market should mean wage rises. This is the trend we saw throughout 2015. But wage growth has outpaced productivity for much of this year, and in the last few months pay increases have trailed off.
Clash of theTitans?published at 11:19 Greenwich Mean Time 16 December 2015
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