Wonga Goes Into Administration

Wonga has gone into administration, it had already stopped accepting new loan applications.

Those who owe it money will still have to honour their debts, and those trying to claim compensation for alleged past misdemeanours will go to the back of the creditors queue.

Many in the media have been celebrating its demise. All well and good maybe, but those who used Wonga's services may now well end up going to loan sharks.

The Pensions Aristocracy

‘A former Tory pensions minister said the report laid bare “the two class pensions system – with the pensions aristocracy funded by taxpayers and the rest of the population who are struggling to save”’ https://t.co/gfoYm2VDNq

— Christine #StandUp4Brexit (@CPierceUK) August 27, 2018

Greece Is Remarkably Fucked

Greece’s debt-to-GDP ratio

2007 103.1%
2008 109.4%
2009 126.8%
2010 146.3%
2011 172.1%
2012 159.6%
2013 178%
2014 180.9%
2015 179.4%
2016 181.3%
*2017 180.7% projection
*2018 191.3%

IMF

— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) August 21, 2018

The City Is Dominant wrt FX

Reuters' analysis: foreign currency trading in London up 23% April 2018 on April 2016 to a record daily average of $2.7 trillion — double growth rate of New York, nearest rival. London dominated forex for 50 years. Now more dominant than ever. Accounts for 40% all world’s forex.

— Andrew Neil (@afneil) August 22, 2018

Russia Dumping US Treasuries and Moving To Gold

Just 31 tons to go! Russia added 25 tons of gold in July putting total gold reserves at 1,969 tons. Russia should have 2,000 tons by Labor Day. pic.twitter.com/znJpTXVsQV

— Jim Rickards (@JamesGRickards) August 20, 2018

No surprises here then!

Total Pulls Out of Iran

BREAKING: French oil giant Total has cancelled its operations in Iran

— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) August 20, 2018

Greece Has Lost Its Independence

Forget democracy, forget economic reason, Greece will be made to run budget surpluses until 2060 - that's 2060. Binding the hands of Greek governments for yet another generation to come. Obscene

— Bruno Waterfield (@BrunoBrussels) August 20, 2018

No one really believes that Greece will comply with these conditions, even if it wanted to!

Venezuela Is Fucked - Bank Notes Cheaper Than Toilet Paper

How much does loo roll cost in Venezuela? Well, as a result of soaring inflation it’s now cheaper and more effective for Venezuelans to use bank notes then spend them on toilet paper! pic.twitter.com/Vm6ft4pZGM

— Graham Hambly (@PQMagazine) August 20, 2018

Bill From Hell Gives Russian Stock Market The Collywobbles

Russian Stock Market in capitulation mode prior to „bill from Hell“ sanctions from United States pic.twitter.com/oPJeUY3msm

— Russian Market (@russian_market) August 17, 2018

Interesting Help To Buy Scheme Stats

Interesting. More than a third of households using Help to Buy have incomes of £50,000 or more.
10 per cent of households using the scheme have an income of over £80,000, while 4 per cent have an income of over £100,000 a year. pic.twitter.com/iMZvvdbACC

— Tom Knowles (@tkbeynon) August 16, 2018

Thameslink Has a Sense of Humour

Hi Ken. Thank you for bringing this to our ^Neil

— Thameslink (@TLRailUK) August 16, 2018

The Train Ruling Class

Just another reminder that most people - nearly 90% - don't use trains to get to work. As you were.

— Simon Cooke (@SimonMagus) August 15, 2018

Simon Cooke nails it, the minority who use trains seem to have the loudest voice when it comes to allocating subsidies etc.

Commuters To Be Screwed Next Year

Some mild relief for commuters. RPI rises by 3.2% in the year to July. That number will be the ceiling for rail fare increases this year. Bit lower than the 3.4% that was anticipated. And lower than the 3.6% from last year. But higher than the 2.5% level of CPI

— Ed Conway (@EdConwaySky) August 15, 2018

Unemployment at Lowest Level For 40 Years!

UK unemployment fell by 65,000 to 1.36 million in three months to June - lowest for more than 40 years, figures show https://t.co/zfUxeY4uEa

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) August 14, 2018

Lidl Fucks Up €500M SAP Roll Out

"German supermarket chain Lidl, which runs over 10k supermarkets in 29 countries, has rolled back a new inventory management system in SAP after 7 years and 500millions€ spent. The project was launched as the biggest #digitaltransformation project in the history of the company" pic.twitter.com/E3Vt4MbNkd

— Giovanni Gentili (@giovannigentili) August 14, 2018

Maybe they should have bought it from ALDI!

Bank of England Takes a High Risk Punt on The Euro

Follow the money. The Government's real faith is in the euro - just when it's claiming that the EU is useless etc pic.twitter.com/5lkd6IxsHS

— Christina Patterson (@queenchristina_) August 12, 2018

This is very high risk, given the unquantified exposure of Europe to Turkey!

Turkey's Stuffed!

Reuters: #China's Ctrip says has shut option to pay using Turkish Lira because of currency slump#Turkey

— Vincent Lee (@Rover829) August 13, 2018

House of Fraser Bought By Sports Direct

Following on from today's announcement about House of Fraser going into administration, it has been announced that Sports Direct has bought is for £90M.

"Sports Direct International plc ("the Company" or "the Group") announces the acquisition of the business and assets of House of Fraser from the administrators of House of Fraser Limited, House of Fraser (Stores) Limited and James Beattie Limited, the House of Fraser group's main operating companies (the "Operating Companies"), for a cash consideration of £90 million (the "Transaction").

Pursuant to the Transaction, the Group has acquired all of the UK stores of House of Fraser, the House of Fraser brand and all of the stock in the business.

For the year ended 28 January 2017 (the last date to which statutory accounts are available for the parent company of the Operating Companies and prior to the appointment of the administrators), the House of Fraser group had gross assets of £946.3m and made £14.7m net profit. "

Plans for the stores are not yet clear.  

A Turkey Is For Life, Not Just Christmas!

Turkey Meltdown: Lira Implodes As Panicked Sellers Spark Global Contagion https://t.co/x1jJX0EUAo

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 10, 2018

House of Fraser Goes Into Administration

House of Fraser is calling in EY as administrators, after talks with investors and creditors had "not concluded in a solvent solution".

In a statement to the Luxembourg Stock Exchange the department store said administrators had confirmed that the business would continue trading, including all stores and offices, while they attempted to complete a sale.

House of Fraser employs 17,500 people, including 11,500 concession staff.

Court hearings are expected to take place at 7:30am today, "at which orders will be sought appointing individuals from Earnest & Young as administrators of each of the operating companies with immediate effect," the filing said.

The firm stated: "Significant progress has been made towards completing a sale of the group's business and assets.

The proposed administrators are expected to continue to progress those discussions with a view to concluding a transaction shortly after their appointment."

HoF chief executive Alex Williamson is quoted by CITY A.M.:

“We are hopeful that the current negotiations will shortly be concluded."

Chairman Frank Slevin added:

“This has been an extraordinarily challenging six months in which the business has delivered so many critical elements of the turnaround plan. Despite the very recent termination of the transaction between Cenbest and C.Banner, I am confident House of Fraser is close to securing its future."

Fingers crossed for the staff!

Trade Wars Hotting Up!

JUST IN: Kremlin calls new U.S. sanctions 'categorically unacceptable' and illegal under international law https://t.co/eleXsxCjZu pic.twitter.com/4GlFjCwa6S

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) August 9, 2018

Sanctions to right of them,

Sanctions to left of them,

Sanctions in front of them

Volley'd and thunder'd

Pension Buy Ins/Outs Hit Record Levels

A record £7.8bn of pension buy-ins and buy-outs was reported by UK pension plans in the first 6 months of 2018, according to new analysis by LCP, an actuarial consultancy.

— Josephine Cumbo (@JosephineCumbo) August 9, 2018

Turkey Enters Delusional Phase

TURKISH FINANCE MINISTRY SAYS NEW ECONOMY MODEL WILL BE ANNOUNCED BY MINISTER ALBAYRAK ON FRIDAY

— Quantitative Trading (@fiquant) August 9, 2018

You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig!

BMW Technical Problems

Here’s BMW’s official statement of my question.

“BMW AG investigations have revealed that - similar to the current Korean situation - an Exhaust-Gas-Recirculation (EGR) module malfunction may, in rare cases, cause fires in some BMW diesel vehicles in the European market” pic.twitter.com/58l7RYhhMH

— Jaehwan Cho 조재환 (@hohocho) August 8, 2018

Oil Up - World Peace Declared

The Iran sanctions have officially been cast. These are the most biting sanctions ever imposed, and in November they ratchet up to yet another level. Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States. I am asking for WORLD PEACE, nothing less!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2018

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There's Irony For You!

Government's "Find a Job" Website Advertising £2-an-Hour Jobs https://t.co/m8LblCAyvm pic.twitter.com/r7lm4KDapr

— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) August 3, 2018

Will HMRC prosecute the government for advertising this illegal hourly rate?

Rates Rise To 0.75%

Yesterday's decision by the MPC to raise fates to 0.75% is a farcical waste of time.

Come next year's Brexit crash the rate rise will have to be reversed.

Methinks Carney knows this, hence a rise now gives him more to cut next year eg by 0.5% or even 0.75%; which, theoretically, might have a more of a psychological impact.

Rate Rise Expected

The Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates to 0.75pc (today at 12pm).

Buckle up!

Tomorrow's MPC Decision

Still for the life of me can't fathom this. NIESR says BoE should raise rates tomorrow, but: “It's entirely possible that in three months’ time, because of the Brexit negotiations, because of the trade wars or some other reason, the August rate increase could look like a mistake”

— Jamie McGeever (@ReutersJamie) August 1, 2018

As ever most people, when it comes to talking about interest rates, are fucking clueless!