Marcus Ashworth

The UK cost-of-living crisis is becoming increasingly apparent to people, in the growing gap between the wages they earn and what they spend on groceries and fuel bills. But it is also squeezing the most vulnerable in another less visible but no less fundamental part of life — rent. Happily, there…

Credit Suisse Group AG has portentously unveiled a new vision for its employees’ work-life balance with “The Way We Work.” The initiative, which promises maximum flexibility, is just too good to be true or manageable. It’s the latest example of what’s becoming an all-too-common theme: large…

The waiting’s over. The European Union has fired the gun on its multiyear bond issuance to fund the 750 billion-euro ($900 billion) pandemic recovery fund that the bloc agreed last summer. Tuesday saw the launch of a benchmark 10-year deal and it met a rapturous investor reception. The offering…

Italy is at an inflection point. Not just because Prime Minister Mario Draghi unveiled the mother of all stimulus packages this week, but also because Italian bond yields are inching up to their highest levels for more than six months. The huge leap toward an economic recovery can only be achieved…

The completion of the long-awaited Brexit trade deal comes just as UK markets closed for the Christmas break, but things are set fair for next year when liquidity returns. The pound versus the dollar remains the best indicator of sentiment — and it was about the only market open when the deal…

As we head toward the end of 2020, we’ve spent the final run-up to Christmas much as we have the rest of the year: worrying about Covid-19. The beginning of this week saw a switch into risk-off mode in financial markets as a fast-spreading new virus strain emerged in Britain and Western health…

Raising banker compensation in the midst of a pandemic isn’t the best look. But this is the dilemma facing Wall Street after a bumper year for performance. Pay too little and you lose your stars; pay too much and you infuriate the public. Across investment banking it will be a year to remember,…

European shares have been pounded in recent days because of the tightening of lockdown restrictions in places such as France and Germany. The latter has suffered especially badly in the markets. The last eight trading sessions have wiped more than 10% off German equities. Understandably,…

The European Union, as part of its efforts to provide funding for pandemic recovery, has in one stroke made itself a major force in the euro bond markets. There’s a big new beast on the debt circuit. The bloc wants to raise up to 100 billion euros ($118 billion) to help pay for job support…