Member Info for nomlungu

The US site Mediaite have started a UK focused section

https://www.mediaite.com/uk/welcome-to-mediaite-uk/

Normally quality journalism but with a left wing bias.

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/mediaite/

'The 5,000-year history of interest rates shows just how historically low US rates are right now'

https://www.businessinsider.com/chart-5000-years-of-interest-rates-2015-9?r=US&IR=T

Those pre-covid rates were the lowest since Babylonian times; they are not coming back.

They sold the good stuff a few years ago when they last needed dosh.

UK Households Probably Have Run Down Pandemic Savings, BOE Says

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-05/uk-households-probably-have-run-down-pandemic-savings-boe-says

About 120k people per month are coming off fixed term mortgages and seeing rates go from around 1.75% to 7.5%. The average UK mortgage is £185k. That would see a monthly repayment go from £760 to £1370 = an extra £550 a month. With tax at 20% and NI at 12% you would need to earn an extra £809 a month before tax just to pay the extra mortgage costs.

Consumer spending is going to get squeezed. And, some of those mortgage holders had Help to Buy mortgages where the GOV portion was interest free for the first 5 years so they could be facing even higher additional bills.

$unak will want to come up with some sort of giveaway before the next election... How about mortgage interest relief for recipients of the Married Couples Allowance?

And will all this money being saved by not fixing schools, paying NHS properly, finishing HS2, properly funding local GOV etc etc etc they will be able to cut taxes, starting with IHT.

More "stand up and fight" stuff

https://twitter.com/wsebag/status/1709833299659817183

Interesting comment piece from a US Senator:

"China is challenging the United States militarily, geopolitically, and economically. These challenges are connected, and the right response must address all three. The answer is a single new policy: a foreign pollution fee. This fee will target imports that are produced with higher greenhouse gas emissions than American-produced goods.

The difference in environmental regulation enforcement between China and the United States lowers the cost of manufacturing in China, thereby encouraging U.S. manufacturing and the jobs associated with it to migrate overseas. Such losses for the United States’ economy put downward pressure on its industrial base and American standards of living..."

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/tariff-climate-pollution-environment

Shouty, SHOUTY? A bit like Kimberly Guilfoyle ?

https://youtu.be/ErSd_YiRCAs?t=336

£36 to 36p

https://www.google.com/finance/quote/MTRO:LON?hl=en&window=MAX

Todays newsletter from John Stepek is titled 'Metro Bank's Woes Are Its Own Problem'

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-10-05/metro-bank-s-woes-are-its-own-problem

Never good when people like him are reminding readers to keep exposure at any bank below £85k. The last thing Metro need is people removing some of their deposits.

Https://www.ft.com/content/34d77a25-9e64-4698-87a7-948138b3aa9d

tut tut

'divi must be over 20% now!'

Maybe a dead cat has smelled a rat? As the saying goes, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Peter Zeihan = good videos from a rounded geopolitical perspective. But he does have a pro US / anti China and Ruzzia bias that he seems unaware of. Everything is the US is not rosy... the rise of Trumpism is a threat to their democracy and any threat to their democracy is a threat to their economy and the $'s credit rating.

Tank either the $ or the $'s credit rating and there is a whole lot of trouble on the way...

Supertanskiii... She is pretty good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovaSFxB37bQ

Newcastle 4 - PSG 1

What a whopping victory against Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

MTRO m/cap = £85m. FT says they want £250m equity and £350 loans

https://www.ft.com/content/3532195d-4153-4566-8fab-a719457ffff9

======== or ============

https://archive.ph/D13HX

Ouch... I would be moving my money out; if the share price drops heavily tomorrow, then expect more people to move their funds. If there is a run on the bank, it could be all over by Monday morning. You can imagine how much $unak will welcome a bank failure days after his keynote political speech.

FT say

'Metro Bank is seeking to raise up to £600mn after its share price fell almost 50 per cent in recent weeks, said people with knowledge of the plan.

The UK challenger bank is in talks with investors about raising £250mn in equity funding and £350mn in debt to shore up its balance sheet, the people said.'

https://archive.ph/D13HX

"how low could it go?"

M/cap < £100m; FT says they want to raise up to £600m.

https://www.ft.com/content/3532195d-4153-4566-8fab-a719457ffff9

That might be a bloodbath if you are lucky

'No One Wants to Remember 1987. Then There’s 1916'

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-10-04/black-monday-echoes-scare-investors-while-japan-defends-yen-like-verdun?srnd=undefined

Some scary articles in the last few days... The situation in the US will have been made less predictable by The Speaker losing his position and there being no immediate replacement. The agreement that they got to fund their GOV last week was only for 45 days so the uncertainty has just been postponed.

It will be interesting to see how much of a haircut MTRO shareholders will suffer in their equity event(s). It will give an idea of how easy it is to raise some London cash at the moment.

I was watching Politics Live in the build up to $unak's speech, so missed out on the crowd warming words from Penny Mordaunt. This is a bit disturbing:

https://twitter.com/GrahamSmith_/status/1709598708751351868

They must have been putting something in the water...