The Bank of England (BOE) has admitted that a rogue supplier has been misusing feeds from its press briefings since earlier this year, giving high-speed traders access to potentially market-moving information seconds before rivals. The supplier had been sending the feed to high-speed traders who could have had a five to eight second head start as audio can be transmitted far faster than video, The Times said. The rogue supplier also offers high-speed audio services for news conferences hosted by

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced she is sending a letter to U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson Thursday which asks that the U.K. Parliament grants its Scottish counterpart the right to hold another referendum on independence. In last week’s U.K.-wide general election, the SNP won 48 of the country’s 59 available seats — 13 more than the pro-independence party won in 2017. The Conservative Party, while winning a large majority across the whole of the United Kingdom, lost seven s

The U.S. introducing capital controls in the wake of its trade war with China is among the top 10 “grey swan” events for 2020, according to Bilal Hafeez, the CEO of financial strategy firm Macro Hive. Grey swans are potentially significant events which are considered unlikely to happen but still possible, and Hafeez suggested that the U.S. focus on trade in goods and services with China renders the introduction of capital controls a “real possibility” to protect American business. “The larger qu

Queen Elizabeth II outlined the U.K. government’s legislative agenda on Thursday, following Prime Minster Boris Johnson’s landslide election victory last week. “My ministers will bring forward legislation to ensure the United Kingdom’s exit on that date and to make the most of the opportunities that this brings for all the people of the United Kingdom.” “Thereafter, my ministers will seek a future relationship with the European Union based on a free trade agreement that benefits the whole of the

A BMW I3 electric car charges its battery outside the BMW factory on May 20, 2019 in Leipzig, Germany. By Thursday, the tweets had ended with the countdown on a figure of 500,000, with an explanation that half a million BMW Group electrified vehicles had been sold. Zipse added that the business “was stepping up the pace significantly” and aiming to have a million electrified vehicles on the road “within two years.” The BMW Group currently offers 12 electrified vehicles. In March, Japanese car gi

A screen shows Russia’s President Vladimir Putin during the 15th annual end-of-year news conference at the World Trade Centre in Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he expects President Donald Trump to survive impeachment proceedings and that the legal move against him was a Democratic Party trying to get results “using other methods and means.” Late Wednesday, Trump became only the third president in history to be impeached by the House of Representatives. “It’s unlikely

Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England (BOE), gestures while speaking during the bank’s quarterly inflation report news conference in the City of London, U.K., on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018. The Bank of England has held its main interest rate steady at 0.75% with its rate-setting committee voting 7-2 in favor of keeping the current level. Its forecast for U.K. GDP (gross domestic product) growth in the fourth quarter of 2019 was cut to +0.1% from the November forecast of +0.2%, reflecting the

European stocks were mixed Thursday as investors digested economic data and interest rate decisions from central banks, with markets showing minimal reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump’s impeachment. The pan-European Stoxx 600 hovered around the flatline during afternoon trade, with autos sliding 0.7% to lead losses while oil and gas stocks added 0.7%. Sweden’s Riksbank ended five years of negative interest rates on Thursday morning, hiking its benchmark repo rate by a quarter point to 0.0%.

Spanish food delivery app Glovo has raised 150 million euros ($167 million) in a fresh round of funding to ramp up hiring and expand internationally. The financing effort was led by Mubadala, the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi, and was also backed by existing investors including Germany’s Delivery Hero, Swiss investment company Drake Enterprises and European venture capital firm Lakestar, which was an early investor in Spotify. It lifts four-year-old Glovo’s valuation across the $1 billion m

Facebook’s sharing of data on its European users with the U.S. is legal and provides sufficient protections, the legal advisor to the EU’s top court said Thursday. “Standard contractual clauses for the transfer of personal data to processors established in third countries is valid,” he said in written opinion Thursday. His non-binding opinion is not a ruling as such, but legal experts say opinions from the advocate general are typically followed by the court in a majority of cases. Privacy activ

Public ad tech companies Telaria and Rubicon Project have agreed to merge as they try to make a stronger play in the growth of connected television and to bring an alternative to walled gardens like Google and Facebook. Rubicon Project offers technology to automate buying and selling ads online, while Telaria is a software platform for managing video advertising. Rubicon Project stock was up nearly 5% at $7.56 per share in premarket trading Thursday. The stock-for-stock merger has an exchange ra

Technology holding company IAC/InterActiveCorp announced Thursday it has agreed to spin off all of its shares of online dating company Match Group. Match shareholders will receive one share of New Match and $3 per share in consideration, while IAC will receive $3 per share in cash. IAC said in October it had submitted a proposal to members of Match’s board of directors that would result in the full separation of Match from IAC. Match has carved out a foothold in the online dating market, largely

Conagra Brands (CAG) – Conagra beat estimates by 6 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly earnings of 63 cents per share. Rite Aid (RAD) – The drugstore chain reported quarterly profit of 54 cents per share, compared with a consensus estimate of 9 cents a share. Revenue also beat forecasts, with results boosted by better expense control and increased prescription business at Rite Aid pharmacies. TiVo (TIVO) – TiVo will merge with technology licensor Xperi (XPER) in a stock-swap deal. Herman Mill

Stocks in Asia were set to trade lower on Thursday following an overnight dip on Wall Street that saw stocks ending their winning streak. The Bank of Japan is poised to announce its decision on interest rates around 11:00 a.m. HK/SIN. Investors await the release of Australian jobs data for November, set to be released around 8:30 a.m .HK/SIN. The data could provide clues as to where the Reserve Bank of Australia could move next on interest rates. The Bank of Japan is also set to announce its rat

Studying creative writing and classical literature at the college level seems like it would not lend itself to a jobs landscape where STEM jobs are growing twice as fast as the overall market. In reality, though, English majors actually learn many skills that can pay off down the line. Here are a few options for jobs you can get with an English major, as detailed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook, all of which pay significantly more than the annual median earnings

Here are the top five tips any couple can use to save more than $20,000 when they plan their wedding. Dress hunt outside of the storeEvery time I go into wedding dress stores, my eyes bulge at the price tags. The average price of a wedding dress is around $1,650, according to Wedding Wire. If you walk into a store and find the dress that you’ve always dreamed of wearing to your wedding, don’t buy it. You can also search secondhand wedding dress online stores, like Nearly Newlywed, where you can

Markets in Asia mostly fell by the close on Wednesday afternoon, as risks of a no-deal Brexit ramped up again overnight. In mainland China, the Shanghai composite was down 0.18% to close at 3,017.04, while the Shenzhen composite closed flat to 1,709.44. Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.55% to close at 23,934.43, while the Topix slumped 0.50% to 1,738.40. Meanwhile, Brexit risks flared amid reports on Tuesday that U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will amend the Brexit bill, explicitly ruling out any ex

The pound nursed heavy losses on Wednesday after tumbling when Britain re-set a hard deadline for quitting the European Union, rekindling old fears of a chaotic exit from the bloc. His government, which campaigned to “get Brexit done,” set the end of 2020 as an immovable deadline. Against the euro, the pound dropped as much as 1.8% before recovering slightly to sit at 84.92 pence per euro. The kiwi was knocked by an unexpectedly steep drop in dairy prices, the top national export, pushing the cu

Oil prices steadied on Wednesday after U.S. government data showed a decline in crude inventories and on expectations for an uptick in demand next year on the back of progress in resolving the U.S.-China trade fight. Gasoline and distillate inventories grew last week by 2.5 million barrels to 237.3 million barrels, and 1.5 million barrels to 125.1 million barrels, respectively, EIA said. API figures released showed U.S. crude inventories swelling by 4.7 million barrels last week to 452 million b

An employee returns a box of one kilogram gold bars to the safe in Budapest, Hungary, on June 17, 2013. Gold dipped on Wednesday, weighed down by a firmer dollar which found support from mounting expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will not cut interest rates soon, while palladium retreated from record highs. Data on Tuesday showed U.S. manufacturing output rebounded more than expected in November, making it less likely that the Fed would cut interest rates soon. Gold is sensitive to rising in