Shares and the Aussie dollar hit by more China woes as the Abbott government’s ‘jobs and growth’ slogan faces test with economic growth figuresThe Abbott government’s “jobs and growth” slogan will come under further scrutiny on Wednesday with economists predicting sluggish, and possibly negative, growth when the June quarter figures are released.Related: Stock markets hit by weak Chinese factory data - business liveRelated: Financial markets are not free – they're one of the last bastions of socialism Continue reading...

A report from America’s 3rd-largest bank asks why we’re not transitioning to a low-carbon economy

The Bank of England governor believes the UK economy is well insulated from global shocks, but his forecasts could easily go awryForget the financial turmoil in China and around the world. When it comes to the UK, Mark Carney would have us believe he remains in charge.The Bank of England governor gave a robust defence on Saturday of his position as the UK’s most influential policymaker. That means base interest rates are still going up, perhaps in February or thereabouts, and will be on course to touch 2% by 2018. Continue reading...

Larry Elliott, Rowena Mason, Seumas Milne and Meg Russell discuss China's financial slump, Jeremy Corbyn's economics and the new peers heading for the House of Lords Continue reading...

The impact of the Chinese stock market on Australia will not be great, but its slowing economy and demand for goods will continue to be a drag on our growth

Global stock market turmoil and fears about China raises the prospect of historically low borrowing costs staying in place for longer than expectedThe first rise in UK interest rates could be delayed until autumn 2016, according to City expectations, as market turmoil in China raises the prospect of historically low borrowing costs staying in place for longer than expected.

The latest turbulence in global markets and fear of doing anything that might send the economy back into recession will stay the Fed’s already wary handCentral bankers have their own lingo. They tend to speak in tortured prose that obscures more than it illuminates. Given the choice, they favour a gnomic utterance over plain speaking.Bill Dudley, the president of the New York Federal Reserve and the second most important US central banker after Janet Yellen, has just provided a masterclass in central bank-speak. Asked what the latest turbulence in the financial markets meant, Dudley replied that recent economic data had been “pretty positive”. Continue reading...

The Trump campaign has not issued an economic policy paper, but from what experts can tell, his flawed proposals could threaten a trade war with ChinaRepublican presidential candidate Donald Trump accused China on Tuesday of “one of the greatest thefts in the history of the world” and said he could fix the problem by drawing on the negotiating skills laid out in his 1987 bestseller The Art of the Deal.“I do great with the Chinese,” Trump told an audience at a campaign rally in Dubuque, Iowa. “And they’re great people. The problem is their leaders are too smart for our leaders. Continue reading...

Office for National Statistics says payments rose by 2.7% in 2014-15 to £42.4bn, putting the total figure 0.1% below the record reached in 2007-08Britain’s economic recovery has helped bonuses return to within a whisker of their pre-recession peak, according to official data.The Office for National Statistics said that salary top-ups rose by 2.7% in 2014-15 to £42.4bn, despite less generous payouts in the City.Related: Britain's average pay rises, but so does unemployment Continue reading...

China’s faltering economy is the destination for large proportions of many countries’ export sectors, in some cases for substantial proportions of GDP. See which countries stand to lose out if China’s import demand continues to weaken, and what happens if it slows further Continue reading...

As share prices continue their rollercoaster ride, China’s governance problems are becoming impossible to ignore. Given the country’s importance to the global economy, domestic instability could pose major risks worldwide

Billions of dollars were wiped off the value of the Chinese stock market on ‘black Monday’. But what caused it? Is it an indication of another global economic crisis? And what more can the Chinese government do to stop the situation with the world’s second largest economy from getting worse?Live updatesRead: stock markets continue to be volatile as investors fear China risk Continue reading...

Is it London, playground of the world’s super-rich, or an Asian financial centre such as Hong Kong or Singapore? In fact, two of the most respected surveys locate the world’s most expensive city in AfricaWhere is the world’s most expensive city? London, where garages can sell for half a million pounds? Or Paris, where hotels, restaurants and boutiques cater to almost 50 million tourists a year in the world’s most visited city?

Events of the past few days echo those that led to the Wall Street crash, so optimism about long-term impact on the west of China’s crisis is prematureOn day one the stock market fell by 13%. On day two it fell by a further 12%. On day three hopes were high the storm had blown over after equity prices recouped the previous session’s losses. Let this be a cautionary tale. These figures relate not to the Shanghai Composite index in August 2015 but the Dow Jones Industrial Average in October 1929.

Markit data shows that the value of the short positions hedge funds have taken, effecting betting that FTSE 100 share would fall, is £17.8bnHedge funds are set to bank tens of millions of pounds from the slump in share prices in London, having bet almost £18bn that the FTSE 100 would fall.The funds making the bets include Lansdowne Partners, which is run by George Osborne’s best man, Peter Davies, and Odey Asset Management, which is led by Crispin Odey – who made millions by predicting the credit crisis and earlier this year said the world was heading for a downturn “likely to be remembered in 100 years”. Continue reading...

Tycoon lost $3.6bn on ‘Black Monday’, according to Bloomberg, as 24 billionaires saw their fortunes fall by more than $1bn in one dayAsia’s richest person was the largest loser in Monday’s stock market crash in China, after stocks in the region fell dramatically.Chinese tycoon Wang Jianlin, whose UK interests include luxury boat firm Sunseeker yachts and commercial property in London, lost $3.6bn (£2.3bn) on Monday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Wang’s main business vehicle intends to build a five-star hotel on the Nine Elms regeneration site in south-west London, billed as the first Chinese luxury hotel overseas. Continue reading...

As the latest cohort of students collect their GCSE results (Report, 21 August), we at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors have been pondering the research from the Federation of Master Builders (Construction-sector recovery at risk from skills shortage, say building firms, 28 July). Indeed, our research echoes this and indicates that, unless a new generation of skilled workers joins the construction industry soon, 27,000 building projects a year will be at risk by 2019. We need to make it clear to young people that construction is not an inferior career choice – it’s an exciting, challenging and rewarding industry for all levels of academic ability.Take surveying – there’s an array of real career opportunities available for young and qualified people. These can involve planning and managing the creation of iconic buildings, and infrastructure projects around the country. What’s more, the routes into careers are ever-expanding. RICS has helped to create a new degree apprenticeship as an alternative to A-levels/university. More vocational routes provide learners with the knowledge they need, and also ensure that young people understand how this knowledge can be applied practically.

Many Americans don’t want to let go of tipping because they see it as a step toward socialism, or because they don’t want to lose the power to judge serviceAs progressive American municipalities roll out a $15 hourly minimum wage, one result has been a renewed debate over the practice of tipping service workers. Some restaurants are experimenting with compulsory service charges as well as other systems that they hope will ensure all employees earn more, while rewarding high-performers and still allowing the customer some say.Related: Top tips on tipping around the worldI don’t tip because society says I have to. All right, I mean I’ll tip if somebody really deserves a tip. If they put forth the effort, I’ll give them something extra. But I mean, this tipping automatically, it’s for the birds. As far as I’m concerned they’re just doing their job. Continue reading...

Governments can pull many levers to influence the behaviour of households, businesses and investors – Beijing has opted for half a dozenChina has tried to reboot its economy for the last year after it became obvious that a slowdown in early 2014 was turning into a steady decline in growth. Governments can pull many levers to influence the behaviour of households, businesses and investors. Here are the six main ones Beijing has used.Related: China seeks to reassure stock markets with rate cut and looser lending Continue reading...

The People’s Bank of China reduces the one-year lending rate in a signal of readiness to head off a repeat of June’s stock market crashChina has sought to calm its panic-stricken stock markets by cutting interest rates and loosening constraints on bank lending after a second day of plunging share prices.The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) reduced the one-year lending rate to 4.6% in a clear signal that it was prepared to head off a repeat of the stock market crash that hit the country in June. The benchmark Shanghai Composite fell by 7.6% on Tuesday, bringing its loss in the last two days to more than 15%.Related: China opts for measured response to days of stock market panic Continue reading...

US firms await outcome of Congress deliberations over Iran agreement, leaving them at the back of the queue for a market due to reopen after years of sanctionsThe ink was barely dry on the agreement with Iran to limit its nuclear programme before a German government plane packed with the nation’s economic elite touched down in Tehran.The trip was the first in a rush of European ministers and business people flocking to a market poised to reopen after years of grinding sanctions. Upscale Tehran hotels are packed and tables at trendy restaurants are scarce as foreigners jostle for bargains, even amid uncertainty over whether President Obama can overcome US congressional opposition to the deal.Most of our clients recognise that this will not be business as usual for probably many years to comeRelated: British embassy in Iran reopens Continue reading...

Beijing cuts interest rates to support the real economy, but keeps some of its powder dry to avoid further damaging investor confidenceBeijing has taken action. After two days of painful stock market falls, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has seen enough. Interest rates have been cut to put a floor under share prices and support the real economy.

Sneaking off to China to beg for political investment in vanity projects that no European would touch is no route to economic recoveryChina was always the Ashley Madison of public money. Finance ministers with an infrastructure problem would sneak off to Beijing for a quickie billion and return with smiles on their faces. The Chinese seemed willing and no one need know. George Osborne and David Cameron have done it for HS2 and Hinkley Point. Boris Johnson can’t keep his hands off Chinese skyscrapers. Now something dreadful has happened. Someone has told the Chinese people where their savings have been going. Does it matter? Of course it matters. Any student of economic history knows that when a swiftly urbanising economy exports its surplus savings – as Britain did in the late-19th century – it loses touch with reality and goes into recession. Money is tipped into African railways, Brazilian mines and Russian bonds. China has been tipping cash into worthless transport and energy projects around the world, or storing it in empty London towers. It encourages reckless governments to get involved with stupid projects that no sane banker would support.Boris Johnson can't keep his hands off Chinese skyscrapersRelated: China's 'Black Monday' sends markets reeling across the globe - as it happened Continue reading...

Leader writers accuse Beijing of incompetence and urge calm on the home frontThe great fall of China. It was a pun too good to miss for the Daily Mail (page 1), the Sun and the Times. It kept company with the most used cliché of the day, the one about China sneezing and the rest of the world getting a cold.In various guises, it appeared in the Guardian, Independent, Daily Express, Daily Mirror and the Sun. But the Sun deserves special mention for the pun over its editorial, Chinese burn.“It is clear that China is slowing down much faster than anticipated... If the Chinese model really has run its course, the impact will be shattering. Yet the fundamentals that earned the label of the Chinese century are still largely in place.What is needed is transparency. China must also let its markets function more freely and accelerate the shift from an export-led economy towards greater consumption at home... In the meantime there is no need to stockpile pickled cabbage or storm the ATMs.”“China is being forced to learn the hard way what traditional practitioners of market-based economics have known all along - that you cannot buck the markets and that economic development never proceeds in a straight line.The belief that China’s own peculiar form of authoritarian, state-sponsored capitalism could somehow defy the usual laws of economics always did look deluded.”“At the very least, its slowdown threatens to spark a rolling series of debt and currency crises in emerging markets... Small wonder that stock markets are panicking.”“It should be public about its conclusions, however much this may go against the grain. Markets and the wider world need confidence in the existence of a plan, given the absence of the monetary and fiscal tools common to market economies.”“Instead of soothing nerves, these measures only stirred new concerns about why they had been necessary at all. Beijing’s grip on events loosened again in the eyes of the world after it allowed the yuan to slide over the last fortnight...Beijing is certainly not out of options nor treasure just yet, and yet the world is losing its blind faith in the assumption that China’s often-secretive political processes can in the end be relied on to steer the nation to ever-greater prosperity.”“Alarm bells should be ringing very loudly in Downing Street as the economic weather darkens. Instead, the Europe-obsessed Tories are focusing on renegotiating Britain’s relationship with Brussels.And Labour is mired in a chaotic leadership battle which is doing lasting damage to the party.” Continue reading...

Chinese stock market slide since 12 June peak has panicked not only Beijing and country’s investors but markets across the globe Continue reading...

Party formed after split from Alexis Tsipras’s Syriza, unlikely to succeed

Benchmark Chinese markets fall 6% but some indices bounce back on the day after ‘Black Monday’Asian stock markets record big swings Related: Dow plunges after rollercoaster trading on ‘Black Monday’ for global marketsMarkets across Asia experienced more turbulence on Tuesday, with Chinese shares suffering a dramatic fall of more than 6% a day after hundreds of billions of dollars were knocked off global stocks. As the gravity of China’s market woes continued to sink in – following a trading session dubbed “Black Monday” by the country’s official news agency – stock markets in the region were again hit by wild fluctuations.Related: Asian stock markets recover amid wild swings after Wall Street slump – live Continue reading...