Spoof 

Euro 2016: English Team in Turmoil – Undecided about whether to leave France (spoof)

The England Euro 2016 defeat to Iceland has sent shockwaves through the nation, and has left football fans and players in a turmoil. The surprise defeat of mighty England to the microscopic North Atlantic island nation has led to the immediate resignation of England manager Roy Hodgson. In a statement by Hodgson immediately after the match on Monday evening he said, that he was devastated by the result and that the only reasonable thing for him to do was to resign. He would not ask the team to leave France,…

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Financial Markets 

UK stripped of AAA rating by Big Two Credit Rating Agencies

On a day which has seen UK party politics in turmoil and the England national team crashing out of the EURO 2016 being defeated by microscopic Iceland, two of the three major international credit rating agencies have stripped the UK of its top credit rating, making it more expensive for households, companies and UK government alike to borrow money. The rating was downgraded by two notches, from AAA to AA, by Standard & Poors and by one notch from AA+ to AA by Fitch. UK Growth forecasts were downgraded as well,…

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Financial Markets UK Politics 

Markets Continue to Drop in Wake of Brexit – But Not as much as Expected

The markets continued to drop in early trading on June 27 following the Brexit referendum. Although the massive drops predicted in the early hours after the vote has yet to materialize, the Pound is trading at its lowest level against the US dollar for about 30 years, and the FTSE is a further 2% down compared to the Friday closing level, and is now trading dangerously close to the 6,000 points mark. It is being speculated that the – after all – less-than-expected fall is in part due to increasing doubts over whether the UK will actually…

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UK Politics 

Labour Meltdown as Benn Sacking Triggers Domino Effect

A meltdown is taking place in Labour’s Shadow Cabinet today, as the sacking of Shadow Foreign Secretary Hillary Benn triggers resignations by several key members of Jeremy Corbyn’s team. According to media reports, Benn was sacked in a midnight phone call, after he had apparently tried to rally support for a Shadow Cabinet revolt against leader Jeremy Corbyn during the Saturday. Corbyn has long been considered a lukewarm supporter of the EU, and he has been conspicuously absent for much of the campaign leading up to the June 23 Brexit referendum.…

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European Commission UK Politics 

Second Casualty: UK Commissioner Quits

Jonathan Hill, former leader of the House of Lords, has turned in his resignation as the UK Commissioner in the European Commission in the wake of the UK Brexit referendum. As the European Commissioner responsible for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, Hill was considered one of the most influential and important members of the Juncker commission. According to The Guardian, Hill’s departure “became a foregone conclusion after the vote for Brexit, because many European politicians oppose having a Briton in charge of financial services when the UK…

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Financial Markets Jobs 

Morgan Stanley to move 2,000 jobs out of London – or?

Shortly after the official result of the Brexit referendum became known, BBC reported that according to anonymous sources, Morgan Stanley, one of the world’s largest financial services corporations, had already decided to move 2,000 employees from the City of London/Canary Wharf to Dublin and Frankfurt due to the British exit vote. This seemed to be the first of many such announcements from major companies. However, shortly after the newsflash from the BBC a spokesman for Morgan Stanley denied that any such plans to move employees from London exists. Thus it is still…

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Financial Markets 

Financial markets plummet in response to surprise Leave vote

The Leave vote came as a surprise to the financial markets, as the last polls before the Brexit referendum had shown a small but fairly secure victory for the Remain side. Even the UK bookmakers had got it wrong, and in the days before the referendum some bookies offered odds of 2/9 on Remain, implying a 82 percent winning chance for that outcome. As such, the financial markets were generally unprepared for the final result, which therefore came as a huge shock to the international financial markets. The British Pound dropped early on in…

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David Cameron speaking in 2010 UK Politics 

First Casualty: David Cameron

British PM David Cameron became one of the first known casualties of the Brexit vote as, in the morning of June 24, he informed the Queen and the public of his intention to stand down as Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. He will remain in place, however, until the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham on October 2-5, 2016, where his successor is likely to be announced. The date of the Brexit referendum was announced by Cameron in February 2016 following a lengthy process of renegotiation with the EU. In…

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