Business news - live: Pound falls against euro as EU casts doubt on Boris Johnson's Brexit deal plans

Follow live updates as sterling slides ahead of crucial EU summit

Boris Johnson won't reveal what Brexit compromises he has made

Sterling has fallen against the euro and dollar this morning as EU officials poured cold water on Boris Johnson's hopes of a Brexit deal being agreed ahead of a crucial summit this week.

The pound slid 0.5 per cent before regaining some ground against the single currency following strong gains last week spurred by renewed positivity around Brexit talks.

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[14 October 2019 11:41 · ben.chapman]

Nobel Economics Prize 2019: Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer win for work on easing global poverty

Three US economists, Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer, have won the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”.

Indian-born Mr Banerjee and Ms Duflo, born in France, work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while Mr Kremer is based at Harvard University.

“The research conducted by this year’s laureates has considerably improved our ability to fight global poverty,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on Monday.

The trio’s approach involves dividing the issue of poverty into smaller, more manageable questions – for example, the most effective measures to improve educational outcomes or children’s health. They advocate carefully designed experiments among the people who are most affected and testing not only whether a certain intervention worked or not, but also why. 

[14 October 2019 12:11 · ben.chapman]

UK firms to cut costs and hiring in next 12 months

(Reuters) - Prolonged political uncertainty in Britain is forcing finance directors to cut costs and hold off hiring to help companies prepare for an unpredictable year ahead, according to a survey by Deloitte.

The audit of 91 chief financial officers of some of Britain’s largest companies showed that a renewed focus on cost control will be a strong priority for six in 10 of respondents over the next year, the highest level for 10 years.

According to seven in 10 of the CFOs, hiring will reduce in the next 12 months, while almost half will focus on trying to increase cash flow.

“Perceptions of uncertainty are elevated and corporate risk appetite is vanishingly low,” said Ian Stewart, chief economist at Deloitte. “The priority appears to be curbing costs, not expansion.”

[14 October 2019 13:43 · ben.chapman]

The European Union has approved the German government's decision to grant airline Condor, a subsidiary of collapsed tour operator Thomas Cook, a 380 million-euro (£334m) bridging loan to keep it in the air.

Germany's economy ministry said the EU's executive Commission gave its blessing on Monday.

Condor applied for the loan last month to tide it through the winter after British-based Thomas Cook ceased operations.

The airline, which has been profitable, has nearly 60 planes and 4,900 employees.

Condor's management is looking for new investors.

Press Association

[14 October 2019 15:36 · ben.chapman]

UK government plans law requiring employers to pass on all tips to staff in full

The UK government has announced that it will take steps to require employers to pass on all tips to workers in full – benefitting over a million people, many of them low-paid.  

The new legal obligation will be created via a bill, the government said on Monday. In cases where bosses distribute tips among workers, the bill will require them to do so “on a fair and transparent basis”. A statutory code of practice will set out the principles of such fair and transparent allocation.

In some sectors, tips, gratuities and service charges make up a significant share of employees’ income. But ministers have found that a minority of employers retain their workers’ tips. Evidence in 2016 showed that around two-thirds of employers in the hospitality sector were making deductions from staff tips, in some cases taking as much as 10 per cent.