Haldane warns inflation heading towards 4%; Robinhood to pay $70m penalty; chip shortage hits factories – as it happened
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
- Latest: FINRA hits Robinhood with $70m penalty
- Haldane warns against letting inflation expectations rise
- Predicts inflation ‘nearer 4% than 3%’ by end of this year
- Faster rate rises would be a ‘very nasty surprise’ to some households, firms, and governments
- Haldane: Dangerous moment for inflation targeting regime
Earlier:
- Eurozone inflation dips from two-year high..but likely to rise
- UNCTAD: Global economy faces losing $4trn of GDP from tourism slump
- UK GDP fell 1.6% in Q1; near-record household savings
- China and Japan factories hit by chip shortages
Time to wrap up… here are today’s stories:
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Related: State aid is key to Tory vow to level up Britain’s towns and cities
Related: Dixons Carphone to raise worker pay as market for staff heats up
Related: Serco expects 50% jump in profits on back of Covid contracts
Related: Covid tourism freeze could cost global economy $4tn by year end
Related: Covid savings: Britain built up second highest level on record in early 2021
Related: UK Covid recovery at risk as furlough scheme phased out, say economists
Related: Furlough phase-out in UK may cause steep fall in workers’ income
Related: Covid loan fraud and error will cost UK taxpayers tens of billions, say MPs
Related: UK making trade deals with countries abusing workers’ rights, says TUC
Related: Cristiano Ronaldo shoots to top of Instagram rich list
On Robinhood’s $70m penalty from FINRA, the Wall Street Journal says:
The enforcement action is a blow to the fast-growing online brokerage, which was launched in 2014 and has won over users with commission-free trades and its sleek mobile app.
The company took on millions of new customers and attracted more scrutiny this year as many investors accessed Robinhood to speculate on so-called meme stocks such as GameStop Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. Its forthcoming initial public offering is one of the most anticipated of the year.
The FINRA sanctions remove one of the major black clouds hovering over Robinhood ahead of what could be a blockbuster initial public offering for the startup. Despite a series of public relations nightmares, Robinhood filed confidentially for an IPOin March. The offering could allow Robinhood to capitalize on its torrent growth and record high stock prices.Massachusetts wants to pull the plug on Robinhood
But Robinhood is still facing scrutiny from regulators and politicians.In particular, Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has repeatedly expressed concerns about the “inherent” conflicts of interest that exist in the payment-for-order flow business model used by Robinhood and other brokerages that don’t charge commissions.
In response to Finra’s action, the company said: “Robinhood has invested heavily in improving platform stability, enhancing educational resources, and building out our customer support and legal and compliance teams. We are glad to put this matter behind us and look forward to continuing to focus on our customers and democratising finance for all.”
The penalties come as Robinhood plans a stock market listing to capitalise on a period of explosive growth. The broker dealer has become synonymous with the rise of retail day trading since the start of the pandemic and the boom in “meme stock” trades. It has more than doubled the number of users on its platform in the past year, from 13m at the end of March 2020 to 31m currently, according to Finra.
