Seven days in the Square Mile

In a well-signalled move, the US Federal Reserve said it would start unwinding its quantitative easing programme after nearly a decade to reduce the size of its $4.5trn balance sheet. Markets took the development in their stride. The oil price surged to a two-year high, jumping above $58/barrel, lifted by fastgrowing demand and the threat to Iraqi Kurdistan’s exports following its poll on independence. Ahead of the fourth round of Brexit talks, Moody’s downgraded Britain’s credit rating to Aa2, claiming the Government’s plans to fix public finances had been knocked off course. The Labour Party’s popularity in the polls ensured its Brighton conference was business sell-out. 2,757 businesspeople, representing 1,800 companies attended – more than double the attendance at the 2016 conference. The US Department of Commerce ruled that punitive tariffs of up to 220% should be slapped on the Canadian aerospace company Bombardier’s new C-series passenger jet, following a dispute with Boeing; thousands of jobs in Canada and N. Ireland, where the plane’s wings are made, are now at risk. Deloitte, the Big Four accountancy firm, was revealed as the latest victim of cyber-hackers; the data compromised mainly relates to its US corporate clients. The trial of Mark Johnson, HSBC’S former global head of forex trading who is accused of “frontrunning” a $3.5bn currency deal, began in New York.