Podcasts related to Economics

The European Commission has fined Credit Agricole, HSBC and JP Morgan Chase a total of 485 million euros ($520 million) for their alleged participation in a cartel to manipulate the price of the Euribor financial benchmark. The Commission said on Wednesday they were part of a seven-bank cartel that colluded between September 2005 and May 2008 to distort the Euribor interest rate which was set using quotes submitted by a panel of banks and is widely used in international money markets. Ben Kumar, Investment Manager at Seven Investment Management, joined Share Radio to discuss.

Tata Steel has made a commitment to secure jobs and production at Port Talbot and other steelworks across the UK, unions have said. It could bring an end to eight months of uncertainty for thousands of workers who faced losing their jobs when Tata's UK business was put up for sale. Community Union made the announcement following talks with Tata and other unions Unite and GMB on Wednesday. But workers still have to agree to it and will be balloted in the new year. Councillor Anthony Taylor, former worker at the Port Talbot steel plant, joined Share Radio to discuss the deal.

China's foreign exchange reserves fell far more than expected in November to the lowest level in nearly six years, as authorities struggled to stem capital outflows and shore up a sliding currency. And yet China has just reported pretty upbeat trade figures, with exports and imports both beating forecasts. David Kuo, CEO of the Motley Fool in Singapore, joined Share Radio to discuss China trade data.

Many of us are beginning to decorate our homes in preparation for the big Christmas holiday. Tens of thousands of Christmas trees from the British Isles are currently being sold from garden centres, but what should we look out for? Georgie Frost speaks to David Mitchell, the UK's leading Christmas tree expert for tips when picking the perfect Christmas tree.

With Christmas now just a few weeks away - now's the time many are stocking up on festive food. With such a wide range on offer choosing a decent spread can be tricky...especially if you want to stick to a budget. The team at Moneywise have taken the Christmas hit and done the hard work for us - trying a range of mince pies, and prosecco. Plus do kids need more toys and games or would the money be better spent setting up saving or investment plans? It will probably be more valuable in the long term - especially when you consider over a third of Christmas toys don't make it past January. £1.2 billion is wasted each year by family and friends buying gifts that get broken or discarded.

For most, Christmas is a fun and exciting time of year. But for many it can also bring a lot of anxiety and stress who have got the money. We know that financial troubles often go hand-in-hand with mental health issues. Help is at hand though, as Georgie Frost is joined in the studio with Money Advice Expert Jane Clack.

Economists are warning that Brexit and the election of Donald Trump could cause a return to 70s style inflation. But if inflation is so bad why did central banks spend the past few years trying to get it to occur? Robert Van Egghen reports on whether we are headed back to the future.

The Financial Conduct Authority has announced a set of new rules to protect investors using CFD's, after it was revealed 82% of investors lost money. According to research by Financial Orbit, there are 125,000 active CFD accounts in the UK and the average loss is £2200. So, what's in store for companies offering financial spread betting and other risky investment instruments? Matt Cox spoke to Dice McCairn, Editor and Analyst at WhichInvestmentTrust, to find out more.

Seijiro Takeshita, Professor of Management and Information at the University of Shizuoka in Japan, joined Share Radio Breakfast to discuss the biggest stories coming out of East Asia. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is to become the first serving Japanese PM to visit Pearl Harbor - the US Naval base in Hawaii that was attacked by Japan on this day in 1941. What's the purpose of the visit? And the CEO of Japanese technology firm, Softbank, has said the company will invest £39.3bn ($50bn) in US businesses.

Financial heavyweight, Lindsay Cook is here, slugging away for that pound in your pocket. This week we'll be taking on the energy firms hiding their cheapest tariffs from customers. As Christmas shopping continues apace we debate whether store cards are really worth it and delivering the sucker punch to the rip offs. Plus continuing the festive theme we look at the demise of the Christmas card in modern manners.