Podcasts presented by Sarah Lowther related to Economics

Sarah Lowther was joined by blogger Andy Webb from Be Clever with Your Cash. Today on the agenda, they discussed proposals to make switching bank accounts easier. Plus they look into Supermarkets rationing vegetables due to a supply shortage. All these stories and more on The News Review.

The Prime Minister is in Malta for a summit with EU leaders to discuss the UK's plans to leave. Her trip comes the day after her strategy was set out in a White Paper. Sarah Lowther was joined by Ryan Heath, Senior EU Correspondent at POLITICO Europe.

Joining us to discuss what the main market headlines of the morning are is Share Radio's very own Juliette Foster. A busy morning of company announcements starting with Ryanair - It's traffic statistics for January are out. The company we used to know as Zoopla have changed their name. And Sports Direct has bought an 11% state in French Connection.

There is widespread concern after British Airways and the Post Office joined Southern Rail in striking over the Christmas period. According to the latest figures by the Office for National Statistics, 281,000 days were lost to strike action up until the end of October 2016, which is over 100,000 more days than the same time last year. Share Radio’s Matt Cox investigated this new era of strike action with industrial action expert Professor Chris Rowley, Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College, University of Oxford, and Professor Emeritus at Cass Business School.

The market is heading into the last US Federal Reserve meeting of the year almost certain that the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) will raise the Fed fund rate by 25 bps, from current 0.25% to 0.50%. Professor Peter Rupert, Department of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Former Senior Economic Advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank joined Share Radio to discuss.

Japan's government is set to forecast real economic growth of around 1.5% and nominal growth of about 2.5% for the next fiscal year from April. This according to two government officials involved in the projection process told Reuters. The projections have not yet been finalised and can change slightly by the time the government announces the figures on Dec. 20. Seijiro Takeshita, Professor of Management and Information at University of Shizuoka, Japan, joined Share Radio to discuss.

Iran's state airline says it's signed a $16.6 billion deal with US aircraft maker Boeing. Iran Air will buy 80 passenger planes as part of a 10-year deal, in the biggest business agreement between the US and Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. So is this the first big sign of a thawing relationship, or will matters be complicated by President-Elect Trump's indication of anti-Iranian policies? Matt Cox spoke to Howard Wheeldon, Founder of Wheeldon Strategic Advisory, to find out more.

Italy's largest bank, UniCredit, has announced plans to cut 14,000 jobs by 2019. It may also say it will raise €13 billion euros in the country's biggest share issue, to clean up its balance sheet and boost longer-term profitability. The move comes at a troubled time for Italian banks and the economy, with the country's third-largest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, at risk of failure. Bruce Packard is a Senior Analyst at bank rating and advisory organisation, Lafferty Group, and he joined Share Radio Breakfast to discuss.

The UK is building 15% fewer homes than it was in the five years before the downturn in 2008, according to a new report by Carter Jonas that has laid bare the disjointed residential construction industry. For more on this, Lee Layton, a Research Analyst at Carter Jonas, joined Share Radio Breakfast to offer an insight into the research.

Barclays has agreed to sell its French retail banking operations to European private equity firm, AnaCap Financial Partners. This follows the UK bank’s decision to sell its credit arms in Spain and Portugal. The bank says it's going to focus on its core markets in the UK and US. So is this the Barclays equivalent of Brexit? Share Radio’s Matt Cox spoke to Jeremy Cook, Chief Economist from World First, to find out more about the decision and what it will mean.