Share Sounds from Share Radio Breakfast

Angela Merkel will stand for a fourth term as German Chancellor. The announcement has already had some market comments: Laura Foll, of Henderson Global Investors, said she would welcome her re-election because Mrs Merkel has proved to be "quite pragmatic" about Brexit negotiations, "more so than other European leaders". Share Radio's Politics Presenter Colin Bloom joined us to discuss this and other political developments in Europe, which have been upsetting the single currency and markets.

It seems that in spite of the UK's leadership in so many financial and techie areas, it's taking a long time to drag insurance into the cloud-based, digital age. It could be because of regulation and worries about security but insurance remains a very traditional industry with much processing and record-taking still carried out on paper. Unsurprisingly, the financial service technology provider FIS wants to change all this. It has just asked 500 global insurance companies about their attitudes to industry innovation. Share Radio's Presenter Nigel Cassidy spoke to Martin Sarjeant, Risk Solutions Chief at FIS, to find out more

Tom Floyd, Senior Sales Trader at corporate forex broker Foenix Partners, joined Share Radio to look ahead to the Autumn Statement. He talks US Federal Reserve's Chair Janet Yellen indication that interest rates could rise "relatively soon", whilst also looking ahead to the Italian Constitutional referendum and Europe's elections.

The French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has admitted that Front National leader Marine LePen could win the upcoming presidential election. Mr Valls says Donald Trump's victory in America had shown that similar anti-globalisation nationalist rhetoric could triumph in France as well. Ms Le Pen's centre right rival French ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy has been knocked out of the primary to choose a presidential candidate, and with the mainstream parties struggling to decide on their preferred candidate, the Front National leader is wasting no time in trying to appeal to voters. Share Radio's Robert Van Egghen reports.

As projects like Crossrail and HS2 are going ahead, some analysts are expecting an array of further building projects to be announced by Chancellor Philip Hammond, setting bigger budgets for local infrastructure in this week's Autumn Statement. Share Radio's Matt Cox spoke to Richard Threlfall, Partner and UK Sector Head for Infrastructure, Building and Construction at KPMG, who started by explaining why people are eyeing local infrastructure so closely.

After a summer which saw more uncertainty, annual UK house price growth suggests the post-Brexit property market is stabilising. We’ve now had three months of figures showing price growth has remained robust, and households across the UK perceive that the value of their home rose in November. That’s according to the latest House Price Sentiment Index (HPSI) from Knight Frank and IHS Markit. To discuss the data, Oliver Knight, an Associate at Knight Frank, joined Share Radio Breakfast.

Ryan Heath, Senior EU Correspondent and Associate Editor at Politico Europe, joined Share Radio Breakfast to give his take on the latest news in European politics. Barack Obama is on a trip to Europe, most recently visiting Berlin, where he spoke about Brexit. There’s also talk about a new role for Angela Merkel, whilst Ryan discusses Trump's Wall Street government.

Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen has insisted she will serve her full term until 2018, despite criticism of her and Fed policy by president-elect Donald Trump. However, while Ms Yellen may be staying put, Fed-watchers fear the next President could still remake the organisation in his own image with vacancies on the FOMC board waiting to be filled. Robert Van Egghen spoke to editorial fellow at the Peterson Institute and former Federal Reserve correspondent at the Wall Street Journal, Pedro da Costa, to find out how much of a threat Trump poses to the Fed's independence.

It’s been ten days since US voters went to the polls. And it certainly turned the financial world upside down. We've already heard about the perils of kneejerk reactions among investors, and it’s also an opportunity for some in the market to drive product sales by devising investment "themes". But which should be followed? To help cut through the noise at the end of another eventful financial week, David Miller, Executive Director of Quilter Cheviot, joined Share Radio Breakfast.

There's life left on the UK High Street. UK retail sales rose at their fastest annual rate in 14 years in October. But retailers really can’t afford to have a bad Christmas as it’s the time of year when most of their money is made. Richard Perks is a Retail analyst at Mintel, and he joined Share Radio Breakfast to discuss those strong figures, whilst also looking ahead to Black Friday and Christmas trading.