Guinness and Johnnie Walker owner Diageo ‘could sell Chinese assets’

Diageo’s new boss, Dave Lewis, has barely started in the role, and the maker of Guinness and Johnnie Walker is already reportedly considering selling off its Chinese assets to trim down its portfolio.The world’s largest spirits maker, whose other brands include Smirnoff vodka, Captain Morgan rum and Don Julio tequila, is working with Goldman Sachs and UBS to review its operations in China, where sales have been falling, according to Bloomberg News.Diageo’s assets in the country include a 63%-plus stake in Shanghai-listed Sichuan Swellfun, which distributes the distilled spirit Baiju. The banks have been sounding out initial interest from Chinese strategic buyers and private equity.Shares in Sichuan Swellfun have dropped 14% in the past year, giving the Chengdu-based company a market value of 19

Jerome Powell: steely Fed chair standing firm in face of Trump’s threats

There are often few surprises with Jerome Powell. At his handful of public appearances each month, the US Federal Reserve chair always sports the same softly stern expression. His voice, typically dispassionate and near-monotone, never wavers.As one of the most powerful officials in the world, commanding a platform that has the ability to move global markets with a few words, Powell is often reserved in a way that fails to yield soundbites in this social media era: boring, even.That changed on Sunday night

Lloyds questioned by watchdog over use of staff banking data in pay talks

The information watchdog is questioning Lloyds Banking Group over a potential breach of privacy rules after it accessed data from 30,000 staff bank accounts during union pay talks last year.Lloyds – which owns the Halifax and Bank of Scotland brands – used aggregated salary, spending and savings data as part of a presentation to staff union representatives, which suggested that its lowest-paid staff had been in a better financial position than the wider population in recent years.The banking group’s 65,000 staff are strongly urged to hold their personal account with Lloyds, meaning the lender could access financial information without permission.The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has confirmed it is making “inquiries” with Lloyds over whether it may have breached data privacy rules as a result.It comes as the bank’s chief executive, Charlie Nunn, is lined up for a pay package that could be worth more than £13m, helped by the UK’s controversial decision to lift a cap on banker bonuses

UK retailers endure ‘drab December’ as non-food sales fall flat

Retailers suffered a “drab Christmas”, ending the year with disappointing sales in their most important month, according to new data underlining the difficulties facing Britain’s high streets.Overall retail sales grew by just 1.2% in December compared with a year earlier, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said. That was below the 12-month average of 2.3%

Coal power generation falls in China and India for first time since 1970s

Coal power generation fell in China and India for the first time since the 1970s last year, in a “historic” moment that could bring a decline in global emissions, according to analysis.The simultaneous fall in coal-powered electricity in the world’s biggest coal-consuming countries had not happened since 1973, according to analysts at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, and was driven by a record roll-out of clean energy projects.The research, commissioned by the climate news website Carbon Brief, found that electricity generated by coal plants fell by 1.6% in China and by 3% in India last year, after the boom in clean energy across both countries was more than enough to meet their rising demand for energy.“The drop in coal power and record increase in clean energy in China and India marks a historic moment,” according to the report, which could be “a sign of things to come”

Why is Trump’s justice department investigating Fed chair Jerome Powell?

The US Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, as Donald Trump’s White House escalates its campaign against the central bank’s independence.In a video posted on Sunday, a typically reticent Powell took the extraordinary step of denouncing the investigation as punishment for not setting interest rates in accordance with the US president’s wishes.This is just the latest development in a long string of White House attacks against the Fed. Here’s what we know about what’s going on.As chair of the Fed, Powell has been the public face of the central bank since 2018