Enough of stagflation forecasts, each more frightening than the last. Enough – for now – of energy policy sermons, as the government at last proclaims a serious nuclear plan. Instead, let’s have a week of real business stories, starting with tales of the old and new City.
First, a rum do at the London Metal Exchange. The Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority are investigating the exchange’s handling, last month, of a ‘short squeeze’ on nickel, provoked by fear of disrupted supplies from Russia. The metal’s price rocketed 250 per cent in two days to trade briefly above $100,000 a ton, reportedly leaving a Chinese tycoon called Xiang ‘Big Shot’ Guangda with a short position that could have cost his Shanghai–based company Tsingshan Holdings $8 billion; one of Tsingshan’s backers was the state-owned China Construction Bank, which was allowed extra time to pay Tsingshan’s margin calls.
Meanwhile, nickel trading was suspended for a week, the first LME stoppage since 1985 – and $3.9
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