UK rating cut by S&P and Fitch

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BloombergPti
2 min read Last Updated : Oct 23 2019 | 7:30 AM IST
The UK was stripped of its top credit grade by S&P Global Ratings, and Fitch Ratings also lowered its rank, the latest crushing verdicts on the country's decision to leave the European Union that has left it in political and economic paralysis. S&P reduced the grade by two steps to AA from AAA, citing the risk of a less predictable, stable, and effective policy framework in the UK.

Fitch cut its credit rank by one step, to an equivalent level. Both have negative outlooks. The downgrade "reflects the risks of a marked deterioration of external financing conditions" and constitutional issues arising from the majority of voters in Scotland and Northern Ireland having opted to remain in the EU, according to S&P. bloomberg<

Fortunes fall by $196.2 billion

Global markets erased another $69.2 billion from the combined net worth of the world's 400 richest people Monday, bringing the total since the UK shocked investors with a vote to leave the European Union to $196.2 billion in the last two trading days.

The billionaires on the index control $3.8 trillion, a 1.8 per cent decline from the start of the year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The pain on Monday was felt most by Europe's wealthiest, where 92 billionaires lost $29.4 billion, bringing their two-day decline to $81.7 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

US tech giants face splintered future

US technology businesses like Alphabet Inc and Facebook Inc toil to make the real world as borderless and global as the digital worlds they create. The physical version just got a lot messier in Europe, the second-largest market for these giant companies.

The Brexit will fracture what was slowly becoming a single digital market into potentially two, or possibly more, jurisdictions for technology issues ranging from data privacy, competition, tax and recruiting. "After the vote in the UK, we are obviously entering a moment of some uncertainty and concern," Facebook public policy executive Joel Kaplan said. bloomberg<

Labour leader loses confidence vote

The UK's embattled Opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn, on Tuesday lost a no-confidence motion brought against him by his Labour party MPs in the wake of UK's shock Brexit vote. The 172-40 vote, which is not binding, follows a raft of resignations from the shadow cabinet and calls on Corbyn to quit.

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