Tuesday newspaper round-up: Brexit fear, BoE warning, oil prices, cost of degrees

The vast majority of investment industry executives fear Brexit will harm the City of London, and most believe it will damage the rest of the country too – potentially leading to the breakup of the United Kingdom. A total of 82pc of fund managers believe London will be a loser from Brexit, according to a survey by the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute. - Telegraph

A former Bank of England rate-setter has warned that cutting interest rates would do more harm than good as pressure grows on the monetary policy committee before this week’s meeting. Dame Kate Barker, an MPC member for nine years until 2010, says that cutting rates further in response to the Brexit vote would be a bad mistake that would fail to boost household or business spending. - The Times

US crude oil prices have slipped below $40 a barrel for the first time since April on signs that production is picking up as clouds gather over the global economy. The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark, dropped $1.66 to $39.94 a barrel as figures suggested that wells in Nigeria and Iraq were pumping faster and mothballed US rigs were coming back on stream after the recovery in the price back above $50 a barrel a month ago convinced drillers to bring rigs back on stream. - The Times

Supermarkets have cut the price of petrol and diesel by up to 2p per litre, sending forecourt prices lower across the country. Asda has announced a national cap, meaning motorists will not pay more than 105.7p per litre (ppl) on unleaded and 106.7ppl on diesel across its 272 stations. Tesco rolled out a 2p drop that came into effect at 5pm on Monday. - Guardian

The Government's ability to block foreign takeovers of British companies – such as Softbank’s £24bn purchase of ARM – is to be examined by MPs. Members of the Business, Innovation and Skills select committee have launched an inquiry into Britain’s industrial strategy after Theresa May promised “much tougher scrutiny” of foreign businesses purchasing UK companies. - Telegraph

Most graduates will not earn enough to cover the cost of their degrees, according to a damning report on the cost of higher education. The research found that only those who had studied at elite universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, or who took courses in high-earning professions such as medicine or dentistry, would substantial financial benefit from having a university degree. - Telegraph

China has issued a thinly veiled threat to Downing Street that cancelling the Hinkley Point nuclear plant project would jeopardise more than £100 billion of investment in Britain over the next decade. The Chinese foreign ministry urged Britain to ensure the “smooth implementation” of the project “as soon as possible” in its first response to Theresa May’s surprise decision to review plans to build the £18 billion reactor. - The Times

Millions of public records are set to be erased in a move that would hamper investigations into major fraud, money laundering and corruption. Companies House, the government agency that holds details of every UK-registered firm, is discussing proposals to wipe all record of companies that went out of business more than six years ago. - The Times

The investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett unleashed a withering attack on Donald J. Trump on Monday for refusing to release his tax returns, asserting he had something to hide, and for misleading voters about his success as a businessman and ability to improve the American economy. Mr. Buffett, known to investors as the Sage of Omaha, said a monkey throwing darts at the stock pages in 1995, when Mr. Trump first offered stock in his Atlantic City hotels, would have come out far ahead of anyone who listened to Mr. Trump’s “siren song” and invested in his company that lost money year over year.

McDonald’s has eliminated controversial ingredients in about half of its menu in a move that highlights how pressure from US consumers is driving changes to the country’s food culture. The $100bn fast-food chain said on Monday it had removed artificial preservatives from its Chicken McNuggets, sausage patties, omelettes, bagel and biscuit breakfast sandwiches and its scrambled eggs, swapped high-fructose corn syrup in its buns for sucrose and has met a pledge a year early to remove antibiotics important to human medicine from chickens it uses. - Financial Times

Theresa May will underline her determination to encroach into traditionally Labour areas of economic strategy and equality by chairing the first meeting of a cabinet committee devoted to industrial planning. The group, which comprises May, the chancellor, Philip Hammond, and 10 other secretaries of state, has the official title of the “economy and industrial strategy cabinet committee”. - The Guardian

Fewer green taxes, access to the EU single market, and a peace deal with Bashar al-Assad. Those are among the policies suggested by Nick Timothy, Theresa May’s new joint chief of staff, in columns before the EU referendum. - Financial Times

South Korea is suspending sales of 80 Volkswagen models as part of a widening investigation into the German carmaker’s emissions cheating scandal. The environment ministry said most of the models had been showcased for sale until recently, and added that the problem vehicles had fabricated documents for emissions and noise-level tests. - Guardian

Qatar Airways is paying about £376 million for shares in the company behind British Airways, taking advantage of a plunge in the price since the Brexit vote in the EU referendum. The Gulf state, one of the richest in the world per person with massive reserves of oil and gas, has been a big investor in the UK for years. The Times

Gawker Media founder Nick Denton has filed for personal bankruptcy in the wake of Paypal billionaire Peter Thiel’s proxy war against the news organization and its individual journalists. Gawker itself filed for bankruptcy in June. “[I]t’s a disturbing to live in a world in which a billionaire can bully journalists because he didn’t like the coverage,” wrote Denton in a memo to staff on Monday. - Guardian