Tomorrow's Business Today
The art of the blindingly obvious
Normally, whatever that is, too much of the commentary that plops into inboxes is telling hacks what they already know.
We can see that the FTSE 100 is up 50 points with Barclays Bank the biggest riser. We want you to tell us a smart reason WHY.
At the moment, that position is almost reversed.
Today, I got punchy, useable commentary on the latest PMI stats, the stock market and job creation.
But all comments assumed I knew what was happening in the first place.
In the office, there’s a Bloomberg machine, a Reuters terminal, PA alerts and a news editor shouting out the odds on whatever she might be noticing.
Presently, most hacks at home have none of those things.
So the blindingly clear might be more helpful than you think.
Why? is nearly always the most important journalistic question. The when and the what are often mundane. So we still want to know what the reason why such and such is occurring.
But at the moment, the mundane nuts and bolts are not as clear to us as they usually would be.
When we’re back in the office, we’ll go back to moaning that what you are telling us is completely obvious.
Fink we’re stupid or something?
Press release of the day
Socialising Brits are to spend £7.6 billion on garden furniture this year, says Sainsbury’s Bank.
Pots and plants are the top planned purchases, followed by outdoor seating. There will be plenty of appetite for research on how our purchasing habits change post lockdown.
