Oil prices: UK supermarkets Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s in petrol price war as they match crude oil price decline September 24, 2015 The UK’s supermarkets kicked off yet another price war yesterday, with Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s all slashing petrol prices by up to 2p per litre (ppl). Morrisons, which has 336 petrol stations in the UK, announced that it was making its third petrol price cut in four weeks. “The falling wholesale price of [...]
National living wage to hit convenience stores including Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s September 24, 2015 Convenience retailers warned today that they may have to reduce staff hours or cut jobs entirely to fund George Osborne’s national living wage of £9 for over-25s by 2020. Britain’s convenience sector employs around 407,000 staff and consists of around 50,000 stores – of which fewer than 2,500 are run by Tesco, Morrisons and [...]
PPI mis-selling claims deadline: Britain’s biggest banking scandal could soon be coming to an end September 24, 2015 The end of the £25bn payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling scandal could be in sight, with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) set to meet today to discuss potentially imposing a deadline for claims. The regulator’s management will discuss the possibility of a ‘time-bar exercise’ during a board meeting today, according to Sky News. Banks will [...]
China fears and EU vote could derail plans to raise interest rates in 2016 September 23, 2015 The first UK interest rate hike could be delayed be until 2017 due to the uncertainty created by an in-out referendum on Britain’s EU membership, economists have said. Investment bank Citi yesterday said it was slashing its global growth rate forecasts and shifted its prediction for the first Bank of England rate hike to final [...]
UK hotel prices: Scotland drags down average cost of a hotel room in first half September 23, 2015 UK hotel prices fell by one per cent in the first half of the year, with hotels in Scotland experiencing the biggest decline, new research shows. Guests paid an average room rate of £104 per night in the first half of the year, according to The Hotels Price Index (HPI), a survey by online accommodation [...]
Bank of England’s Ben Broadbent: UK productivity is not as bad as it looks September 23, 2015 The weakness in productivity growth in the UK may not be a sign of something inherently wrong with the economy, but could be due to more subtle changes in the jobs market, the Bank of England’s deputy governor for monetary policy said today. Productivity normally grows each year, but its stagnation since the 2008 financial crisis [...]
London jobs will be safe from the National Living Wage September 23, 2015 While some business figures have warned about the potentially nasty side-effects of the government's National Living Wage it appears London will be largely immune from this. The National Living Wage means employees aged over 25 will be paid £7.20 an hour from next April, rising to 60 per cent of median earnings in 2020, estimated to be [...]
Eurozone economy expanding – but “worrying failure of growth” remains September 23, 2015 The Eurozone economy expanded in September, continuing a year of robust growth, according to survey figures released this morning. Markit’s flash purchasing managers’ index (PMI) scored 53.9 for this month, down slightly from August but still above the 50 score that implies no growth and in line with economic growth. France’s economy improved in September, with the [...]
Blow for George Osborne’s deficit plans as public borrowing climbs in August September 23, 2015 Government borrowing jumped in August, ending a positive run of results for chancellor George Osborne this year. Public sector borrowing excluding state-owned banks was £12.1bn in August, up £1.4bn on the same month last year, according to figures released this morning by the Office for National Statistics. This was the biggest August deficit since 2012. Despite the rise, [...]
Hedge fund Marshall Wace lends support to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s economic policy People’s QE September 23, 2015 One of Britain's wealthiest hedge fund managers has leant weight to what's arguably the cornerstone of new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's economic policies – so-called People's QE. People's QE would involve the Bank of England (BoE) investing "in large-scale housing, energy, transport and digital projects". But critics, including Bank of England governor Mark Carney, have [...]