German investors confident on economy despite hectic January January 20, 2015 INVESTOR sentiment in Germany has reached an 11-month high, new figures show. An indicator of economic sentiment jumped to 48.4 in January from 34.9 in December, according to figures released yesterday by German researchers Zew. The index now sits comfortably above its long-term average of 24.5. It has recovered from a 2014 trough of below [...]
Deloitte: Facebook added $6.6bn to the UK economy in 2014 January 20, 2015 Facebook added $227bn (£149bn) to the global economy in 2014, according to a Deloitte and Touche report commissioned by the social media giant. Although Facebook only generated revenue of $12bn (£7.9bn) in the financial year, the report calculates all the economic activity “enabled” by the social media platform. These include businesses with pages [...]
11 times The Sun’s Page Three girls showed how deeply they cared about the UK economy January 20, 2015 The end of an era, or good riddance? However you feel about Page Three, there's no arguing with the fact it's a British institution. But today came the news that after 45 years, The Sun has apparently decided to put an end to its traditional topless model slot. The news was revealed by sister title The [...]
2015 IMF growth forecast: UK pulling ahead but global economy downgraded January 19, 2015 The UK has managed to avoid a downgrade to its 2015 growth forecast by the International Monetary Fund. The IMF’s updated predictions released today also place the UK as the fastest economy in the G7 in 2014 with growth of 2.7 per cent. However, the UK is set to lose its “fastest G7 economy” crown [...]
Fall in oil prices provides boost for UK economy January 18, 2015 The UK economy is set to benefit from the collapse in oil prices, according to the most recent quarterly forecast from the EY-sponsored Item Club. The economic forecasting group has stated that the decline in oil and other commodity prices will provide a “shot in the spending arm” for UK consumers, who will have more [...]
Interest rates to remain at historic lows until 2016 amid falling oil price January 18, 2015 The collapsing price of oil could see interest rates remain at their historic lows until 2016, according to top economists. The UK is likely to grow at 2.9 per cent this year, say the EY Item Club in part thanks to lower oil prices. The group hiked their forecast by 0.5 per cent point since [...]
Swiss franc surges after central bank scraps currency ceiling and slashes interest rates January 15, 2015 The Swiss franc has surged against the euro after the central bank scrapped a currency "ceiling", and took interest rates even further into negative territory. The Swiss franc was up as much as 37 per cent against the euro before later paring gains. Swiss shares shed some 10 per cent after investors rushed into safe-haven [...]
Euro tumbles to new nine-year low after Swiss central bank slashes interest rates January 15, 2015 The tumbled to new nine-year low after the Swiss central bank slashed interest rates to -0.75 per cent and scrapped its currency "ceiling." The euro fell to $1.1685 against the US dollar following the shock announcement by its central bank. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 initially shed 2.1 per cent before recovering to trade down 1 [...]
Policy hawks stand ground despite sinking inflation January 13, 2015 A drop in the inflation rate to 0.5 per cent has not been enough to reverse the positions of monetary policy hawks – economists favouring a hike in interest rates. “We think the economy is growing strongly enough to take a normalisation of monetary policy and we’re sticking by that,” James Sproule, chief economist at the [...]
Inflation has fallen below target: Should the UK be worried? January 13, 2015 Lower price rises are a boost for the UK but something to be feared in Europe. Why target inflation? Inflation is the increase in average prices in the economy over a period of time – normally a year. It is calculated by looking at a typical basket of goods, and seeing how the price [...]