Lockdown blues: Breakups and divorces support UK house prices July 21, 2020 The property market is currently defying gravity, with asking prices hitting an all-time high in July and spirits buoyant after the chancellor slashed the stamp duty homes tax. But estate agents say a less-publicised factor has been helping the property sector ride out economic turbulence better than most had predicted: A surge in lockdown breakups [...]
BoE’s Haldane: V-shaped recovery ‘a description of the past’ July 20, 2020 The Bank of England’s chief economist Andy Haldane has said discussion by experts of a so-called V-shaped recovery for the UK economy were not meant to be “a prediction of the future”. Haldane told the Treasury Select Committee that the use of phrase V-shaped recovery was “so far, a description of what has happened”. “The [...]
Financial pressure on UK households eases but pessimism sets in July 20, 2020 Britons’ views of their financial situation continued to improve in July after deteriorating at a record pace in April, figures have shown, but households became more pessimistic about the future. IHS Markit’s household finance index rose to 41.5 in July from 40.7 in June. That was above the long-term average but still lower than the [...]
EU leaders make progress in €750bn coronavirus fund talks July 20, 2020 European leaders edged close to agreeing to the terms of a €750bn coronavirus bailout fund this morning after the “frugal four” governments signalled they were willing to compromise. Negotiations ended in the small hours of the morning after the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden were satisfied with €390bn of the emergency fund being made available [...]
Time for the UK to recognise the prospect of an independent Scotland July 20, 2020 The debate on Scotland’s future is changing. Opinion polls have begun showing majority support for independence. The two most recent polls have put the “Yes” vote at 54 per cent, nearly a full inversion of the 2014 referendum result. Brexit has been the main driver of this shift. The Scottish electorate consistently rejected leaving the [...]
Coronavirus: EU leaders struggle to make progress on €750bn fund plan July 19, 2020 EU leaders are still trying to reach an agreement on a proposed €750bn (£680bn) coronavirus emergency fund, with the acrimonious talks yielding little on the first two days of the Brussels summit. Talks are deadlocked on the summit’s third day, with the more fiscally conservative EU countries – such as the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and [...]
Andrew Bailey says an uneven economic recovery has begun July 17, 2020 Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has said the UK economy is starting to recover from April’s lockdown, although he stressed that the rebound had been uneven so far. Bailey said activity was resuming “quite strongly” in the housing and car markets. But he said the hospitality and entertainment sectors were still struggling. His comments [...]
Boris Johnson: Social distancing may end in November July 17, 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said social distancing could be scrapped by November as the government tries to move the country back to “significant normality” before Christmas. “It is my strong and sincere hope that we will be able to review the outstanding restrictions and allow a more significant return to normality from November at [...]
Angela Merkel lowers hopes as talks start over €750bn EU Covid fund July 17, 2020 European Union leaders face “very, very difficult” negotiations over a €750bn coronavirus bailout fund, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned ahead of the start of talks today. EU heads of state today go into the first in-person leaders’ meeting for five-months to try to thrash out a deal over a huge fund that could kickstart [...]
US retail sales increase as jobless claims hit 1.3m in June July 16, 2020 US retail sales increased more than expected in June, data showed today, but a sustained high level of jobless claims and fresh infections threatened the budding economic recovery. The Commerce Department said on Thursday retail sales rose 7.5 per cent last month. That was on top of the 18.2 per cent jump in May, which was the biggest gain since [...]