Fear of higher tax sparks end of year sell-off December 9, 2012 INVESTORS typically sell stocks to cut their losses at year end. But worries about the fiscal cliff – and the possibility of higher taxes in 2013 – may act as the greatest incentive to sell both winners and losers by 31 December. The $600bn (£374bn) of automatic tax increases and spending cuts scheduled for the [...]
Why you shouldn’t put off saving for your retirement December 9, 2012 AT A time when people are failing to save enough for their retirement, George Osborne’s move – announced in last week’s Autumn Statement – to reduce the tax relief on pensions is unwelcome. The chancellor cut the annual tax relief for wealthy earners from £50,000 to £40,000, and reduced the lifetime allowance from £1.5m to [...]
Isa changes may not affect your investment decisions December 9, 2012 IN LAST week’s Autumn Statement, George Osborne announced that the total amount an individual can invest in a tax-free Individual Savings Account (Isa) will increase to £11,520 per year from April 2013. This change won’t have much of an impact on the public’s interest in Isas, however. The small rise (£240) is in line with [...]
Twosome transforming how we transfer money December 9, 2012 KRISTO Kaarmann and Taavet Hinrikus are the two Estonian founders of TransferWise, the peer-to-peer platform for transferring money. Parallels between TransferWise and Skype abound, not least because Hinrikus was Skype’s first employee. But the likenesses don’t stop there: they want to “make the world smaller, just as Skype has done”; they want to make transfers [...]
My recent attempt to pass on some rock solid business advice December 9, 2012 I DON’T want to study rocks!” My teenage son Tom looked at me like I was an ugly alien. We were discussing what he should read at university, and he was keen on economics and maths to pursue a career in finance or business.“But I think the big finance boom is over, Tom. And mining [...]
A measure for the forward-thinking December 9, 2012 ONE of the most striking pro-business announcements in last week’s Autumn Statement was the increase in the tax relief afforded to company investment in plant and machinery equipment. A miserly allowance of £25,000 jumped ten-fold to a healthier £250,000. Aimed at smallish businesses, it’s meant to unlock cash for investment. But it comes with some [...]
FTSE strikes two month high amid weak trading yet lags euro stocks December 6, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index hit a two-month high yesterday, fuelled by risk-sensitive stocks, but lagged European peers as wary investors met resistance around previous year highs. At the close, the FTSE 100 was up 9.34 points at 5,901.42. The index’s 0.2 per cent rise lagged the German DAX and the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300, up 1.1 [...]
Wall St ticks up as Apple stock climbs higher December 6, 2012 US stocks closed modestly higher yesterday, a day ahead of the key monthly jobs report, as a rebound in shares of Apple helped boost technology shares. Traders were reluctant to bet heavily a day before the Friday release of the November employment report. Just 5.62bn shares changed hands on US exchanges. Investors are also keeping [...]
Mining firms and Tesco help push UK’s bluechip index up 0.4 per cent December 5, 2012 MINING stocks helped Britain’s main share index rise yesterday on expectations of stronger demand from China, offsetting lingering concerns about the US and European economies. Miners added 1.8 per cent after the head of China’s Communist Party said the world’s largest consumer of metals will approve policies targeted aimed at helping the economic recovery. Britain’s [...]
Apple’s fall hits the Nasdaq but Dow still rises December 5, 2012 A volatile trading session ended with US stocks mostly higher yesterday, even as Apple, the most valuable company in the United States, suffered its worst day of losses in almost four years. In a strange occurrence, Apple accounted for the entirety of the Nasdaq 100’s fall of 1.1 per cent, while the Dow industrials – [...]
