Landlords braced for tough new lending restrictions, as Bank of England concludes investigation into buy-to-let mortgages March 29, 2016 The Bank of England could today respond to concerns about a frothy housing market by announcing new lending restrictions on landlords and those taking out buy-to-let mortgages. This morning the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the Bank’s supervisory arm, will publish the results of a four-month long investigation into underwriting standards – the terms and conditions lenders [...]
Why the US West Texas Intermediate oil price could clock its best month in around a year March 29, 2016 Despite today's losses, US oil is heading for its biggest monthly gain in nearly a year. West Texas Intermediate crude, the US benchmark, is currently down 1.1 per cent at $38.96 per barrel. Nevertheless, it's gained around 13 per cent so far this month, putting it on course for its largest jump since April last year. [...]
What Storm Katie? FTSE 100 opens higher as insurers Prudential, RSA and Standard Life rise March 29, 2016 The FTSE 100 was 0.5 per cent higher in mid-morning, at 6,136.6 points, as insurers led the index higher – despite the UK taking a battering from Storm Katie over the weekend. Prudential led the risers, up 2.3 per cent at 1,305p – while RSA Insurance rose 1.9 per cent to 476p, and Standard Life was up [...]
Barclays warns of oil prices falling back to the low $30s per barrel as investors “rush for exits” March 29, 2016 Barclays has warned oil prices could be heading back towards $30 per barrel, ending this year's rally which has sent the black stuff up around 50 per cent. The investment bank has predicted a broad-based plunge in commodity prices, arguing that the recent gains fail to correspond with market fundamentals. It said this could lead to a mass [...]
Ecuador oil minister Carlos Pareja to visit Colombia, Mexico to push output talks between Opec and non-Opec producers March 29, 2016 Ecuador could meet with Colombia and Mexico this week, over a potential meeting between Latin American oil producers to unify the region in backing a wider output freeze deal. Ecuador's oil minister, Carlos Pareja, told reporters yesterday that they were hoping to convene ahead of a bigger meeting in Doha next month. It follows an earlier agreement between Saudi [...]
Brexit vote puts brakes on City’s huge IPO boom, cutting the amount raised by by almost 75 per cent since the last quarter of 2015 March 29, 2016 The booming London initial public offering market has come to a screeching halt after reaching near record levels in 2015. For the first quarter of 2016 the total raised through IPOs slumped to £1.6bn, down from £4bn in the last quarter of 2015, data from accountant EY has shown. EY also warns that the market for [...]
UK pensions: One in five Brits expect to retire after their 70th birthday, and it’s stressing people out March 29, 2016 We hope you enjoyed your bank holiday weekend but don't get too used to the downtime – a study out today by Willis Towers Watson has found that one in five (21 per cent) Brits don't expect to retire until after their 70th birthday. Not to be too big a bearer of bad news but the study [...]
UK pensions: Shortfall in UK private sector defined benefit (DB) pension schemes has doubled over the last decade to £0.8 trillion March 29, 2016 Private sector defined benefit (DB) pension schemes carried a collective deficit of £0.8 trillion in 2015, around double the shortfall compared with roughly a decade ago, according to research out today. The study by JLT Employee Benefits discovered that DB schemes had £1.3 trillion in assets in 2015, compared with £0.65 trillion in 2006, but the schemes also had liabilities [...]
Financial services lead strong growth in professional sector pay March 29, 2016 Pay the professional sector is rising robustly, new figures released today show. The average salary in the professional sector – which includes lawyers, doctors, accountants and generally any role requiring a degree – was 5.1 per cent higher in February than the same month last year. Pay for accountants rose 8.9 per cent, the data [...]
Oil price dips on low volumes as growing stockpiles spook investors March 28, 2016 Oil prices dipped under $40 per barrel yesterday, adding to declines recorded in the tail end of last week. The price of international benchmark Brent crude climbed to $42.51 in early trading last week, before sliding five per cent over four days. Last night the price of a barrel of Brent was trading at $39.92, while [...]