Bank of England’s Jon Cunliffe warns over impact of a US rate hike July 29, 2015 The Bank of England's deputy governor for financial stability has voiced concerns over how financial markets will react to an interest rate rise by the US Fed. Sir John Cunliffe told the Guardian that global financial markets are "quite fragile" due to a lack of liquidity which can make it more difficult for traders to exit some [...]
GSK share price rises as it beats expectations – but profits dip July 29, 2015 GSK's shares leaped 3.7 per cent to 1,377p in early afternoon trading after earnings per share beat expectations – despite it taking a hit on Advair. The figures The British pharmaceutical giant's core operating profit for the second quarter fell four per cent to £1.35bn. Net profit fell 77 per cent to £149m compared to the same period last [...]
CBI distributive trades survey: Britain’s retailers are expecting a slow summer July 29, 2015 A widely watched industry survey has shown UK retailers expect sales volumes to weaken further next month, after an already disappointing performance in July. The CBI distributive trades survey said 30 per cent of firms expect sales volumes to rise in the year to August, while 17 per cent said they expect them to fall, [...]
UK house prices: Rightmove share price jumps as it absorbs business from rivals July 29, 2015 It seems the launch of an estate agent-run portal which forces agents to choose between Rightmove and Zoopla has done no harm to the former, after it reported a 16 per cent rise in revenues during the first half of the year. The figures The housing boom continues to benefit Rightmove: revenues rose to £93.1m in [...]
Chair of the Federal Reserve Janet Yellen says rates will rise this year if economy remains on track causing dollar to jump July 29, 2015 The Federal Reserve has reiterated that it is on course to raise interest rates in 2015, as Chair of the Federal Reserve described the US economy’s prospects as “favourable”. Hiring has pushed the country towards maximum employment, while factors that have been holding back inflation were likely to diminish, Yellen indicated in a prepared statement [...]
Sainsbury’s share price edges up as it sells pharmacy business for £125m July 29, 2015 Shares in Sainsbury's rose 0.7 per cent to 261.1p after it announced a deal with the German owner of UK chain LloydsPharmacy to sell its pharmacy business for £125m. Read more: Growth at Co-op for the first time in a year as Tesco and Asda decline yet again As part of the deal, Celesio’s LloydsPharmacy will [...]
This chart shows how many current account switchers Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest have lost July 29, 2015 New rules which make it easier for customers to change current accounts resulted in a four per cent increase to 1.1m switches, compared to 1.06m during in same period a year earlier. The rules, introduced in October 2013, allow customers to switch accounts within seven working days, with all outgoing and incoming payments transferred automatically. [...]
European Central Bank says Twitter can predict which direction stocks are heading July 29, 2015 Market mavens should keep an eye on Twitter if they want to know which direction their stock picks are heading, or at least that's what recently published research conducted by the European Central Bank has found. Researchers crunched over 310,000 tweets between 2010 and 2012 containing the words "bullish" or "bearish" – because these are generally used [...]
John Lewis is opening an in-store beauty spa called &Beauty July 29, 2015 Have we just hit peak middle class? John Lewis has unveiled plans for an in-store beauty spa. After all, what better way to recuperate after a hard day’s shopping? If you get too exhausted from all your purchases, just book yourself in for a relaxing massage… It seems simply going to buy things is no [...]
Three charts showig how working in London differs to other cities July 29, 2015 A London working week is typically associated with long hours, heavy workloads as well as demanding clients, but a report released this week by Centre for Cities has shown there are some perks to working in the big smoke. Londoners are more likely to be in employment than their counterparts in large, medium and small city centres. [...]