New York Report: Fed’s fallout sends Wall St to a low close October 31, 2013 US STOCKS finished lower yesterday as the Federal Reserve’s statement the day before added to investors’ anxiety about the timing of a pullback in its stimulus programme. While it was a second consecutive day of losses for the market, all three major indexes ended October with solid gains. Dragging on the Dow and the S&P [...]
More horse meat – this time in Home Bargains’ Romanian-manufactured tinned beef October 31, 2013 A batch of canned sliced beef has been found to contain horse DNA, the Food Standards Agency has said today. The beef was manufactured in Romania in January of this year and supplied to Home Bargains, the discount high street store, and Quality Save stores. The product is labelled 'Food Hall Sliced Beef in Rich Gravy'. [...]
Consumer lending in September was more than double what was reported October 31, 2013 A correction to Bank of England data has shown that unsecured lending in September was over double what was reported. Consumers borrowed money at the fastest rate since early 2008 in the three months to September, revised data from the Bank of England showed today. The news intensifies concerns that the UK's recovery is reliant [...]
End to jobs backlog shows weaker US labour market October 31, 2013 The backlog from an upgrade to systems in California has finally been cleared, and the numbers aren't strong as had been hoped. Jobless claims fell by just 10,000 to 340,000 in the week to Oct 26, while economists had hoped for a fall of 11,000. Continuing jobless claims are now higher at 2.881m from 2.874m. [...]
Proper running and regulation will ensure fracking public health risk remains low October 31, 2013 A new report into the public health risks associated with fracking has found that the chances of exposure to shale gas emissions are low if operations are run and regulated properly. Public Health England (PHE) says that risks identified in other countries are "typically due to operational failure." PHE's Dr John Harrison, says "good on-site [...]
London and Yorkshire lead the way in private sector employment growth October 31, 2013 Private sector employment in the capital was up 1.7 percentage points in the second quarter of this year (April – June) – taking it to 61.3 per cent. This underpinned an increase for the Greater South East of 1.4 percentage points, to 62.2 per cent. The private sector employment indicator for England was at its [...]
Chancellor considers taxing foreign home owners in bid to curb bubble October 31, 2013 The UK is considering imposing new taxes on foreign property owners in a move to check what many see as an emerging housing bubble in London and the South East, reports Sky News' economics editor, Ed Conway. Chancellor George Osborne is investigating the possibility of enforcing capital gains tax on foreign owners of British properties [...]
French PM calls for solidarity on 75 per cent tax before showdown with football bosses October 31, 2013 The French prime minister is standing firm on the socialist government's policy of a 75 per cent tax on those earning over €1m (£856,000), as bosses from France's leading football clubs prepare to meet President Francois Hollande to argue against the tax. The tax is designed so that companies will be liable to pay 75 [...]
Greek retail sales fall again in August October 31, 2013 Greek retail sales fell 7.8 per cent year-on-year in August after falling 13.9 per cent in July (revised up from -14.0 per cent).
Inflation falls in the Eurozone as CPI misses expectations October 31, 2013 Inflation has fallen in the Eurozone as a flash estimate for the consumer price index missed expectations in October (year-on-year), rising just 0.7 per cent, after predictions of 1.1 per cent and September's increase of 1.1 per cent.