TSB Bank’s profit rockets from stamp duty rush and cost-cutting May 8, 2025 TSB Bank’s cost-cutting plans and a rush to beat the stamp duty deadline imposed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves helped bolster profits in the first quarter. The Edinburgh-headquartered lender increased profit before tax to £101.3m for the first three months of 2025 – an 89 per cent jump from £53.4m in 2024. Operating expenses fell 4.7 [...]
Bank of England interest rates cut ‘nailed on’ May 8, 2025 The Bank of England is “nailed on” to cut interest rates later today to 4.25 per cent, investors believe. City of London leaders are anxiously awaiting the Bank’s newest monetary policy decision, which is set to be unveiled at 12.02pm due to a two-minute silence to commemorate Victory in Europe day. Investment analysts have suggested [...]
Fed expected to hold interest rates and vex Trump May 7, 2025 The US Federal Reserve will not bring interest rates down until July, Goldman Sachs has predicted, in what may spark a fresh conflict between President Trump and Fed chair Jerome Powell. The world’s most powerful central bank has held back from making interest rate cuts due to a foggy outlook on what a trade war [...]
Bank of England set to cut interest rates as US tariffs in focus May 4, 2025 UK interest rates are set to be cut to 4.25 per cent as the Bank of England eases costs for borrowers while it digests the impact of US tariffs on the economy. Most economists are expecting rates to be reduced by 0.25 percentage points on Thursday. Sandra Horsfield, an economist for Investec, said it is [...]
HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds: Lenders bank on interest rate cut as mortgage ‘price war’ heats up April 17, 2025 Top UK lenders are offering more mortgages to prospective house buyers, the Bank of England has revealed, as falling interest rates stir up a “price war” on the high street. The Bank’s credit conditions survey revealed that the burgeoning supply of mortgages would come against a levelling off in demand in the three months to [...]
Inflation eases in March amid looming Bank decision April 16, 2025 Inflation remained stubbornly high at 2.6 per cent in March, official data has shown, leaving Bank of England policymakers with a difficult decision to make on interest rates early next month. The year-on-year increase in consumer price inflation (CPI) was lower than the 2.7 per cent figure forecast in a Bloomberg poll of economists. The [...]
Four interest rate cuts this year pencilled in by markets April 7, 2025 Markets are betting that the Bank of England will make up to four interest rate cuts this year, double what had been predicted in late March. President Trump’s tariffs are set to drag UK growth back by up to one percentage point, according to various forecasters, while their impacts on inflation remain ambiguous, leading investors [...]
Blackpool Pleasure Beach to close rides as costs spiral March 24, 2025 High inflation, interest rates and “significant increases” in the minimum wage have made turning a profit “harder to achieve”, the owner of Blackpool Pleasure Beach has said as it fell back into the red. The attraction, which dates back to 1896, also said the rising costs will force it to close some rides this year [...]
Consumer confidence ticks up but ‘little evidence’ of recovery March 21, 2025 Consumer confidence rose by one point in March as Brits became more pessimistic about their own finances but more optimistic about the UK’s. The overall effect was to push confidence up to -19 in March, from -20 in February and -21 in March last year. The index remained below its long-term average. “If consumer confidence [...]
Bank of England holds interest rates amid low growth and trade tensions March 20, 2025 The Bank of England has held interest rates at 4.5 per cent as worries over a global trade war flare up. Rate-setter Swati Dhingra, an external member on the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), was the lone wolf who voted for a 25 basis point cut. The decision saw Catherine Mann split from Dhingra after the [...]