Will the government’s new plans to oversee the City really work? January 31, 2012 In this week’s Voice of the City panel, run with PoliticsHome.com, we are asking our members what they think about changes to the way the City is regulated. Is the new Financial Services Bill the right way for the government to overhaul banking regulation? Will it prevent another financial crisis? And are you worried about [...]
Lower money supply makes more QE likely January 31, 2012 A STEEP decline in money supply added to expectations that an additional £50bn or £75bn of quantitative easing (QE) will be announced by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee at its February meeting next week. The 0.7 per cent fall in the M4 measure in December is the sharpest since the series began in [...]
RICH LONDONERS SNAP UP MORE HOUSES January 31, 2012 LONDON’S equity-rich prime location homeowners are taking advantage of ultra-low interest rates to snap up similar houses, according to property consultant Cluttons. ‘“They are finding themselves in the enviable position of moving up the ladder without selling their existing home,” said Cluttons’ James Hyman. “This is worsening the supply shortage even further.”
UK slides down inflation rankings January 31, 2012 Consumer price inflation in the UK fell to 4.2 per cent in December, taking it out of the top three in the 34 advanced economies of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Prices across the OECD rose by 2.9 per cent in the year to December, with the highest rate in Turkey at 10.4 per [...]
Old populations threaten ratings January 31, 2012 Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has warned it may downgrade “a number of highly rated” G20 countries from 2015 if their governments fail to enact reforms to curb rising healthcare spending and other costs related to ageing populations. Developed nations in Europe, as well as Japan and the US, are likely to suffer the largest [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 31, 2012 WSP Group WSP Environment and Energy, part of the FTSE 250-listed WSP Group, has hired Karen McAllister as director of the environmental planning division in London. McAllister is a former director of RPS, prior to which she was a director at the Town Planning Consultancy, which was acquired by RPS in 2001. Recent projects include [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS January 31, 2012 BARRATT DEVELOPMENTS Investec has initiated coverage of the UK housing market with a generally positive stance, seeing solid fundamentals supporting the sector. It rates housebuilder Barratt Developments as a “buy” with a target price of 180p. Though the broker expects Barratt to remain the most volatile of the group it also offers the greatest upside, [...]
FTSE ends best month since October as oil provides boost January 31, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index got a boost from strong corporate results, higher oil prices and improved risk appetite yesterday, enabling it to post its best performance in three months in January. After a gloomy 2011 – when the FTSE100 lost 5.6 per cent – the new year has heralded a cautious return to risk, with [...]
Wall Street pauses after good January January 31, 2012 WALL Street closed its best month since October on a flat note yesterday as disappointing economic reports surprised investors after a stream of positive data in recent months. Stocks have rallied sharply since late last year, partly on hopes the US economy will dodge the effects of a recession in Europe. But data tested that [...]
Join our campaign to fight fund managers’ high fees and lack of transparency January 31, 2012 IT IS time to give investors a better deal. That is why SCM Private – the wealth managers of which I am a partner – is today launching a campaign proposing a True and Fair Code and Universal Labelling system for all UK investment products. Through this scheme consumers would, for the first time, have [...]
