Housing market gets brief boost March 14, 2012 ACTIVITY jumped in the housing market in January as first-time buyers rushed to beat the end of the stamp duty holiday this month, but house prices fell in January according to government data. Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed a 23 per cent rise in lending to first-time buyers compared with January [...]
Rising confidence helps UK outlook March 14, 2012 BRITAIN’S economy is finally set to recover, according to analysis of forward-looking indicators published yesterday. A study of indicators like industrial orders, expected output, consumer confidence and share prices point to only a brief downturn, before a recovery in a few months time. The Conference Board’s leading economic index (LEI) rose 0.9 points in January [...]
Japan invests in Chinese debt March 14, 2012 Japan will buy 65bn yuan (£6.5bn) of Chinese government debt, the country’s finance minister said yesterday, giving China a mark of approval in the credibility of the yuan as an international currency. Other countries are investing in China through state agencies, but Japan’s investment is by far the biggest in the yuan.
Layoffs cost £28.6bn in Britain March 14, 2012 Almost 2.7m people have been made redundant in Britain over the last four years, according to research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. The layoffs have cost employers a total of £28.6bn, the report estimates, while the loss of output to the economy amounts to between £87bn and £135bn.
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 14, 2012 KPMG Forensic KPMG has announced the appointment of James Siswick as director of its financial services forensic team. He will help drive the expansion of the firm’s financial crime business, with anti-money laundering and sanctions as his key areas of interest. Siswick joins after fourteen years at Deloitte, where he most recently worked as director [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS March 14, 2012 MICRO FOCUS Numis rates the FTSE 250-listed business software firm as a “buy” and raises its target price to 590p, saying the company’s shares remain materially cheap. The broker says that the market is undervaluing the firm’s cash generation, stable performance and expectations of modest growth, and says its views were confirmed by a February [...]
Financials and miners lift the FTSE to a new high for 2012 March 14, 2012 BRITAIN’S FTSE 100 closed at its highest level this year yesterday as banks and miners rallied after encouraging economic data out of Europe and the US, although volumes were weak and traders said the market could be nearing its top. London’s blue chip index closed up 63.16 points, or 1.1 per cent at 5,955.91, but [...]
Banks boost rally across Wall Street March 14, 2012 THE US stock market posted its best day this year, with yesterday’s late spark coming from JPMorgan Chase & Co after the bank announced it will raise its dividend. Stocks gained throughout the session, helped by stronger-than-expected retail sales and benign comments from the US Federal Reserve, which said recent strains on financial markets were [...]
The three frontrunners for France’s presidency will all lead down the wrong track March 14, 2012 THERE will be no winners in the French presidential election this April. One leading candidate is the unrepentant socialist Francois Hollande, who thinks 75 per cent is an optimal tax rate. The other is Nicolas Sarkozy, who has just managed to nudge himself into the lead with a desperate speech calling for two of the [...]
Smarter choices on tax should be agreed on by all March 14, 2012 THE debate between the Occupy movement and its City neighbours was never clarified, but essentially was about bigger or smaller government. Not surprisingly those receiving benefits but not paying tax want more of both, while those paying the bills want less. Close proximity sadly did little to diminish the caricatures of greedy banker and welfare [...]
