UK factories’ production drops again October 11, 2011 MANUFACTURING output fell for the third consecutive month in August, figures released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed. The decline of 0.3 per cent was steeper than the falls of 0.1 per cent and 0.2 per cent seen in June and July respectively. August’s output was just 1.5 per cent higher than [...]
Cheap loans aid house prices October 11, 2011 HOUSE prices increased in August compared with July, but are still down on levels seen 12 months ago, according to figures out yesterday from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). Meanwhile, statistics from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), also out yesterday, showed homeowners taking advantage of low interest rates as remortgage levels [...]
Cut 50p tax rate to stop brain drain and boost economy, warns think-tank October 11, 2011 HIGHLY skilled workers are being driven away by the UK’s high income taxes, research released today from the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) warns. The UK suffers from the highest emigration levels in the OECD, accounting for almost 20 per cent of emigration in the 34-strong group of developed nations. The ASI believes this is damaging [...]
Stimulus sees pension deficits soar October 11, 2011 PENSION deficits soared in the run up to the Bank of England’s latest programme of quantitative easing (QE2), data revealed yesterday. Aggregate deficits jumped to £196.4bn at the end of lat month, up from £117.5bn at the end of August — according to over 6,500 schemes measured by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). Over 80 [...]
GDP is stuck below 2008 peak as stagnation looms October 11, 2011 BRITAIN is avoiding another recession despite its GDP remaining stuck below the pre-crash peak, an economic think tank has said. The UK is not in a recession because the economy is still growing slowly, the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said yesterday. The economy expanded by a lowly 0.5 per cent over [...]
After a year of voting for more, Posen praises QE2 October 11, 2011 ARCH-DOVE of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC), Adam Posen, welcomed its decision to print £75bn, in a speech yesterday. Posen has long been an advocate of expanding the asset purchase programme and has voted for another £50bn of quantitative easing (QE) in every monthly MPC meeting since October 2010. The decision exceeded [...]
OPEC SLASHES OIL DEMAND FORECAST October 11, 2011 GLOBAL economic turmoil is reducing demand for oil, the Organisation of Petroleum Producing Countries’ (Opec) monthly report revealed yesterday. OPEC has cut demand growth forecasts for 2011 from 1.19m more barrels per day to 880,000. That brings total output to 87.81m barrels, up from 86.93m in 2010. Weak Eurozone and US economies were blamed, as [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 11, 2011 LaSalle Investment Management The global real estate investment manager has announced the appointment of Chris Brett in the newly-created position of European head of strategic partnerships. Brett joins LaSalle Investment Management from Jones Lang LaSalle, where he headed the international desk in London and focused on advising major investors from the Middle East, Asia Pacific [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS October 11, 2011 VODAFONE Investec notes that the Indian authorities published a draft policy for telecoms this week. While lacking in some details, it believes there are many positives to be taken from the policy changes for Vodafone. It says India is an emerging positive catalyst for the Vodafone investment story. It reiterates its “buy” recommendation, maintaining a [...]
FTSE breaks winning streak on worries over Euro bailout October 11, 2011 THE FTSE 100 share index snapped a four-day winning streak yesterday, as worries over Europe’s debt problems and the impact on the global economic recovery prompted investors to bank some of the recent gains made in commodity and financial stocks. The index closed down 3.3 points, or 0.1 per cent at 5,395.70, but recovered from [...]
