Countries could intervene again to help the yen March 20, 2011 FOREIGN exchange traders will be closely watching the yen’s movement today following the G7’s dramatic intervention to stem the currency’s gains late last week. Traders are on alert for further central bank moves to ease any runaway increases in the yen, which if left unchecked would make Japan’s exports more expensive and put further pressure [...]
Dyson expected to split Punch Taverns into two March 20, 2011 DEBT-SADDLED pub chain Punch Taverns will announce plans to splinter off its best-performing ventures tomorrow, a person familiar with the company said yesterday. Chief executive Ian Dyson’s long-awaited review of the firm is said to have considered several options, including spinning off the directly managed pubs under the Spirit Group banner into a separate listed [...]
Pub group is a tale of two halves March 20, 2011 WHICH PUNCH Taverns would you buy shares in if Ian Dyson goes through with his plan to split the firm in two? The managed division – which would be renamed Spirits – performed admirably in the twelve weeks to 5 March. Like-for-like sales were up 8.6 per cent, with food adding 11.7 per cent and drinks 7 [...]
Bank defends success of QE March 20, 2011 THE Bank of England has defended its policy of quantitative easing, arguing that the £200bn asset-buying programme successfully propped up the money supply following the financial crisis. “Sectoral evidence suggests that asset purchases are broadly working via the balance sheets of households and companies to contribute to an increase in nominal spending,” the Bank said [...]
The number of millionaires in the UK has risen by 17 per cent since 2008, new data reveals March 20, 2011 There are now 619,000 millionaires in the UK, up from 528,000 in 2008, new figures from Barclays Wealth revealed today. And 86,000 people in the UK have wealth in excess of £5m, its wealth map shows. The majority (46 per cent) of UK-based millionaires live in London and the South East. The number of millionaires [...]
Squeeze tightens on households March 20, 2011 Household finances have plummeted at the sharpest rate for two years – and the average amount of cash Britons have available to spend dropped at a record rate in March, according to the Markit household finance index released today. The slump left households at their most pessimistic since the survey began in February 2009, Markit [...]
Rush to avoid hike in stamp duty March 20, 2011 Millionaires in London are scrambling to snap up properties before the rise in stamp duty, according to the latest Rightmove house price index released today. Across the whole market in the capital, asking prices were down 1.5 per cent in March on the previous month – yet are still up 3.8 per across the quarter [...]
City tipped to become UK’s biggest recruiter March 20, 2011 REPORTS that recruitment across the financial and business services sector will pick up in coming months are particularly welcome given that unemployment hit a 17-year high last week. It is a sign of increasing confidence that a new survey indicates the City will be the UK’s biggest recruiter over the next quarter. Over 1m people [...]
MARTIN ON THE MARKETS March 20, 2011 AFTER the extreme volatility experienced last week in the equity, forex and commodity markets, following on from the disastrous earthquake, tsunami and ensuing nuclear crisis in Japan, we look set to take another hit on the open this morning, on the first day of trading after military action was launched against Libya after a ceasefire [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS March 20, 2011 TAYLOR WIMPEY Deutsche Bank rates the housebuilder “buy” with a target price of 53p. The broker says in its review of the UK building sector that the firm’s recent mortgage deals with 95 per cent loan to value could pave the way for others, easing lending conditions for buyers this year. LEGAL & GENERAL Standard [...]
