VAT shock yet to be passed to consumers February 8, 2011 INFLATION in UK shops rose to 2.5 per cent in January – from 2.1 per cent in December — despite retailers absorbing much of the hike in VAT, a comprehensive survey revealed today. Even more price pressure could spill through to consumers in the coming months, the British Retail Consortium warned. “Retailers generally took the [...]
China’s online shoppers set confident example February 8, 2011 THE British online consumer is as negative about the domestic economic outlook for the next twelve months as the Chinese online consumer is positive, according to Bloomberg/YouGov’s Household Economic Activity Tracker (Heat). Fifty-four per cent of Chinese respondents to Bloomberg/YouGov’s online poll of consumers answered that they expected their household financial situation to improve over [...]
French businesses start the year on a high as German industry is hit by snow February 8, 2011 FRENCH business confidence spiked to a three-year high in January, the Bank of France revealed yesterday. The surge prompted the Bank to forecast growth of 0.8 per cent for the first quarter of this year. Such an expansion in GDP would be the fastest quarterly growth rate in seven years and more than double what [...]
Quantitative easing must stop, say top Fed officials February 8, 2011 AMERICA’S monetary stimulus should be withdrawn at the “earliest sign” of core inflation pressures taking hold, Richard Fisher of the Federal Reserve said last night. And no extension of quantitative easing (QE2) is warranted, he said. It was “hard to envision a scenario where I would not formally dissent against another tranche of monetary accommodation,” [...]
Public debt payments to exceed education budget February 8, 2011 FAILING to reduce the government’s deficit could see bond markets rapidly closing in against the UK, a City based economic forecaster will say today. And costs of servicing the government’s debt will soon exceed public spending on education, according to financial consultancy Fathom, which holds its monetary policy forum in London this morning. Servicing general [...]
Businesses need help to export February 8, 2011 More needs to be done to get British companies exporting, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said today. In a survey of 8,000 companies, nearly 70 per cent were not current or likely exporters, it said. And among companies that do export, 15 per cent still face difficulties accessing trade finance and insurance. Most businesses [...]
Britons downbeat over economy February 8, 2011 People in emerging markets are among the most optimistic about the economic recovery in the world, research from Ipsos MORI revealed yesterday. Over half the respondents in two of the “BRIC” nations – Brazil (78 per cent) and India (61 per cent) – expect their economy to get stronger in the next six months. In [...]
American job openings slow February 8, 2011 US job openings slipped in December, according to official data released yesterday, but a decline in layoffs supported views of a gradual labour market recovery. Job openings, a measure of labour demand, eased 139,000 to 3.1m, according to a monthly labour market survey. “Yet the overall trend of this series still appears to be upward,” [...]
Toyota lifts outlook despite fall in profit February 8, 2011 TOYOTA has lifted its annual forecasts beyond market expectations as cost cuts and sales exceeded its plans, but a heavy reliance on exports will keep it a laggard as long as the yen stays strong. The world’s top automaker posted a smaller-than-expected fall in third quarter profits and hiked its sales forecast for the year [...]
Arcelor predicts rise in core revenue after 2010 slump February 8, 2011 ARCELORMITTAL, the world’s largest steelmaker, has forecast a faster than expected recovery in demand and prices at the start of 2011 after a margin squeeze in the fourth quarter. The Luxembourg-based company, which makes six to seven per cent of the world’s steel, said yesterday core profit would improve in the first quarter by more [...]
