LESS GOVERNMENT SECTOR JOB LOSSES THAN EXPECTED, SAYS ITEM REPORT November 28, 2010 GOVERNMENT sector job losses have been overstated, according to a report out today. The Ernst and Young Item Club (Item) expects job cuts of 400,000 across this parliament, below current estimates of 490,000. The revision is due to greater savings from welfare reform, leaving more funds for Whitehall budgets. Departmental spending will be £11bn higher [...]
ECONOMIST VIEWS: WILL THE OBR REVISE ITS FORECASTS? November 28, 2010 MICHAEL SAUNDERS | CITIGROUP Growth is exceeding predictions despite Irish troubles, and business investment is strong. The OBR can revise down this year’s deficit forecast by £10bn, and next year’s by around £25bn. GEORGE BUCKLEY | DEUTSCHE BANK The OBR may revise up its growth forecasts this year, yet forecasts for following years seem too optimistic. [...]
SHOPPING ON WEB HITS £3K A SECOND November 28, 2010 ONLINE sales of £3,000 per second will be made on Visa cards today, totalling £265m, according to the company. Visa has coined today Mega Monday, as internet shoppers click through their Christmas shopping lists. Many will have received their November pay packages and be looking for cheap deals online. Sales are expected to peak at [...]
Service sector morale hit by consumer slump November 28, 2010 CONSUMER service businesses such as bars and restaurants are suffering from sluggish demand, according to a survey released today. Optimism plummeted 22 percentage points among consumer service executives, who have seen the value and volume of their businesses hit. Employers’ organisation the CBI surveyed 169 service sector firms, covering both consumer services and professional services [...]
Traffic free day earns London shops £250m November 28, 2010 OVER £250m was spent in West End shops this weekend, as consumers took advantage of the sixth annual traffic-free “VIP Day” in Oxford Street and Regent Street. And retailers are delighted with a reported boom in sales of “big ticket” items, after recent data pointed to a slump in people’s willingness to splash out on [...]
US Black Friday retail sales show small rise November 28, 2010 AMERICAN retail sales have edged up slightly from the same time last year, it was revealed over the weekend. Consumers spent $10.69bn (£6.9bn) on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when Americans traditionally kick off their festive shopping. Last year Black Friday sales totalled $10.66bn. The 0.3 per cent rise this year is lower than [...]
John Lewis stores defy cold snap November 28, 2010 SNOWSTORMS could not stop the boom in John Lewis sales, the department store announced yesterday. Sales last week were just short of £100m, up 8.7 per cent on the same time last year. And the Oxford Street branch recorded its best ever November week. Children’s toys are predictably selling well in the run up to [...]
UK to pay €7.9bn for €85bn Ireland rescue November 28, 2010 THE bailout of Ireland will cost the UK a total of €7.9bn (£6.37bn) after the beleaguered nation agreed an €85bn rescue package yesterday. George Osborne agreed to stump up a bilateral loan of €3.8bn on top of the UK’s committment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Financial Stability Mechanism (EFSM). The UK [...]
Greece could get 11 years to repay its €110bn debts November 28, 2010 THE EU and the IMF could extend the period in which Greece must repay its bailout loans by five years, to make it easier for it to service its debt, an IMF official has said. “We have the possibility to extend the repayment period… from about six years to around 11,” Poul Thomsen, the IMF [...]
No haircuts for senior bondholders at banks November 28, 2010 SENIOR bondholders in Irish banks escaped the bailout without taking a hit yesterday. Finance minister Brian Lenihan said the government needs to impose “big haircuts” on junior bondholders but said there was no appetite for forcing losses onto senior holders. European finance ministers decided, as expected, that imposing haircuts would have a detrimental effect on [...]
