BUY ONE GET ONE FREE October 12, 2010 SPECIAL offers made up 37 per cent of goods by volume sold in supermarkets in September, according to research by Nielsen. The record high beats last year’s Christmas rush, when 34.5 per cent of goods were bought through special offers. Turnover at supermarkets grew 5.1 per cent in the quarter to 2 October.
UK trade gap narrows but imports fall October 12, 2010 THE UK’s trade deficit narrowed slightly, official figures showed yesterday, but imports fell by twice as much as export, suggesting a softening of domestic demand. The trade deficit fell to £4.6bn in August, falling back from a five-year high of £5bn in July. While there was an improvement in the UK’s net trade position – [...]
Rate rise risk to UK says Miles October 12, 2010 A senior member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) warned yesterday the UK economy faced a real danger from the?Bank of England tightening monetary policy too early. During a speech in Dublin David Miles said the MPC faced a risk of “tightening monetary policy too soon” adding the UK economy faced an uncertain future. He [...]
Outlook for housing market uncertain as remortgaging falls to ten-year low October 12, 2010 THE days of excessive mortgage lending seen prior to the credit crunch will not return, the Council of Mortgage Lender’s (CML) director-general, Michael Coogan said yesterday, as its latest figures showed remortgage activity had fallen to its lowest level in over a decade. August saw 25,000 remortgages advanced by lenders, accounting for 25 per cent [...]
Foreign investors take up a quarter of Greek T-bills October 12, 2010 FOREIGN investors bought about 27 per cent of Greece’s issue of six-month T-bills auctioned yesterday, said the head of the country’s debt agency. “Foreign take up was constant at about 27 per cent,” PDMA chief Petros Christodoulou said. Greece sold €1.17bn (£1.03bn) of six-month T-bills at an average yield of 4.54 per cent, down from [...]
House prices rose 8.3% year-on-year in August October 12, 2010 HOUSE prices grew 8.3 per cent year-on-year in August, slightly down on July’s figure of 8.4 per cent, official figures showed yesterday. Property prices rose 0.7 per cent in August, helping the annual rate of growth recover some ground after July’s 0.3 per cent fall. The Department of Communities and Local Government said the average [...]
CPI inflation holds steady in September October 12, 2010 CONSUMER Price Index (CPI) inflation remained at 3.1 per cent in September, unchanged from August official figures released yesterday showed, continuing the trend of above target inflation. Meanwhile, Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation was 4.6 per cent, down from 4.7 per cent in August but above analysts expectations of 4.4 per cent. The Office for [...]
IASB hires new Dutch chair October 12, 2010 SIR DAVID Tweedie, chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is set to retire next year, with Hans Hoogervorst appointed to take over the top post. Tweedie will retire officially at the end of June 2011 after 10 years in the role. During that time, Tweedie established the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), which [...]
Tube bosses sit down with unions to avert more strikes October 12, 2010 LONDON Underground (LU) bosses went back to the drawing board with trade unions RMT and the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) yesterday in a bid to avert two more looming strikes and put an end to the long running dispute over staffing levels. The three parties met at conciliation service Acas yesterday afternoon to try [...]
Boost for Bank of Ireland as analyst tells its investors to buy its stock October 12, 2010 Spotting a potential gold nugget in the mist of the rubble, Collins Stewart has poked its head above the parapet and put a “buy” recommendation on an Irish bank. It recommended Bank of Ireland through its Quest analysis vehicle, saying it will benefit from the retreat of foreign banks from the market and is the [...]
