Home owners paying lowest mortgage interest in years January 14, 2010 BARRATT Developments, the housebuilder, yesterday said recent bad weather had led to a flurry of online enquiries as it reported stronger first-half trading, adding to hopes the worst is over for the sector. Chief executive Mark Clare said online enquiries more than doubled in recent weeks as a countrywide cold snap forced many people to [...]
Barclays buys New York market maker LaBrance in a $25m deal January 14, 2010 BARCLAYS is buying New York Stock Exchange market maker LaBranche for $25m (£15.3m). The move means the bank can strengthen its position as the biggest market maker on the index. The deal will also reduce the number of designated market makers (DMM) on the NYSE to just four with electronic systems becoming more widely used. [...]
HOUSING REBOUND January 14, 2010 LUXURY house prices in London bounced back in 2009 as wealthy buyers battled it out for a shrinking supply of homes. According to agent Savills, the average value of houses and flats on the market for more than £1m surged by 8.8 per cent, while prices remain 13 per cent lower than at their 2007 [...]
Economists in dispute over BoE strategy January 14, 2010 ECONOMISTS proved divided over the success of the Bank of England’s quantitative easing (QE) policy at a roundtable hosted by the Bank of England and the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). A summary of the discussion, which took place on 15 December, was released yesterday on the condition that participants were kept anonymous. It [...]
US retail sales slip but revisions likely January 14, 2010 IN SPITE of a weak performance in December, US retail sales are starting to show signs of improvement as consumer confidence begins to return to the world’s largest economy. Fresh data released yesterday showed sales falling 0.3 per cent last month, but this was compared to an upwardly-revised 1.8 per cent November figure and analysts [...]
No change to ECB stance as Greece unveils reforms January 14, 2010 HEADLINE Eurozone interest rates remained on hold yesterday at one per cent as the European Central Bank (ECB) waits for the recovery to become more entrenched before tightening policy further. Last month, the central bank started to withdraw its stimulus by removing unlimited cheap loans to banks. ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet told a press conference [...]
DSG: Currys owner gets a lift from TV and computer sales January 14, 2010 CURRYS and PC World owner DSG International had better-than-expected festive sales figures after strong demand for TVs and laptops. Sales surged by eight per cent in the 12 weeks to 9 January. Analysts had only predicted a rise of between two and three per cent. Chief executive John Browett said: “Looking forward, we expect 2010 [...]
HMV: Weak performance of Waterstone’s is drag on trading January 14, 2010 MUSIC and book retailer HMV posted a fall in like-for-like sales over Christmas – dragged down by the poor performance of its Waterstone’s business. Sales in the five weeks to January were down 1.2 per cent overall even though the group’s CD and DVD chain in the UK and Ireland saw a lift of 2.2 [...]
Booker: Cash and carry firm boosted January 14, 2010 SALES at the country’s largest cash-and-carry wholesaler Booker Group rose 6.7 per cent in the 16 weeks to 1 January, with increased customer numbers and improved average spend per shopper boosting the figures. The company said in a statement: “Following improvements to the range, fresh departments did particularly well with fruit and vegetable sales up [...]
Alexon: Fashion firm off target January 14, 2010 SHARES in women’s fashion retailer Alexon plunged after the company yesterday admitted that it was unlikely to hit its targets. Like-for-like sales for the 23 weeks to 9 January fell 14.3 per cent. Shares dropped up to 11 per cent, before recovering to close five per cent lower at 36p after the firm said poor [...]
