House price growth slows despite ‘busier January than normal’ January 31, 2025 House price growth slowed slightly in January, but year-on-year growth remained robust despite higher interest rates. The annual rate of house price growth slowed to 4.1 per cent in January, compared with 4.7 per cent in December, according to the Nationwide House Price Index. House prices increased by 0.1 per cent month on month, after [...]
John Lewis misses festive sales target as turnaround falters January 31, 2025 Sales at John Lewis are reported to have fallen short over the key Christmas trading period as middle-class Brits increasingly switch to shops like Marks and Spencer. According to reports from the Daily Telegraph, sales at Waitrose similarly missed targets. The employee-owned John Lewis Partnership (JLP) blamed “lower consumer confidence and weaker than expected market confidence” for [...]
Smiths Group: FTSE 100 giant to be broken up January 31, 2025 Smiths Group has announced plans to ditch a big chunk of its business amid calls from investors for a major shake-up. The FTSE 100 engineering group said on Friday it intended to sell off Smiths Interconnect and separate Smiths Detection via a demerger or sale. Smiths said the move would enable it to double down [...]
More than 10,000 millionaires have left Britain in a year – this is where they’re all going January 31, 2025 More than 10,000 millionaires left Britain last year, partly to avoid higher taxes – with many quitting for more glamorous destinations. In total Britain lost a net 10,800 millionaires in 2024, according to the New World Wealth (NWW) analytics firm, more than any other country except China. That is a rise of 157 per cent [...]
Business confidence dips but the UK ‘has what it takes to deliver growth’ January 31, 2025 Overall business confidence slipped in January, although it was driven down by poorer sentiment about the wider economy rather than about individual businesses. Overall business confidence dipped two points to 37 per cent, with just over half of businesses positive about their own trading prospects and just under a quarter positive about the wider economy. [...]
FCA sets out plans to open up bond market to retail investors January 31, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has set out plans to slash “red tape” around the corporate bond market today in a bid to open up the asset class to retail investors and wealth managers. In consultation plans shared with City AM, the watchdog said it would look to coax more listed companies into issuing debt [...]
‘Self-harm’: Kemi Badenoch slams Rosebank and Jackdaw ruling January 30, 2025 Kemi Badenoch has slammed a Scottish courts ruling that green lighting the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields was unlawful. The written judgement on the two proposed fields off Shetland was announced on Thursday, following a court battle brought by environmental campaigners Uplift and Greenpeace. Lord Ericht ruled that a more scrupulous assessment of [...]
US economy grows less than expected but households remain resilient January 30, 2025 Figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) showed that the world's largest economy grew at an annualised rate of 2.3 per cent in the final three months of the 2024.
Former Trump ally Mike Pompeo joins London-listed copper firm January 30, 2025 Former US secretary of state and one-time Trump ally Mike Pompeo has joined London-listed copper miner ACG, bolstering its board as it plots a deals offensive and international expansion. ACG, led by a former executive at Russia’s biggest aluminium miner, said the former CIA director would join as a non-executive director and bring “valued strategic [...]
ECB cuts interest rates for fifth time after growth underwhelms January 30, 2025 The decision to cut rates by 25 basis points was widely expected by investors, and means the benchmark interest rate stands at 2.75 per cent.
