Greece and Ireland make progress as deficit rises in Italy September 25, 2013 Greece and Ireland have had significant success in reducing their budget deficits whilst Portugal and Italy have both seen their deficits widen, according to a note from Capital Economics. A reduction in interest payments and a transfer of profits on the ECB's holding of Greek government bonds lead to the Greece's deficit coming in below [...]
Retail sales grow at fastest pace since June 2012 September 25, 2013 UK retail sales have grown at their fastest pace in 15 months, according to new data from the CBI. Their headline index of retail transactions grew from 27 to 34, despite forecasts of a drop to 24 in the year to September. More details and analysis on the liveblog.
Fastest retail sales rise in 15 months suggests higher GDP growth in third quarter September 25, 2013 UK retail sales are now growing at their fastest pace in 15 months in the year to September, according to the CBI. That's their third consecutive months of gains. The headline CBI distributive trades survey number has risen from 27 to 34. Analysts had been expecting a fall to 24. Now retail sales are expected [...]
PPI claims costs banks nearly £12bn as FCA finds “significant room for improvement” in complaint handling September 25, 2013 Regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that total redress paid out now stands at nearly £12bn. A review by the FCA has looked into the complaints handling of 18 medium and small sized firms. The FCA has found that of those 18 firms, 12 have "serious problems with complaint handling decisions and communications [...]
UK becomes more attractive place to invest as foreign ownership of shares passes 50 per cent September 25, 2013 (ONS) UK share ownership has marginally increased to 10.7 per cent representing improvement from the record lows of 2010. The UK stock-market was valued at £1,756.3bn down from £1,777.5bn at the end of 2010. The UK however remains attractive to foreign investors with rest of the world ownership standing at 53.2 per cent up significantly [...]
Trouble ahead for Tesco as JP Morgan downgrades supermarket September 25, 2013 Tesco have been downgraded to underweight by J.P. Morgan. The supermarket is expected to underpeform due to structural changes in the UK food industry which may have a particularly damaging effect on Tesco. According to JP Morgan's Jaime Vazquez: In our view, pricing architecture is an industry problem, but is of most concern to Tesco [...]
London women least likely to be employed in Great Britain September 25, 2013 The employment of women is rising, while the employment of men over 40 is in decline, according to new figures from the Office for National Figures. Despite that fall in the employment of older men, men above 22 still have consistently higher employment rates than women. In London and Northern Ireland rates of women in [...]
Miner Anglo American settles 23 lung disease claims September 25, 2013 Anglo American South Africa (AASA) has announced the settlement of 23 stand-alone silicosis claims, from the period 2004 to 2009 (release). The miner says that it is one of a number of companies facing class action litigation that involve thousands of former mine workers. AASA denies any liability and will continue to defend against those [...]
Concern over Portuguese banks as second bailout looms September 25, 2013 Worries continue to mount over the health of the Portuguese banking sector. Analysts at Nomura find that the Portuguese banks underperformed the sector by nine per cent. When compared to other banks in the banks in the troubled Mediterranean companies the situation looks even more dire. When compared to Spain underperformance of the Portuguese banking [...]
Amazon unveils new Kindle Fire HDX tablets September 25, 2013 Amazon has unveiled two new Kindles. The Kindle Fire HDX includes a new feature which allows users to open an video chat with a tech-support to instruct the user how to operate the new device. Chief executive Jeff Bezos, speaking to reporters at Amazon headquarters in Seattle said of the new feature named the 'May Day [...]
