Where to invest following stock market carnage: Europe and China top the experts’ buy lists September 9, 2015 Global stock markets took a battering this summer. At one point, nearly $2 trillion had been wiped off the value of shares across markets as diverse as Germany, China, the US and Argentina. The falls were trigged by worries over the state of China’s economy. Although Chinese companies make up only a small part [...]
UK housing marktet: Record low rates spur mortgage lending climb September 9, 2015 Record low borrowing costs and competition between banks led to a rise in mortgage lending from April to June, figures released by the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority showed yesterday. The total value of mortgages advanced was £52.5bn over the period, a 15.1 per cent jump on the same time last year. The [...]
Motoring review: Fiat 500 1.2 Pop Star September 7, 2015 IT’S s a city car, so you need to drive it in the City”, they said. Fair enough. So why am I aboard a boat, admiring the view of Tower Bridge exchanging small-talk with a fashion blogger while sipping a virgin cocktail? Well, I’m at the launch of the new Fiat 500, of course. By [...]
Motoring review: Fiat 500 1.2 Pop Star September 7, 2015 IT’S s a city car, so you need to drive it in the City”, they said. Fair enough. So why am I aboard a boat, admiring the view of Tower Bridge exchanging small-talk with a fashion blogger while sipping a virgin cocktail? Well, I’m at the launch of the new Fiat 500, of course. By [...]
London property focus on North Greenwich: Affordable homes by the riverside September 4, 2015 Fancy a night out in North Greenwich? No, not that one with the market, the chapels, the observatory and the ship. The other one with the O2 Arena and… not much else. It’s a hard sell, truth be told, so imagine how much harder it must be to convince someone to live there. Once a [...]
Labour must be a credible government-in-waiting to win over City A.M. readers September 2, 2015 The first speech I gave in the Labour leadership contest was on the economy and business. I acknowledged that, despite many pro-growth policies, too many businesses, their owners and employees looked at the Labour Party in recent years and did not see a party that understood their challenges or was on their side. This [...]
Bank of England interest rate rise threat sends first-time buyer sales to a pre-recession high August 28, 2015 The threat of a rise in borrowing costs led first-time buyers to look through increased deposit costs and indulge in a "summer of white-hot activity" with completed transactions hitting a pre-recession high. Monthly first-time buyer sales rose 4.9 per cent to 29,700 in the month to July, according to an index by estate agents Your Move and [...]
Jurassic World boosts first-half profit at Odeon and UCI Cinemas August 28, 2015 Odeon and UCI Cinemas yesterday unveiled a blockbuster rise in first-half revenue and earnings, thanks to box-office smashes such as Jurassic World. The cinema chain, owned by the Terra Firma private equity firm, saw its core earnings more than double to £37.3m, while revenue increased by 17.1 per cent to £348.7m. Attendance rose 13.8 per [...]
Maximum excitement with sporting index August 27, 2015 THERE’S eight Premier League games for sports spread bettors to get stuck into tomorrow and Sporting Index have a number of markets that revolve around all the matches. Aggregate total goals is a prediction on how many goals in total will be scored across the eight fixtures. It’s pitched at 22.5-23.3. If you were expecting [...]
Government’s starter homes programme won’t help London’s first-time buyers August 27, 2015 Londoners hoping to buy their first home will not get much help from the government, according to a new report out today. In the report, Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity, takes issue with the government’s affordable house building policies, saying its flagship “starter homes” programme will fail to help most first-time buyers. Prime Minister [...]