London Report: UK’s corporate calendar packed in results season July 28, 2013 THE CORPORATE calendar is packed this week, as businesses including ITV, BP, Lloyds, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland update the market amid a swathe of other results. The week begins with figures from Fidessa Group, Hammerson, InterContinental Hotels Group, Intertek Group, JKX Oil & Gas, Keller Group, Senior, Vernalis, Reckitt Benckiser Group, National Grid, [...]
Hooked on help to buy July 23, 2013 THE GOVERNMENT’S commitment to underwrite hundreds of thousands of mortgages is “like a drug” that will artificially inflate house prices, critics have warned. George Osborne yesterday confirmed details of the next stage of his Help to Buy scheme, which will guarantee £130bn worth of mortgages from January 2014. Buyers will need a deposit of just [...]
UK mortgage approvals rise to a 17-month high as chancellor meets with lenders to discuss Help to Buy July 23, 2013 Some 37,278 home loans were approved in June 2013 – a 17-month high – according to a report from the British Banker’s Association. While this came in below analysts' expectations of a rise to 38,500, mortgage approvals were still up 32 per cent from June 2012 and 17 per cent from the 2012 average. It [...]
Before the open – 23/07 July 23, 2013 Asian markets have performed well overnight as hints of Chinese easing have given traders confidence in equities. Now we're expecting that exuberance to translate into some mild gains for the FTSE and other European markets. Good morning – looking ahead to the open here are the forecasts for indices: FTSE100 +15 at 6638; DAX +20 [...]
RBS and Lloyds results look set to show losses February 24, 2013 STATE-BACKED banks Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group are both expected to announce full-year results this week, with analysts forecasting both lenders will remain loss-making. Investec believes RBS, which will deliver its 2012 figures on Thursday, will announce an attributable loss of £2.2bn for the final quarter – or a £5.6bn loss for [...]
Mortgage rates fall to new low with state aid February 21, 2013 MORTGAGE interest rates dropped to their lowest level ever in February, new figures showed yesterday, six months after the Bank of England started offering banks cheap funding in an effort to boost lending to the private sector. The average five-year fixed mortgage costs just 4.14 per cent, according to finance research site MoneyFacts. That is [...]
Credit scheme eats away rates on mortgages February 11, 2013 THE HOUSING market switched up a gear as 2013 began, several sets of data have revealed. Credit costs for a range of mortgage types plunged yet again, according to Bank of England data, suggesting that the government and Bank ’s Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) has driven funds back into the housing market. The average [...]
Charming Carney wins hearts February 7, 2013 GOLDMAN Sachs bankers don’t often get a warm welcome from Labour MPs. Nor do public sector staff earning the best part of £1m. Lauded as the greatest central banker of his generation – and, as it happens, the best looking – Mark Carney was surely in for a hard bump back to earth. “Quarter of [...]
UK house prices propped up by lending scheme February 6, 2013 THE HOUSING market has sprung back to life in recent months, Halifax said yesterday, while citing the UK government’s lending initiative. Prices dipped 0.2 per cent in January when compared to December, the company said. Yet a three-monthly measure of house prices – used to iron out month by month fluctuations – rose at its [...]
House prices edge down in January February 6, 2013 UK house prices inched down 0.2 per cent in January following rises in November and December, according to the latest Halifax house price index. On an annual basis, house values rose by 1.3 per cent, marking the first rise in 27 months, according to the lender. “Market activity has also improved with sales in 2012 [...]