From Tesco’s share price and Donald Trump’s hot air to property prices spiralling out of control: Here’s what got us talking this week December 11, 2015 The most expensive car of the year sold for a cool £18m. The shadow City minister played hard to get.. And we remembered all sorts of things about the last 12 months. Here's What Got us Talking 1) You're probably not working at one of the best companies in the UK And, seeing as it's [...]
COP21 Climate Conference: Anti-oil movement picks up steam as fossil fuel divestment goes mainstream and oil prices remain stuck at multi-year lows December 11, 2015 Fabulously wealthy, from an empire built on the riches of oil, and one of the most powerful families in America, the Rockefellers' $860m (£567m) charitable fund shocked the world when it announced plans to strip the fund of fossil fuel investments. When the world needed an alternative energy source to costly whale oil, John D Rockefeller founded [...]
By punishing London’s buy-to-let investors, George Osborne is only hurting private renters December 11, 2015 According to a source at the Bank of England, 15 per cent of loans on their books are buy-to-let mortgages. The Bank has spent the last few years yanking levers for owner-occupiers to make sure they’re happy with its stress testing for interest rate rises. In the absence of such a shock absorber for buy-to-let [...]
IMF managing director Christine Lagarde says house prices, deficit, EU referendum could hurt UK growth December 11, 2015 Rapidly rising house prices and a "strikingly large" current account deficit could inhibit Britain's economic growth, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned this morning. In its annual report on Britain's economy, the IMF said that while UK growth has been strong in recent years, domestic risks threaten the "broadly positive outlook". "Domestic and external [...]
Standard Chartered’s share price rises as Asia-focused bank raises £3.3bn in rights issue December 11, 2015 Standard Chartered has raised £3.3bn through a rights issue of new stock, as part of ongoing efforts to bolster the bank's bottom line. Under new chief executive Bill Winters, the Asia-focused lender set out its plans to shore up the struggling firm last month. Other measures include reducing the global bank's headcount by 15,000. Today StanChart [...]
Legal & General to end quarterly reporting December 11, 2015 Asset manager Legal & General announced it will end quarterly reporting next year, to focus on the long-term interests of the company. "The board feels the decision will enhance its communications with investors and other stakeholders, as it will allow the company to better articulate Legal & General's business strategies and the long-term dynamics of its [...]
Property, Taylor Wimpey and the US dollar: Here are some of the best investments of 2015 December 11, 2015 Investing is always a bit of gamble, creating both winners and losers. So what did this year's winners invest in? There are no prizes for guessing property continued to provide investors with a sizeable return throughout 2015. Demand continued to pull away from supply at a dizzying rate. However, growth in London's Luxury market slowed slightly. Anyone who was lucky [...]
UK house prices: The most expensive streets in Britain are concentrated in Kensington and Chelsea – but each region has million-pound addresses (apart from Wales) December 11, 2015 Property price growth might be slowing in London, but when it comes to the top of the pile there is one borough within the capital that is still dominating. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea continues to reign as being home to the largest number of Britain's most expensive streets to buy a property on – in [...]
FTSE 100 closes down as Sports Direct struggles – London Report December 11, 2015 Gains for Glencore couldn’t keep the FTSE 100 up last night as both Sports Direct and Old Mutual fell hard. The index closed 0.63 per cent down at 6,088. Sports Direct slumped after Mike Ashley’s retailer posted poor first-half results and the company was criticised for staff conditions. Group revenue ticking up 0.1 per cent [...]
First-time housebuyers in a festive frenzy, as number of valuations for this purpose rocketed up 31 per cent compared to last year December 11, 2015 Christmas may have come early for some first-time buyers, as the number of valuations for homehunters in this category jumped up last month. According to a report out today by Connells Survey & Valuation, the number of valuations carried out for first-time buyers in November was 31 per cent higher than the same time last [...]