Stepping into the property market of the new world order August 11, 2011 WITH debt and financial turmoil gripping the economies of Europe, North America and Japan, it’s not hard to look at the rise of India, China and Singapore and sense a coming shift in global power. Recent headlines have been staggering: last year, David Cameron led the largest British trade delegation to India in living memory, [...]
HSBC seals sale of card arm for £20bn August 10, 2011 HSBC clinched the sale of its US credit card business to lending and banking group Capital One for a better than expected $32.7bn (£20bn) yesterday. The deal hives off the capital-intensive credit card division of the bank and leaves HSBC with just its core private and premier banking businesses in the US, part of the [...]
Tax benefits on equity would help SMEs thrive August 7, 2011 MARKET sentiment turned dramatically for the worse last week as political worries and disquieting economic data on both sides of the Atlantic outweighed relief at the threat of a US debt default being narrowly averted. Amid concerns deficit reduction plans will hit global growth prospects, UK politicians have focused on how the financial services sector [...]
Should the 50p rate be scrapped? August 1, 2011 YES SAJID JAVID, MP THE last Conservative manifesto was unequivocally right to include the pledge that “we do not regard the 50p tax rate as a permanent feature of the tax system” as, indeed, was Alan Johnson when he called for it to be ditched last November, when he was Labour’s shadow chancellor. Introduced by [...]
FTSE has a rollercoaster day as US data undoes debt rally August 1, 2011 BRITAIN’S top share index shed 0.7 per cent yesterday after a rollercoaster session, with early strong gains on relief over a debt deal in Washington wiped out later by weak ISM data which threw the spotlight back on a faltering US economy. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was down 40.76 points, or 0.7 [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 1, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES SUPER RICH TO GET NEW LONDON ADDRESS A leading European hedge fund is preparing to build one of London’s most expensive housing developments as global investors scramble to gain a foothold in the capital’s resurgent residential market. In a deal completed over the weekend, Orion Capital Managers acquired an acre of prime residential [...]
Three ways to lower capital gains tax bills July 27, 2011 CAPITAL gains tax (CGT) soon adds up. Upon exceeding your allowance of £10,600, you will be charged either 18 per cent if a basic rate taxpayer, or 28 per cent CGT if a higher or additional rate taxpayer. There are a number of ways in which you can mitigate the pain from this second and [...]
It’s as if the coalition wanted to fail July 25, 2011 IMAGINE you were trying to cripple private sector growth and throttle the recovery. Yes, I know only a fool would want to do that. But seriously – what would you do? Here are a few ideas. For a start, you would try and tie up businesses with as much red tape as possible. You would [...]
Nervous FTSE ends higher as EU solution for Greece looms July 21, 2011 FINANCIALS drove gains on Britain’s top share index yesterday, as hopes a solution could be found to Europe’s sovereign debt crisis boosted investor sentiment. The UK’s benchmark index closed up 46.07 points or 0.8 per cent at 5,899.89, having endured a choppy session, trading in a 137 point range as nervous investors jostled positions awaiting [...]
Down on the farm for the (lucrative) good life July 21, 2011 MOST of us have days when the fresh air and slower pace of country life appeals. Days when we would rather watch wheat sway in the breeze than its future price move on a Bloomberg terminal. This need not be a pipe dream though. It’s not just the wheat product’s price that is rising at [...]