The UK’s construction sector just had its best month since March January 4, 2017 Output in the UK's construction sector showed a surprise jump in December – causing the industry to enjoy its best month since March. Markit's purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the sector rose to 54.2 in December, up from 52.8 in the previous month – despite economists expecting the figure to be flat. Any number above [...]
B&M side-steps clouds gathering over retail stocks January 4, 2017 B&M has side-stepped the overall gloom surrounding retail stocks this morning, rising over seven per cent in morning trading after a strong trading update. Other retail stocks – including Marks and Spencer's, Debenhams' and Associated British Foods' – have taken a hit today after Next tumbled 11 per cent at the open. Read more: Next [...]
Retailers’ share prices dragged down as Next sinks January 4, 2017 The retail sector is getting a hammering today after Next posted a sales slide for the Christmas season. Next's share price has tumbled 11 per cent in morning trading, and following it downwards are Marks and Spencer, which has fallen five per cent, and Primark-owner Associated British Foods, which is down 3.84 per cent. Read more: Retailers [...]
Shop prices continued to fall over Christmas – but inflationary pressures are pushing up clothing prices January 4, 2017 The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has called the start of a likely rise in inflation as it reported overall shop prices fell by 1.4 per cent in December, a deceleration from the 1.7 per cent fall in the previous two months. The sharp fall in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote has not [...]
Farewell to the game theory master who helped prevent a nuclear apocalypse January 4, 2017 Last year was a year of celebrity deaths. But perhaps the most significant of all received very little coverage. Just before Christmas, Thomas Schelling, Nobel Laureate in economics, died aged 95. In the early, tense years of the Cold War between America and the Soviet Union in the late 1940s and 1950s, Schelling’s ideas were [...]
Resolutions for your money: Experts give their personal finance tips for 2017 January 4, 2017 After the gift giving, sales shopping and other excesses of the festive season, many of us aspire to start the New Year with tighter belts. According to research by Masthaven, 78 per cent of Brits intend to save over the next 12 months, with 34 per cent of them planning to squirrel away more than they [...]
British Airways cabin crew to strike for two days from 10 January over pay row January 3, 2017 British Airways (BA) cabin crew will stage a 48-hour strike next week in an ongoing row over "poverty pay" at the airline. Staff from BA's "mixed fleet" crew, which is based at Heathrow and makes up about 15 per cent of the group's total cabin crew, will be involved in the walkout from 10 January. On [...]
Winter breeze: Almost a third of electricity generated by wind on Christmas Day as three new records set January 3, 2017 Festive cheer pushed the UK's wind power sector to record levels on Christmas Day, setting a trio of new records in the process. Almost a third (32 per cent) of the UK's electricity was generated by wind power on 25 December, up from a previous high of 24 per cent the energy network reached in [...]
Orange barmy army: Network Rail spends £103m on Christmas upgrades to rail infrastructure January 3, 2017 Network Rail hailed the success of its "orange army" of workers and revealed it had forked out £103m over the Christmas break upgrading Britain's rail network. The work was carried out at almost 200 locations across the UK. Meanwhile, commuters into London Waterloo will be pleased to hear that £4.5m of work scheduled at the station, or on the tracks [...]
Oil prices just hit an 18-month high January 3, 2017 The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil rose to an 18-month high this morning, as a deal between Opec countries continued to boost the market. WTI crude rose 2.5 per cent to $55.06 in early trading, its highest since July 2015. That pushed the price of Brent crude up 2.4 per cent to $58.19. Oil [...]