High street kicks-off sales frenzy ahead of Christmas December 19, 2013 DISCOUNTING activity in the crucial run-up to Christmas has begun in earnest as new figures out yesterday showed that nearly three quarters of retailers were now holding sales in a last-minute bid to win over shoppers. PwC said 72 per cent of the 100 high street retailers surveyed were now on sale or holding promotions [...]
A Merry Christmas and thanks for your support during 2013 December 19, 2013 AFTER months of speculation about how the markets would react to the gradual phasing out of monetary stimulus in the US, we got part of our answer over the last 36 hours. And, it has to be said, it’s so far so good. Some assumed that even a hint of a tightening of monetary policy [...]
MPs call for ban on payday loan ads on kids’ TV December 19, 2013 A COMMITTEE of MPs has called for a ban on payday loan adverts being shown during children’s TV shows. A report out today from the Business Innovation and Skills select committee warns that consumers are particularly likely to use payday loans and the high rates charged by lenders during Christmas time, as budgets are stretched [...]
EY pays £1.2m over its audit of Christmas savings club Farepak December 19, 2013 EY, the accountancy group that checked the books for collapsed Christmas savings club Farepak, was yesterday reprimanded and agreed to pay £1.2m in fines and costs. Farepak’s collapse in 2006 left more than 100,000 savers out of pocket by a total of £37m. The Financial Reporting Council found yesterday that EY and its then-partner Alan [...]
Hedgies do festive brunch in the City December 19, 2013 ALONG with mince pies and Christmas jumpers, the festive season also brings with it a sack full of networking opportunities and yesterday The Capitalist hotfooted it along to HedgeBrunch, an opportunity for the alternative investment industry to quaff mulled wine and mingle. It was held in Steam and Rye, one of the City’s newest and [...]
Christmas spending set to be modestly higher than last year December 19, 2013 CHRISTMAS spending this year is forecast to rise to nearly £50bn, increasing by just more than inflation from last year’s level. Barclays reveal today that they believe spending will rise to £47bn over Christmas, an increase of 2.8 per cent on last year. Previous research from the bank has suggested that online sales will dominate [...]
New York Report: Stocks flat in Christmas lull December 19, 2013 US STOCKS finished mostly flat last night as investors paused after a rally in the previous session, though the Dow Jones Industrial Index closed at its second record high in a row. The Nasdaq declined slightly on weakness in tech shares, though its loss was limited by a rally in Oracle shares a day after [...]
2013 Christmas quiz: Test your knowledge December 19, 2013 Ian Stewart, Deloitte’s chief economist, poses the trickiest economics questions of the year 1. Between spring and autumn 2013, which of these countries received the largest upgrade to its 2013 GDP growth forecast from the IMF? a. Indiab. United Statesc. United Kingdom 2. Which luxury asset class saw the biggest increase in value between 2003 [...]
The Long View: Celebrate your festive commercialism – it’s an act of love in a free society December 19, 2013 IT’S A SHAME all the shopping has to spoil the true meaning of Christmas. Or so we get told at this time of year, usually by the same prophets of good cheer who want us to celebrate the season by donning hair shirts and cutting back on the booze. How wrong they are. And how [...]
Don’t let the Christmas curmudgeons dampen your holiday hedonism December 19, 2013 CHRISTMAS has become a magnet for miserabilists. Those sections of society that make a living from fretting over what the rest of us are eating, drinking and doing in our bedrooms are drawn to Christmas like moths to light, spying an opportunity to hector us about our gluttony and hedonism. It’s got to the stage [...]