HSBC set to reduce fixed-rate deals as hopes rise that mortgage rates will start to fall July 25, 2023 HSBC became the first high street bank to announce they will be reducing rates on a swathe of their fixed-rate products, sparking hope that mortgage rates might begin to fall. Mortgage rates have spiralled in recent months as inflation has remained stubbornly above the Bank of England’s target. Traders are now betting that the Bank [...]
Date for petrol car ban ‘immovable,’ says Michael Gove July 25, 2023 The 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel car sales is an immovable deadline, Cabinet minister Michael Gove has insisted after Rishi Sunak cast doubt on the policy. The Housing Secretary warned costly plans to tackle the climate crisis could create a “backlash” as ministers come under pressure from the Tory right to relax existing pledges. Amid [...]
Reach: Mirror and Express publisher’s digital revenue hit by Facebook changes – but print shows promise July 25, 2023 Reach, the publisher of the Daily Mirror and Express newspapers, revealed a decline in digital but print has shown promising signs, as circulation revenue grows and print costs fall. The company reported digital revenues are down over 16 per cent from the same period last year to £217m, as page views tumble and lower referral [...]
Gove planning shake-up: ‘We need housing today, not tomorrow’ July 24, 2023 Michael Gove will loosen planning laws to allow vacant shops to be converted into homes as part of his latest efforts to tackle the UK’s housing crisis. On Monday the minister for housing and levelling up revealed a slew of planning reforms as well as a further commitment to building over 1m new homes across [...]
London office investment slumps to 14-year low July 24, 2023 London office investment slumped to a 14-year low in the second quarter of the year, new data shows, as high interest rates stifled momentum built up in the early months of the year. Some £1.2bn was spent on London offices last quarter, a 59 per cent drop on the £2.9bn spent in the previous quarter [...]
Addison Lee boss: Khan doesn’t want to solve congestion for London drivers July 24, 2023 Sadiq Khan doesn’t want to solve congestion problems for London’s car users, the boss of private hire taxi firm Addison Lee has said. “I just think that definitely the congestion in London should be something we want to solve,” Liam Griffin told City A.M. but “I’m not sure Khan wants to solve it for cars.” [...]
Sam Torrance: Hard but fair Open test suited magnificent Brian Harman perfectly July 24, 2023 You might not know Brian Harman if you walk past him in the street but, as he showed in winning the Open at the weekend, you’ll certainly know him when you hand in your scorecard. The low-key American was magnificent in all aspects of his game for the whole week on his way to winning [...]
Shapps has fired the starting gun on UK nuclear hopes but there must be no more delays July 24, 2023 Grant Shapps turned up fashionably late to the launch of industry vehicle Great British Nuclear, but the country needs no more delays.
Federal Reserve and European Central Bank may back final rate rises this week, experts bet July 24, 2023 US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank officials could launch their final interest rate rises this week as inflation ebbs in their respective economic blocs, experts are betting. Members of the federal open market committee (FOMC) are on Wednesday tipped to raise borrowing costs 25 basis points to a range of 5.25 per cent and [...]
Big tech look ahead: Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon shares in focus July 23, 2023 THE RACE to exploit the potential of artificial intelligence will dominate investor chatter around big tech this week, with all the big players set to release results to Wall Street.