As the Bank of England predicts low inflation for longer, is real wage growth here to stay? November 12, 2014 Rob Wood is chief UK economist at Berenberg Bank, says Yes. Real wage growth is here to stay, but it’s important to keep some perspective. We are finally seeing wages rise above inflation, partly because petrol and food price falls have dragged the latter down. Money wage growth remains weak, if better than a few [...]
Aviva Investors’ Euan Munro on why markets will see more Wobbly Wednesdays November 11, 2014 It’s lunchtime at Aviva Investors’ offices at No.1 Poultry, but the three platters of fish, meat and vegetable sandwiches supplied by catering lie untouched on the table. Euan Munro, chief executive of the fund management house, is sitting drinking full fat Coca-Cola from a glass, while the pungent aroma of the Coq d’Argent restaurant upstairs [...]
Bank’s inflation report to give clues on rates – London Week November 9, 2014 MARKET attention this week will focus on the Bank of England’s Inflation Report, due for release on Wednesday, and the latest set of macroeconomic projections contained within it. The figures will help investors and analysts to determine just how far market expectations for the first hike in the interest rate have been pushed back. The [...]
Fresh food price drop set to help Christmas budgets go further November 4, 2014 Prices in shops continued to drop in October, with food inflation reaching a record low. Figures released today for the shop price index compiled by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and market analysts Nielsen show that shop prices fell by 1.9 per cent year-on-year in October. Food inflation fell to 0.1 per cent, the lowest [...]
Eurozone inflation hits expectations – but it’s still in the ECB’s “danger zone” October 31, 2014 Inflation in the Eurozone ticked up a tenth of a percentage point in October, which will do little to allay fears about the state of the economy in the single currency zone. According to the latest flash estimate (which will be confirmed next month) the rate was 0.4 per cent in October, compared with 0.3 [...]
Harvey Nash to wine and dine energy chiefs October 27, 2014 THE ENERGY industry’s top City slickers (pun intended) are set to meet for an evening of food and fine conversation at the Harvey Nash annual Oil & Gas dinner in The Dorchester’s Orchid Room tonight. Centrica’s outgoing boss Sam Laidlaw is the evening’s guest speaker and no doubt he’ll be looking forward to meeting old [...]
UK workers have £500 a month spare after tax and essentials October 27, 2014 The average employed person in the UK has £500 in spare cash each month, research from Lloyds bank today revealed. After paying bills and buying essential items like food, seven in 10 UK full-time workers have at least 25 per cent of their salary left over. This 25 per cent equates to £500 when considering [...]
10 things we learned this week: From Tesco’s share price and Facebook’s tax bill to cures for Ebola and the EU budget October 24, 2014 What a week. From troubles at Tesco (not least its share price) to Facebook's UK tax bill, we've had a busy front on company news. And when it came to international goings-on, the EU really kept us on our toes, while Ebola continued to dominate the news. Here we digest the top 10 stories [...]
Warm September hits clothing sales, but recovery still on track October 23, 2014 SUPERMARKET sales fell in September due to warm weather, delaying winter clothes purchases, but sales are expected to rebound towards the end of the year. The volume of sales fell by 0.3 per cent from August to September due to a 7.8 per cent fall in clothing sales. Last month marked the fourth warmest September [...]
US inflation up on food costs October 22, 2014 US CONSUMER prices rose marginally in September, painting a weak inflation picture that should give the Federal Reserve ample room to keep interest rates low for a while. The Labor Department said yesterday its Consumer Price Index edged up 0.1 per cent last month as a rise in food and shelter costs offset a decline [...]