Inflation dips on food prices April 12, 2011 INFLATION surprisingly slowed to four per cent in March, down from February’s 28-month high of 4.4 per cent, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said yesterday. Consumer prices rose 0.3 per cent from February to March, yet compared to the same months last year inflation slowed by 0.4 per cent. Food discounts by the UK’s [...]
Record drop in mortgage debt at end of 2010 April 4, 2011 BRITONS are no longer withdrawing equity from their houses to fuel consumer spending, official data suggests. Outstanding mortgage debt plummeted by £7bn in the final three months of last year — a record fall in debt — the Bank of England revealed yesterday. The figure sharply contrasts with levels of mortgage debt prior to the [...]
Osborne to hike tax allowances March 22, 2011 GEORGE Osborne will today unveil small tax cuts, help for first-time buyers and a series of symbolic measures to show he is tough on the rich. But his Budget could be overshadowed by spiralling inflation and weaker public finances, preventing him from pulling any rabbits out of his hat. The chancellor will announce that he [...]
What the other papers say this morning February 28, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES NORTHERN ROCK TO OFFER 90 PER CENT MORTGAGES Northern Rock is poised to launch a range of mortgages offering up to 90 per cent of a property’s value, marking the nationalised bank’s return to riskier lending three years after its collapse and government bail-out. The lossmaking lender could make the new high loan-to-value [...]
FED HAS DONE A GOOD JOB ON US EQUITIES January 31, 2011 THE Federal Reserve has so far done an excellent job of goosing US equities through its ongoing asset purchase programme. As Fed chairman Ben Bernanke has intimated, boosting stock prices is now one of the Reserve’s aims, on top of its officially mandated dual role of ensuring price stability and full employment. So investors were [...]
Inflation expectations surge to highest ever level, poll reveals January 23, 2011 INFLATION expectations have soared to a record high this month, as rising prices add to the squeeze on household spending, a survey said today. With 89 per cent of respondents expecting the cost of their purchases to rise this year, the Markit household finance index dropped to its lowest level since April 2009. “The recent [...]
FAITH IN QE2 LIMITS FALLS IN EQUITIES November 15, 2010 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT RECENTLY, investors have got used to their expectations being met. Republican victories in the mid-terms led investors to expect a more business-friendly environment. The Fed’s latest QE announcement was in line with estimates, while a thumping gain in non-farm payrolls has raised hopes that unemployment may have turned a corner. With [...]
US house sales surge in September as prices fall October 25, 2010 HOUSE sales in the US soared 10 per cent in September as buyers capitalised on low prices and a rising number of foreclosures, figures released yesterday showed. Sales jumped by 4.53m from August to September the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said. Despite the recover, sales remained almost 20 per cent lower than a year [...]
Retail sales hit by tax and inflation October 21, 2010 THERE is a simple reason why retail sales are beginning to fall, and it has very little to do with the Comprehensive Spending review. A triple whammy of limited pay rises, elevated inflation and tax increases have conspired to impoverish most of the public over the past year, a development that has been barely picked [...]
Austerity means cheaper mortgages September 9, 2010 SO the Bank of England, entirely unsurprisingly, kept its base rate unchanged yesterday, as advocated by almost all economists. I, together with a tiny number of dissidents, thought rates should go up, to send a signal to the markets that extreme measures were no longer required and that it was time to start readjusting to [...]