STORM CLOUDS GATHER OVER THE ECONOMY June 2, 2011 ■ Slowest US and UK factory activity since September 2009 ■ Inflation pressures start to feed through into British wages ■ Yields on 10-year US government bonds fall to three per cent STORM clouds gathered over the global economy yesterday, as a raft of gloomy data poured doubt on the strength of the UK and world [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 31, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES WALL STREET “MISPRICED” LINKEDIN’S IPO A prominent Facebook investor and director accused Wall Street of undervaluing the LinkedIn initial public offering earlier this month, contributing to the doubling of its shares on opening day. Peter Thiel, an early Facebook investor and co-founder of PayPal, said banks did not understand the full potential of [...]
EU is set for its own sub-prime crisis April 18, 2011 HUMAN beings have an infinite capacity for self-delusion, especially when it comes to matters financial. I still remember how, in late 2006 and early 2007, all too few investors, financiers, commentators and regulators wanted to believe that the US property market was in the early stages of a crash or that there was anything to [...]
EU is set for its own sub-prime crisis April 17, 2011 HUMAN beings have an infinite capacity for self-delusion, especially when it comes to matters financial. I still remember how, in late 2006 and early 2007, all too few investors, financiers, commentators and regulators wanted to believe that the US property market was in the early stages of a crash or that there was anything to [...]
London house prices record another jump April 11, 2011 HOUSE prices in London have increased for the second straight month, as the capital continues to defy the housing market slump afflicting the rest of the UK. In London a positive balance of 21 per cent of chartered surveyors reported rising house prices in March, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) revealed today. In [...]
DEFAULT ZONE April 7, 2011 FRESH worries about the viability of the euro surfaced yesterday as the ECB became the first major central bank to hike interest rates from historic lows, raising the base rate from one to 1.25 per cent. The Institute of Directors (IoD) said that a euro break-up is “probably the number one macroeconomic risk to the [...]
FACT CHECKER April 7, 2011 “IS SPAIN next?” seemed to be the question on every economist’s lips this week even before Portugal bowed to the inevitable. A Spanish bailout would swamp the current €440bn bailout fund and could take the single currency with it. But there are good reasons to think that the debt contagion will stop short of Madrid. [...]
CITY VIEWS: SHOULD THE BANK OF ENGLAND RAISE INTEREST RATES TOMORROW? April 5, 2011 ANTHONY JEFFERYS | AXA INSURANCE “Yes I think it should start to increase Bank rate. Mainly because inflationary pressures are too heavy at the moment, and the rise in oil prices means an interest rate increase is all but inevitable at some stage.” OLIVER STAPLE | HORN & CO “As someone with a mortgage, I [...]
Shock rise in mortgage defaults in 2011 March 31, 2011 MORTGAGE defaults have unexpectedly shot up in the first three months of the year, the Bank of England revealed yesterday. A positive balance of 11.5 per cent of respondents to the Bank’s credit conditions survey reported a rise in defaults on secured loans to households. Worse, even more – a positive balance of 14.3 per [...]
House prices turn upwards in London yet continue to slump in rest of the UK March 30, 2011 LONDON is the first UK region to register a rise in house prices for eight months, the Hometrack monthly national housing survey announced today. While prices across the UK fell by 0.1 per cent in March, in the capital they rose by 0.2 per cent. The upturn was driven by a 25 per cent increase [...]