The Notebook: Victoria Scholar on stocks, China and Spiderman June 6, 2023 The notebook is a place where interesting people say interesting things. Today, it’s Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor The market mood is picking up with the S&P 500 enjoying its best week since March. The Dow surged over 2% on Friday, its biggest one-day gain since January and the Nasdaq Composite completed [...]
Investment slump amid higher interest rates risks finally sparking UK recession June 6, 2023 A mix of factors are buffeting the UK economy right now. Spending power is being crushed by high inflation eroding family finances. House prices are coming off their heady heights as sellers drop prices to source buyers amid higher mortgage rates. External demand is thinning in response to weak consumer confidence amid a global cost [...]
Families splashing cash despite high inflation and interest rates fuels services growth June 5, 2023 Families splashing the cash despite high inflation and interest rates crimping their budgets is keeping Britain’s services economy motoring along, a closely watched survey out today shows. S&P Global and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply’s (CIPS) final purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the services sector, which generates about £2 in every £3 in [...]
House prices to stutter after Bank of England interest rate hikes June 4, 2023 House price growth is poised to stutter, new figures out this week are expected to show, as prospective homeowners are gradually priced out of the market by the Bank of England’s successive interest rate rises.
Wall Street leaps after strong US jobs report June 3, 2023 Stocks moved higher on Friday after a strong report on the US job market suggested a recession may not be as close as Wall Street had feared. The S&P 500 leaped 1.5 per cent for the latest surge in a rally that has vaulted it nearly 20 per cent since mid-October. That put Wall Street’s [...]
HSBC leads banks’ plans to hike savings rates – and analysts say they could go up even further June 2, 2023 HSBC UK is boosting the interest rates on some savings accounts with increases of up to 0.75 percentage points, the bank has announced. The increases will come into effect next week, on Thursday June 8. They include a 0.75 percentage point increase on the bank’s mysavings and premier savings youth accounts, taking rates to 5.00 [...]
Wall Street rises on hopes the Fed may take it easier on rate hikes June 2, 2023 Wall Street rose on Thursday with hopes that the Federal Reserve may soon take it easier on its hikes to interest rates. The S&P 500 rallied 1 per cent after a suite of reports painted a picture of a split US economy. The job market remains solid, but manufacturing is weakening and retailers are seeing [...]
Prospective buyers hit with fresh blow as mortgage approvals continue to fall June 1, 2023 Prospective buyers continue to suffer setbacks as fresh data reveals that mortgage approvals fell during April. Net mortgage approvals for house purchases fell from 51,500 in March to 48,700 in April, figures from the Bank of England show, with experts predicting that the figure could fall further following the central bank’s decision to hike interest [...]
Interest rate hikes triggers house price fall and analysts think there’s further to go June 1, 2023 House prices remain below their August peak as demand softens following a spike in interest in early spring. The annual rate of house price growth slipped back to -3.4 per cent from -2.7 per cent in April, figures from Nationwide show, as the Bank of England’s decision to hike interest rates rattled buyers confidence. In [...]
House sales drop by almost a third as market braces for slowdown in mortgage approvals May 31, 2023 The number of houses sold in the UK has fallen by almost a third as the market struggles to upkeep the momentum from a surge in sales at the start of spring. UK residential transactions fell 32 per cent in April with 67,220 homes sold, figures from HMRC show, 32 per cent lower than April [...]