Carney: No rate hike to cool house prices May 14, 2014 INTEREST rates will not be hiked to slow London’s housing boom, Mark Carney said yesterday, arguing there are limits to the Bank of England’s powers when the crisis is caused by a crippling shortage of home building. Instead, Carney said he could make it more expensive for banks to give out mortgages, taking some of [...]
The Bank of England is playing with fire by keeping rates so low May 14, 2014 INTEREST rates won’t be going up any time soon, even though the economy is now booming. The reason is simple: the Bank of England is deadly serious about using other tools to calm down the housing market if it feels that it is overheating; interest rates, or at least the Bank base rate, are now [...]
Letters to the Editor – 15/05 – Politicising M&A, Best of Twitter May 14, 2014 Politicising M&A [Re: Britain’s apparently open economy can’t afford this Pfizer political inquisition, yesterday] Government interference in the market always leads to disaster. The shareholders and their board of directors created Pfizer and Astrazeneca, and only they should decide their future. House of Commons committees are merely a device for airing political prejudice or personal [...]
What you need to know before the open May 14, 2014 Markets are expected to pause somewhat today, keeping their powder dry ahead of the Bank of England’s inflation report. US markets hit a record high again yesterday, buoyed by hopes that the ECB will act next month to ease monetary policy. Final inflation numbers from Germany and France could give analysts some clues as to [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 14 May 2014 May 13, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Danone in talks over medical sale Danone is in talks with Nestle and other potential buyers over the disposal of most of its medical nutrition division, as it eyes an expansion of its baby food business. The French group, which is being advised by JP Morgan, stands to raise up to €5bn (£4.07bn) [...]
Barratt and Derwent benefit from recovery May 8, 2014 BARRATT Developments expects to secure reservations on more than a quarter of next year’s private completions by June as the UK’s housing recovery continues apace. Chief executive Mark Clare said yesterday that rising consumer confidence and better mortgage availability meant sales rates had now reached an “optimum level”, with Barratt registering an average of 0.77 [...]
Tech to simplify moving home May 8, 2014 Melissa York meets the Tech City whizzes behind Plentific.com FINDING somewhere to live can seem like a never-ending headache, especially if you’re doing it for the first time. But Plentific, the latest in a series of tech start-ups looking to grab a slice of the property market, wants to use technology to take the stress [...]
What you need to know before the US open May 8, 2014 US markets are expected to open higher today following Vladimir Putin’s more conciliatory stance towards the Ukrainian election, and better than expected initial jobless claims numbers. The number of people signing on for unemployment benefit for the first time fell by 26,000 last week, to 319,000. Over here in Europe, both the Bank of England [...]
Bank of England inaction threatens house price bubble, warns analyst May 8, 2014 April saw a rare fall in house prices, according to the latest data from Halifax. They dropped by 0.2 per cent, a small monthly decline. But on an annual basis, UK house prices are now up by 8.5 per cent in the three months to April. House prices are driven by supply and demand, and [...]
Yellen: Low rates to stay as labour market still unsatisfactory May 7, 2014 Janet Yellen has today defended the US’s central bank’s accommodative policy, saying it still remains warranted – it’s not rushing to raise interest rates. Giving her testimony to Congress, this is Yellen’s first opportunity to speak following April’s improved jobs figures. Dismissing concerns over growth stangation in the first quarter – which, she said, were [...]