Fund managers are seeking Brazilian market exposure September 21, 2010 ARE CIVITS the new BRICs? The emerging market acronym – BRICs – standing for Brazil, Russia, India and China has been cast aside for CIVITS, the latest buzzword for China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Turkey and South Africa. But rather than get excited by the new entries, some fund managers are chasing after the developing middle [...]
Borrowing at a 10-year low September 20, 2010 MORTGAGE lending in the UK hit a 10-year low in August falling to £11.4bn, down 14 per cent from £13.3bn in July, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said yesterday. The figure was also down six per cent from £12.1bn in August 2009 with the CML warning lending levels were likely to remain subdued until [...]
Mortagage lending falls in August September 20, 2010 Gross mortgage lending fell six per cent year-on-year in August to £13.3bn, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has said. That was the lowest August total since 2000 and represented a drop of 14 per cent from July. The figures chimes with other surveys in showing a cooling in the housing market following a sharp recovery [...]
Default risks keep cost of lending high September 19, 2010 AN INCREASE in financial institutions’ perceived riskiness and their need to shore up balance sheets in the wake of the credit crisis has kept the cost of borrowing high despite the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) slashing headline interest rates to historic lows, the Bank of England will say today in its latest quarterly bulletin. Despite [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: IS THE HOUSING MARKET SLIDE SUGGESTING THAT THE ECONOMY IS HEADING BACK INTO RECESSION? September 19, 2010 HOWARD ARCHER | GLOBAL INSIGHT “The more worried that consumers are, the more reluctant they will be to commit to buying a house. It is notable that surveys have recently been showing reduced buyer interest. Given this backdrop, we suspect that house prices could fall by around 10 per cent between now and the end [...]
The Co-op boss who is on a mission to rejuvenate an iconic organisation September 19, 2010 IT IS EASY to see why Co-operative Group chief executive Peter Marks is so excited about the new £180m head office that will open on a 20-acre site in the centre of Manchester in 2012. The current 1960s 13-storey building across the road seems to be made almost entirely of linoleum and plywood. I have [...]
BUYING September 16, 2010 MANAGING PARTNER AT BLACK BRICK Q.Dear Camilla, there has been a fair amount of negative news in the papers relating to property prices. Do you think prices are going to crash again like they did in 2008? A.With so much conflicting data and house price indices, trying to determine what is happening with house prices [...]
Surge in food prices keeps inflation high September 14, 2010 HEADLINE annual inflation held steady at 3.1 per cent in August as sharp rises in the cost of air fares, clothing and food prices offset softer petrol prices, official figures revealed yesterday. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that inflation rose 0.5 per cent between July and August but that the annual rate remained [...]
Ex-Moody’s analyst sues for defamation September 13, 2010 A former Moody’s analyst, who drew attention to what he considered questionable credit ratings for some of the most toxic securities in the US financial crisis, yesterday sued the company, accusing it of campaigning to discredit him. Ilya Eric Kolchinsky, a former managing director at Moody’s Investor Service, oversaw ratings of pools of debt backed [...]
CML: Lending weak in July September 13, 2010 MORTGAGE lending in July continued to be weak in what is often a strong month, according to the latest figures released yesterday from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). The CML said mortgage lenders issued 56,000 new mortgages worth £8.4bn in July, up slightly on June’s figure of 52,000 mortgages at £7.7bn and 53,000 mortgages [...]