Our nation of shoppers is not about to quit the habit yet July 14, 2010 SINCE the onset of the recession, the pressure has increased to turn the UK economy into a manufacturing centre of excellence and at the same time become a nation of savers. But has the nation really turned its back on its former favourite pastime, shopping? Well, the hard data would suggest no. According to the [...]
Barratt on target for full year profit July 14, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Barratt Developments said the group’s full-year profits will come in above expectations as it continues to focus on maximising selling prices while keeping a lid on costs. The UK’s third largest housebuilder has pencilled in an operating profit of at least £85m with margins rising to four per cent. The average selling price rose [...]
Fuel price dip cuts inflation rate for June July 13, 2010 FALLING fuel prices helped annual inflation to ease in June for the second month in a row but core inflation, which excludes energy and food costs, worrying rose last month, official data showed yesterday. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed the consumer prices index (CPI) eased to 3.2 per cent last month from 3.4 [...]
Mortgage lending up in May but outlook unclear July 12, 2010 MORTGAGE lending rose slightly in May thanks to continued record low interest rates, the Council for Mortgage Lenders (CML) said yesterday. It reported that 42,000 loans worth £6bn for house purchase were advanced in May, a 15 per cent increase on a year earlier. Remortgaging activity recovered a little as well in May, rising on [...]
Property prices drop in June July 8, 2010 HOUSE prices in Britain dropped 0.6 per cent in June, the third successive monthly fall, a survey from mortgage lender Halifax has shown. Halifax said the decline was a continuation of a trend since the start of this year and was in line with its view that house prices would be broadly flat over 2010 [...]
Housing market confidence takes a knock as job losses worry owners July 6, 2010 CONFIDENCE in the housing market dipped slightly last month, as worries about interest rate rises and job losses loomed over homeowners, according to a survey released yesterday. Just over three-quarters of homeowners believe property prices will rise in the next six months, down from 81 per cent who predicted gains in April. Around 27 per [...]
LABOUR DATA IS A WORRY FOR THE US July 5, 2010 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT FOR many investors the long weekend in the US couldn’t have come at a better time. On top of Europe’s sovereign debt problems, and signs that Chinese growth is slowing, recent data from the US suggests that the much-hyped economic recovery may be reversing. We have seen housing data sour following [...]
The real causes of the crisis of 2008 July 1, 2010 FOR all the latest furore surrounding bankers’ bonuses and the rest, we have yet again lost sight of how the crisis actually began, and politicians and regulators’ central role in promoting it. There were many factors, of course, with private institutions often behaving foolishly – but sub-prime lending, the crisis’ central catalyst, was promoted by [...]
BoE: Mortgage crunch ahead July 1, 2010 HOMEBUYERS were warned yesterday by the Bank of England that it would be more difficult for them to obtain a mortgage over the coming quarter as lenders anticipated a tightening in wholesale funding market conditions. Availability of secured credit had risen slightly in the three months to early June 2010, the Bank said. However, individuals’ [...]
Worst quarter for stocks since 2008 June 30, 2010 THE stock market closed out a painful second quarter yesterday and left investors with heavy losses and far more doubts about the economy than they had just months ago. Stocks had their worst quarterly performance since the financial crisis. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index, considered by many professional investors to be the best measure [...]