PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS February 16, 2011 CREDIT CARD USERS NEED DIRECT DEBIT Research from Confused.com shows that Brits are wasting £150m a year on unnessary credit card charges. The majority of UK credit card users, 57.5 per cent, are missing minimum payments because they have not set up a direct debit, leaving them liable for a “late payment” charge from their [...]
Inflation hits 27-month high February 15, 2011 INFLATION reached its highest rate since November 2008 last month, as escalating price pressures and tax hikes continue to hammer households suffering from sluggish wage growth and rising unemployment. While inflation on the consumer price index (CPI) climbed 0.3 per cent to four per cent, the tax and price index (TPI) – which includes the [...]
Don’t blame speculators for soaring food prices February 14, 2011 Experts often tell us that retail investors should steer well clear of speculating in the soft commodities market. It’s too risky, they warn, with too many variables for the average private investor to make a fully informed choice. Chuck in a splash of unpredictable weather and a dash of political interference, and it’s all too [...]
Rolls Royce in 4pc profit rise February 10, 2011 Rolls-Royce posted a four per cent rise in full-year profit, helped by solid growth at its civil aerospace and energy units and said it had paid most of the costs associated with last year’s technical setbacks. The world’s second-largest maker of aeroplane engines reported an underlying pre-tax profit of £955m on revenues six per cent [...]
PRICE OF LOVE RUNS HIGH FOR ST VALENTINE February 7, 2011 WITH heart-strewn cards and lavish bouquets lining the shelves of the City’s shops, it seems even the most business-focused of postcodes can’t escape the romantic distractions of St Valentine’s Day. So it’s lucky that bonus season is in full flow, as the VAT hike and inflation combine to push the expected Valentine spend up from [...]
EDF hikes its energy prices February 3, 2011 Energy supplier EDF said it will hike its prices yesterday, with electricity bills rising by 7.5 per cent and gas by 6.5 per cent. The firm is the last of the UK’s big suppliers to introduce higher prices, which will come into effect on 2 March. EDF has blamed rising wholesale costs for the increase. [...]
Nippon steel tie up will be world’s no. 2 February 3, 2011 JAPAN’S Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Industries plan to merge to create the world’s second-largest steelmaker in an effort to fend off tough competition from Asian rivals and offset shrinking demand from domestic automakers. The deal, which would likely see Japan’s top steelmaker Nippon Steel acquiring Sumitomo Metal, comes as the industry grapples with surging [...]
Fixed-price supplies help Dow boost revenue despite rising energy costs February 3, 2011 DOW Chemical barely blinked at rallying energy costs in the fourth quarter as it tapped fixed-cost supplies from the Middle East and boosted customer pricing by 10 per cent. The largest US chemical maker effectively dodged $685m in higher costs for crude and natural gas, the building blocks for many of the paints and plastics [...]
Manufacturing grows at record pace February 1, 2011 Manufacturing activity grew in January at its fastest pace since records began in 1992, and factory costs also surged, in a further sign that price pressures are building in the economy, a survey showed. Employment in the manufacturing sector also rose at the quickest pace since the records began. The Markit/CIPS manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index [...]
Pain must always come before gain January 27, 2011 CREDIT rating agencies have come in for a lot of flak, not least in this newspaper, but yesterday they proved that they can still tell the Emperor it has no clothes. The downgrade of Japan’s credit came as a stark reminder that government debt will be the new sub-prime. It certainly ought to serve as [...]