December 31, 2007

Subdued housing market can still produce hotspots

by Gill Montia
Halifax Estate Agents is entering the New Year with predictions of strong house price growth in parts of southern England and Scotland. While the agent describes the overall outlook for the 2008 property market as subdued, it has identified 10 property hotspots. In the past decade house prices have risen by 179%, from an average price of £70,000 in 1997 to ...

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Strategic review at Friends Provident

by Kay Murchie
Last month, chief executive Philip Moore left Friends after less than a year amid a failed merger attempt with Resolution, the closed fund consolidator. The insurer has now announced it is carrying out a strategic review that could result in a sale of part or all of the company. In order to support new business growth, the insurer needs to raise around £600 ...

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Gloomy outlook for the UK job market

by Kay Murchie
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is predicting a net rise in employment of 75,000 in 2008, a third of the rise forecast in 2006 and 2007. The employment organisation said prospects for the UK job market is at its worst for 10 years and anticipates that employment will rise by approximately 150,000 to 1.8 million or 5.8% ...

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December 28, 2007

Annual house price inflation falls to 4.8%

by Gill Montia
New figures from Nationwide indicate that house price growth for 2007 has fallen to below 5%. In December, the UK's largest building society recorded a 0.5% drop in house prices, making it the second month in a row that prices have fallen. Looking at variance over a longer period, in December, the three-month on three-month rate of growth fell to 0.9%, its ...

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Northern Rock investors decide against ousting chairman

by Kay Murchie
Bryan Sanderson, Northern Rock's chairman, has won the support of the banks two biggest investors who have decided against ousting him. Hedge funds RAB Capital and SRM Global, the bank's major shareholders, have said they don't want to 'destabilise' the bank any further. An emergency meeting for shareholders is to be held on 15 January 2008 to discuss its sale process ...

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Credit squeeze will not ease in New Year

by Kay Murchie
Gloomy news from across the waters has erased any hopes that the credit squeeze will ease in the New Year. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, often referred to as the Sage of Omaha, warned it may take many years for US banks to recover from sub-prime mortgage crisis. Furthermore, property prices in North America are falling at a fast rate ...

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December 27, 2007

Tokyo markets see declines

by Elaine Frei
Equities markets in Tokyo were lower on the last full trading day of the year. Declines came on the news that house prices are down again in the United States and on a report that Japanese consumer finance companies will have paid out twice as many refunds to customers this year than they did in 2007. The Nikkei 225 and the ...

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Confidence wanes as 75% expect house prices to fall

by Gill Montia
Consumer confidence in the UK housing market has taken a serious battering. In a poll of over 4,000 people by This is Money, the financial website, 75% of respondents reported that they expect property prices to fall during 2008, with 52% stating that the drop will be 11% or more. According to the Halifax index, the average price ...

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December 24, 2007

House prices fall at steepest rate in three years

by Gill Montia
Latest figures from Hometrack show that in December, UK house prices fell at their steepest rate in three years. The decline has prompted the property website to warn that the market could seize up in 2008 and to predict that the number of property transactions will fall 17% during the year, while prices will rise an average 1%. During ...

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First-time buyer purchases plummet as 96% cannot afford to buy

by Gill Montia
A report from Halifax show just how bleak the prospects are for potential first-time buyers. According to the UK's largest mortgage lender, 96% of people looking for their first home cannot afford to buy. As a result, the number of first purchases has dropped from 532,000 in 2002 to 300,000 in 2007 and is currently at its lowest ...

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Emergency meeting for Northern Rock

by Kay Murchie
Struggling Northern Rock has announced that an emergency meeting for shareholders will be held on 15 January 2008 to discuss its sale process. Hedge funds RAB Capital and SRM Global, the bank's major shareholders are calling for restrictions on the bank's ability to sell the company's assets or issue new shares. However, Northern Rock said their proposed resolution would obstruct a rescue ...

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Thousands of employees not receiving minimum wage

by Kay Murchie
A survey for union organisation the TUC has established that thousands of workers are not receiving the minimum wage. Approximately 150,000 workers are not receiving the £5.52 an hour for adults and £4.60 for 18 to 21-year-olds. The TUC said it had been contacted by a homeworker and a Polish person working in a pizza store who were being paid ...

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Merrill seeks funds from a foreign government

by Kay Murchie
Investment bank, Merrill Lynch, is looking to repair its balance sheet after $8.4 billion of write-downs on mortgage related investments and corporate loans. It is set to become the latest Wall Street bank to seek funds from Singapore's wealthy government fund, Temasek Holdings. It is believed that Temasek's board had provisionally approved injecting money into Merrill. The move follows similar injections ...

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December 23, 2007

Threats for the UK economy in 2008

by Brian Turner
The Credit Crunch has dominated financial news over the second-half of 2007. As we prepare to start a new year, a number of adverse indicators continue to threaten the UK economy for 2008. 1. Property The UK property market across all sectors has shown itself to be a core factor in the economic health of the nation - but by all accounts, every ...

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December 21, 2007

Global markets end week with gains

by Elaine Frei
Asia-Pacific region markets were up to end the week on Friday. Australia’s markets saw gains after seven consecutive days of declines. The Sydney Ordinaries added 1.03 percent to 6,309.4 while the S&P/ASX200 was up 1.13 percent to 6,247. In Taiwan, the Taiex was 1.07 percent higher to 7,941.44. The Shanghai Composite gained 1.15 percent to 5,101.78 while ...

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RAB loses another senior exec

by Kay Murchie
Just a few days after a surprising profit warning, top salesman Rod Barker has left RAB Capital and moved to rival Renaissance Capital. Mr Barker has been the hedge fund's highest-profile director after the founders Philip Richards and Michael Alen-Buckley. His responsibility was enticing institutions and the affluent to park their money in RAB funds. However, the performance of those funds, whose ...

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Majority of mortgage lenders act on base rate cut

by Gill Montia
Predictions that mortgage lenders would be more interested in restoring profit margins than helping hard-pressed home buyers have been allayed by the news that since the base rate was cut from 5.75% to 5.5%, at the beginning of this month, over a half of mortgage providers have agreed to cut their rates. Latest figures from Moneyfacts.co.uk, the price comparison ...

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New student travel insurance launched by American Express

by Kay Murchie
American Express has launched a Gap travel insurance plan for students. The insurance policy allows students to return to the UK for up to 14 days during their gap year so they won't miss out on family occassions. The policy also offers the choice of extending cover for up to 2 years for those wanting to take a longer trip. In ...

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Bear Stearns posts first loss in 84 years

by Kay Murchie
Bear Stearns, the US investment bank, has reported a quarterly loss of $854 million, its first in the company's 84-year history, as bets on risky sub-prime mortgages in the US went bad. Sub-prime lenders target people with poor or non-existent credit histories. Rising interest rates in the US resulted in a rise in the number of mortgage defaults, with the ...

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December 20, 2007

Most European equities see gains

by Elaine Frei
Most European markets were up on Thursday, but in Madrid the IBEX was down 0.24 percent to 15,140.2. Elsewhere, the pan-European FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 0.27 percent to 1,486.51 while the CAC-40 was 0.26 percent higher to 5,511.45 and the Dax gained 0.41 percent to 7,869.19. In London, the FTSE 100 added 0.97 percent to 6,345.6 while the FTSE 250 ...

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