Retail sales fell in June as households continue to be squeezed by higher inflation and rising unemployment. According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC)/KPMG retail sales monitor, sales fell by 0.6% on an underlying basis last month, while total sales (including VAT) rose 1.5%. Food sales growth eased a little last month but a strong [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) today announced Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) unexpected fell to annual rate of 4.2% last month from May’s 2½-year high of 4.5%. Analysts had expected the figure to remain at 4.5%. However, the figure remains more than double the target of 2% and has been above this level since December [...]
WH Smith, which sells newspapers, books, stationery and confectionery, today announced like-for-like sales fell 4% in the 18 weeks to 2 July compared with the same period a year ago. However, the company, which operates on the High Street and at travel-based outlets such as airports, train stations and motorway service stations, said it “remained [...]
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) have revealed UK car sales fell by 6.2% in June compared with the same month in 2010. The SMMT said the number of new cars sold in the month was 183,125 – representing the twelfth consecutive monthly fall in sales. Meanwhile, registrations in the first six months [...]
Retail sales in the 17-member euro zone fell in May as consumers cut back on spending in the face of higher inflation and rising unemployment. According to the European Union’s statistics, Eurostat, sales in the euro zone fell 1.1% in May on a monthly basis – the biggest fall since April 2010 – with the [...]
Australia’s Bureau of Statistics today revealed retail sales showed a surprise fall in May sending the dollar and shares down after the announcement. Sales suffered the largest fall in seven months, declining by 0.6% on a monthly basis, confounding analysts’ expectations of a 0.3% rise. According to analysts, today’s figures will lead the Reserve Bank [...]
Music, books and games retailer HMV has today reported a pre-tax profit of £28.9 million in the 12 months to the end of April – a fall of 61% compared with the £74.2 million in the same period a year earlier. Furthermore, like-for-like sales have dived 11% over the past year as it struggles with [...]
A survey of 2,000 individuals, conducted between June 3 and 12, has revealed a fall in consumer confidence. According to the survey of consumer attitudes, carried out by GfK NOP Social Research, confidence dipped by 4 points to -25 in June after May’s 10 point rise, which represented the biggest increase since May 1993. The [...]
Greece’s debt crisis continues to knock confidence after an index by the European Commission revealed sentiment fell to 105.1 in June from 105.5 in May – the lowest reading since October 2010. The fall has been attributed to the problems in Greece as EU leaders put together a second bailout package for the crisis-torn economy. [...]
According to housing intelligence group, Hometrack, house prices in England and Wales have fallen at their fastest annual pace since October 2009. According to Hometrack, house prices fell by 0.1% in June and are 3.9% lower on the year. House prices have now fallen for 11 consecutive months, according to the group. Hometrack attributes the [...]
Oil prices have fallen further as investors continue to worry about the weak US recovery and Greece’s debt woes. Today, Brent crude for August delivery fell $2.95 to $102.72 a barrel, while US light, sweet crude dropped $1.13 cents to $90.14 a barrel. The US economy continues to struggle amid stubbornly high unemployment and a [...]
The Commerce Department has today revealed sales of new homes in the US fell, suggesting the housing market remains depressed. According to the Commerce Department, new single-family home sales fell by 2.1% in May on a monthly basis to an annual rate of 319,000 units, after two consecutive months of gains. However, despite the fall, [...]
Electrical goods retailer Dixons has today reported like-for-like sales fell 2% in the year to April. The results come just a day after fellow electrical goods chain Comet said sales fell 6.8% for the 12 month period. The figures are evidence of consumers reining in their spending and opting not to purchase big-ticket items at [...]
Electrical goods retailer Comet has today posted a 6.8% fall in sales for the year to 30 April, slumping to a loss of €10 million (£9 million). The chain said trade had deteriorated in the new financial year and chairman David Newlands described the results as “unsatisfactory and unacceptable”. Comet’s parent company, Kesa, however posted [...]
The US housing market remains depressed after figures today revealed sales of previously owned homes plunged 15% on an annual basis last month, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The industry body also said sales were down 3.8% on the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.81 million units – [...]
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has today revealed a further fall in the number of homes sold in May in the UK. According to HMRC, 68,000 homes worth at least £40,000 or more were sold in the month – 2,000 lower than the revised total of April and 3,000 lower when compared with May 2010. [...]
Euro zone finance ministers have failed to reach an agreement on Greece’s next loan instalment of €12 billion, which has sent European stocks down – with banking shares hit hardest. Ministers met in Luxembourg yesterday but delayed their decision on the fifth instalment of Greece’s €110 billion loan until the country introduces further austerity measures. [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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