Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, has told US television that there is currently a “pause” in the US recovery. Mr Greenspan told NBC’s Meet the Press programme: “We’re in a pause in a recovery, a modest recovery but a pause in the modest recovery feels like a quasi-recession.” He was [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed UK economic growth for the second quarter today surged ahead by 1.1% – almost double the rate analysts had forecast. Meanwhile, economic growth rose by 1.6% on an annualised basis – the highest in two years. The UK is the first G7 country to release its [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is scheduled to publish GDP figures for the second quarter today – the first G7 country to do so. Analysts expect growth of 0.6% for the April to June quarter – which would represent the strongest performance since before the credit crunch. Strong growth is expected to come from [...]
Official data from the Labor Department has today revealed that US consumer prices fell for the third consecutive month in June, by 0.1% on a monthly basis. The fall was attributed to declines in energy prices, which were down 2.9%, food prices remained flat. The fall in June followed declines of 0.1% and 0.2% in [...]
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) today said its Pending Home Sales Index fell by 30% in May, after rising 23% between January and April. The slump was attributed to the expiration of a Government incentive – which ended on 30 April. While a fall in deals was anticipated, it was double the amount that [...]
The Commerce Department has revealed a record fall in sales of new homes in the US for the month of May. According to the Commerce Department, new single-family home sales fell by 32.7% on year to an all-time low of 300,000 units – the lowest since records commenced in 1963. However, a fall was expected [...]
Credit rating agency Fitch has today downgraded BP’s rating by six notches, from AA to BBB. The downgrade comes as the oil giant continues to battle to contain the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico which has resulted in the company’s shares plunging in value. Commenting on the downgrade, Fitch said it is concerned [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) today revealed UK manufacturing output unexpectedly fell in April, raising fears about the strength of the economic recovery. According to the ONS, output fell by 0.4% in April compared with March – far below analysts expectations of a 0.5% rise and follows a rise of 2.2% in March. The [...]
Asian stock markets were down earlier today while European stock markets followed suit over disappointing US jobs data on Friday and fears that Hungary could suffer a Greek-style debt crisis. Earlier today, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down 3.8% – its biggest daily fall in 14 months, while the Chinese Hang Seng index lost 2.3%. European [...]
Fitch Ratings cut Spain’s credit rating from the maximum AAA to AA+ on Friday and the news comes just a week after one of the country’s banks, CajaSur, was bailed out. Standard & Poor’s cut Spain’s credit rating a month ago and comes as the country has been forced to implement tough austerity measures in [...]
Consumer confidence in Germany, which is the euro zone’s largest economy, has fallen due to ongoing fears about the weak currency and the austerity measures which many nations have implemented to reduce their debt. GfK research group said its latest German consumer climate indicator forecasted a value of 3.5 points for June, following a value [...]
Stock markets across the world fell sharply today over ongoing fears about the debt crisis in the euro zone. London’s FTSE fell below the crucial 5,000 mark today to 4,939.6 points – its lowest level for eight months. Germany’s Dax index lost 2.7%, while France’s Cac 40 index fell 3.2%. Earlier in the day, Asian [...]
Spanish banking shares have been hit today after Spanish bank, CajaSur, was bailed out at the weekend. The Bank of Spain has taken over the running of CajaSur after a proposed merger between CajaSur and savings bank, Unicaja, collapsed at the end of last week. CajaSur, which is one of Spain’s largest regional lenders, was [...]
Ongoing fears that the euro zone debt crisis could spread throughout the world sent Asian markets falling today with Japan’s Nikkei index down 246 points to 9,784.54. Over the week, the index has lost over 6.5% – its largest weekly drop since January 2009. On Wall Street yesterday, the Dow Jones industrial average slumped 376.36 [...]
Despite Friday’s general election result, which failed to give any political party a clear majority, sterling has gained on the US dollar today, while London’s FTSE recovered from the sharp falls on Friday. The pound rose by nearly a cent against the dollar to $1.4865 but fell against the euro to 1.1510 euros. The pound [...]
Global shares have continued to decline due to ongoing fears of contagion from Greece’s debt crisis. Asian shares fell sharply yesterday after fears grew that the crisis would spread to other European countries. Ratings agency Moody’s said European banking systems faced “very real, common threats” from the fallout from Greece. However, it seems that fears [...]
Asian shares have fallen sharply today as fears mount that Greece’s crisis would spread to other European countries. In an interview with French newspaper, La Parisien, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, admitted earlier this week that the possible spread of the crisis was a concern. He said: “We have to [...]
There are renewed fears over the Greek debt crisis after a hammering of bond prices by investors took the yield on short-term Greek debt up to 8% yesterday – almost 3% higher than in October 2009. There is now speculation that Greece will be seeking a bailout sooner rather than later with one analyst suggesting [...]
The ongoing uncertainty in Greece has pushed the euro to a 10-month low against the dollar as European Union leaders prepare for a two-day summit in Brussels today. The currency fell to $1.333 – its lowest level since May last year, while it also lost 0.3% against the pound to 89.338 pence. As well as [...]
There were further fears for debt-stricken Greece today after the country’s central bank, the Bank of Greece (BoG), said economic growth will fall this year by 2%, worse than the Government’s forecast of between 1.2% and 1.7%. According to the BoG: “The Greek economy has fallen into a vicious circle with only one way out: [...]
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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