The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has today reported mortgage lending remained weak in January. Mortgage lending fell by 13% in January compared with December to £9.2 billion – the lowest level for a year, according to the CML. However, it was a 5% rise on January 2010 levels – the first year-on-year increase since [...]
The Labor Department has today revealed the US Consumer Price Index, the core rate of inflation, rose by 1.6% on an annual basis in January. However, the rate is still within the central bank’s target of closer to 2%. On a monthly basis, prices rose by 0.2% – the largest gain since October 2009 – [...]
The latest survey from the Nationwide Building Society has revealed a fall in UK consumer confidence for the month of January after rising in December. The building society’s consumer confidence index plunged to 47 in January from 54 the previous month – just 6 points above the record low of 41 and way below its [...]
The Commerce Department today revealed US retail sales slowed in January – this was attributed to the heavy snowfall which gripped parts of the country during the month. According to the Commerce Department, sales grew 0.3% in January on a monthly basis – the slowest gain in seven months. However, on an annual basis, sales [...]
China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed the consumer price index rose 4.9% in January on an annual basis – up from December’s 4.6%. Inflation is still well in excess of the 3% target set by the Government but was in line with analysts forecasts. The Government recently announced measures to deal with double-digit [...]
Official figures have today revealed Chinese imports soared by 51% in January compared with a year ago – far exceeding forecasts of a 28% increase. Meanwhile, exports grew 38% in January on an annual basis, according to the customs authorities. Again, this easily beat expectations of a 22.4% rise. The strong rise in imports led [...]
Influential think tank, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), has today suggested the UK economy recovered in January after adverse weather conditions led to a shock contraction in the final quarter of last year. Last month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed the UK economy contracted by 0.5% in the October [...]
Figures today revealed Australia’s unemployment rate held steady at the 5% mark in January – despite the recent flooding which has affected farming and mining. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the economy created 24,000 jobs in January. The Bureau comments: “Due to flooding in Queensland, operational difficulties were experienced in conducting the Labour [...]
Japanese consumer confidence grew for the first time in seven months in January, the Cabinet Office said today. The closely-watched consumer sentiment index climbed to 41.1 in January, from 40.1 in December. The figures suggest consumers are now more optimistic about the economic prospects after all four sub-indices of the sentiment index saw an improvement [...]
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has today revealed uncertainty surrounding the economy means buyers and sellers remain cautious. As a result, the housing market has got off to a slow start in 2011 as buyer demand remains weak and supply levels remain low. However, the Institution said new buyer enquiries picked up in [...]
Retail sales recovered in January after the heavy snowfall in December knocked sales. According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC)/KPMG retail sales monitor, like-for-like retail sales grew by 2.3% in January on an annual basis – the best showing since March 2010. Total sales increased 4.2%, up from 1.5% in December. However, the BRC highlights [...]
The Labor Department has revealed the unemployment rate in the US has fallen from 9.4% in December to 9% in January – confounding expectations of a rise to 9.5%. It also follows on from the sharp drop of 9.8% reported for the month of November. However, the large fall has been attributed to jobseekers giving [...]
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has today announced UK car sales fell by 11.5% in January compared with the same month in 2010. It represents the seventh consecutive monthly fall. The SMMT said the number of new cars sold in the month was 128,811. However, the fall was in line with the [...]
The Halifax has today revealed UK house prices rose by 0.8% last month compared with December, when prices fell 1.3%. The latest house price rise takes the average cost of a UK home to £164,173, the Halifax said. According to the lender, which is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, house prices are now 2.4% [...]
Growth in the UK’s closely-watched service sector recovered in January – following the surprise contraction in December due to the disruption caused by bad weather. The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS)/Markit purchasing managers’ index (PMI) grew at its fastest pace in 8 months to 54.5 in January, from December’s 20-month low of 49.7. [...]
The latest survey from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) has revealed a rise in US factory output. According to the ISM, the manufacturing activity index rose to 60.8 in January, from December’s 58.5. The reading, which was the highest since May 2004, was better than analysts expected and drove US stocks up to a [...]
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS)/Markit construction purchasing managers’ index (PMI) has today revealed UK construction activity recovered last month on the back of better weather. The PMI rose to 53.7 in January, up from December’s 49.1 – which represented the first fall in 10 months due to the severe wintry weather during [...]
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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