Minutes of the Bank of England’s October meeting have been released today and have revealed that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) were split three ways. Adam Posen called for an injection of £50 billion via its quantitative easing (QE) programme to boost the economy. For the fifth consecutive month, policymaker Andrew Sentance voted for interest [...]
A survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has revealed factory orders slumped in October at their sharpest pace since April. The industrial trends survey’s total order book balance fell to -28 this month, from -17 in September – lower than expectations of a reading of -19. In the meantime, the output expectations balance [...]
Property website, Rightmove, has today reported a rise in asking prices in October – after three months of falls. According to Rightmove, asking prices for residential property in England and Wales rose 3% and the group attributed the rise to vendors refusing to adjust to new market conditions. Rightmove warned sellers that increasing their asking [...]
It has been announced that the UK minimum wage will rise by 13p (2%) to £5.93 an hour from October 1 and is set to benefit almost one million people, according to the Low Pay Commission. The 13p an hour rise applies to workers aged 21 and over. Meanwhile, the rate for 18 to 20-year-olds [...]
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has today elected to lift interest rates from 4.25% to 4.5%, as widely expected. Australia was the first economy to raise rates from a 50-year low as the economic downturn eased. Other major economies opted for lower interest rates to boost their economies. Furthermore, it is one of the [...]
The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas remained flat in October after rising by a revised 0.4% the previous month. The latest figures dashed hopes of a sixth consecutive monthly increase and fell short of analysts expectations who had hoped for a 0.2% rise. Meanwhile, on an annual basis, the 20-city index [...]
There was further bad news for the world’s second largest economy today after it was revealed that Japanese core machinery orders (a highly volatile series seen as an indicator of corporate spending) fell more than expected in October. Official figures revealed Japanese machinery orders fell by 4.5% in October compared with the previous month, analysts [...]
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported that approvals for house purchase loans increased to 55,000 in October, the highest level since December 2007 and up from a January 2009 low of 23,000. However, October remortgaging approvals remained static on a month earlier at 33,000 and apart from a total of 30,000 in August, [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed that UK industrial output showed no change in October from September – suggesting the economy made a poor start to the final quarter of the year. The data has disappointed analysts who had predicted an increase. According to Ross Walker from RBS, the recovery was “lagging” [...]
The Economy Ministry in Berlin has today revealed a fall in German factory orders for the month of October. The monthly fall of 2.1% was the first in eight months and came as a surprise after analysts had expected the recent rise in orders to continue. The fall was led by a slump in export [...]
Figures from the Building Societies Association (BSA) have revealed that consumers are opting to repay debt rather than save amid the historically low interest rate environment. According to the BSA, savings balances held by building societies fell by £-929 million in October compared to an increase of £545 million a year ago, when interest rates [...]
US consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of overall economic activity in the US, rose by 0.7% in October compared with September. The figures from the Commerce Department were more than the 0.5% rise expected by analysts and boosted hopes for a strong recovery. According to the Commerce Department, consumers increased their spending [...]
The Japanese economy cemented its recovery today after it emerged that exports totalled 5.3 trillion yen in October – a fall of 23.2% compared with the same month a year go. The Japanese economy, which is the world’s second largest, is heavily dependent on exports and suffered its worst recession in decades as it was [...]
Britain’s High Street banks approved more new mortgages and loans for house purchases in October, with the figure nudging up from 42,073 in September, to 42,238 According to the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), the improvement reflects continued growth from the low levels seen at the end of last year. BBA statistics director, David Dooks, says [...]
The National Association of Realtors has revealed a rise in sales of previously owned homes in the US for the month of October. The industry body said sales surged 10.1% to an annual rate of 6.1 million units in October, up from a revised 5.54 million the previous month. Not only was the rise in [...]
Figures published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) revealed a fall in UK car production. Car output declined 6.7% in October compared with a year ago, however, it was the smallest monthly drop this year. According to the SMMT, there were 106,400 cars made in October and so far this year, [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed that the UK’s public sector net borrowing rose by a higher than expected £11.4 billion in October. According to the ONS, the figure was the highest for the month of October since it began gathering data 16 years ago, and takes public sector net borrowing for [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed a rise in UK retail sales for the month of October. Retail sales for the month were up 0.4% compared with September and rose by 3.4% compared with October 2008. Sales were driven by clothing and footwear, partially due to Halloween and half-term shopping, which contributed [...]
The latest monthly mortgage index from mortgage broker, John Charcol, shows the proportion of homeowners borrowing at fixed-rates falling in October, to 26.3%. The ratio compares with a peak of 83.1% in June and confirms that borrowers have gradually been convinced that low interest rates are here to stay. The firm’s spokesman, Drew Wotherspoon, says [...]
The Office for National Statistics has today announced that Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) rose for the first time in eight months to 1.5% in October from a 5-year low of 1.1% in September. The rise was not unexpected after a sharp fall in transport costs last year was not repeated this year and because fuel [...]
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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