The long bank holiday weekends and sunny weather has led to a rise in retail sales for the month of April, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today. The ONS said retail sales grew 1.12% last month due to the late Easter holidays, hot weather and Royal Wedding, with clothing, footwear and food [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed UK unemployment fell further in the three months to March. The ONS said unemployment fell by 36,000 in the three month period to 2.46 million. The latest figures means the unemployment rate has fallen to 7.7% from 7.8% in February. In the meantime, the number of [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) today announced Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) surged to an annual rate of 4.5% in April – a level not seen since October 2008 and higher than forecasts of a rise to 4.2%. The surprise surge in inflation comes after the rate dropped to 4% in March and was attributed [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed UK manufacturing output grew 0.3% in March on a monthly basis – much less than the 0.8% rise expected by analysts. The figure follows February’s shock fall and analysts had expected output to rebound in March. The fall was attributed to the ongoing maintenance work on [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed the UK economy grew by just 0.5% in the January to March period. However, the figure was in line with expectations and follows the shock contraction of 0.5% in the final three months of 2010 – which was attributed to bad weather. The poor first quarter [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) will today publish economic growth figures for the January to March period. The figures are much awaited by analysts after the economy suffered a shock contraction in the last three months of 2010 – attributed to bad weather at the end of the year. GDP is expected to expand [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed UK public sector borrowing came in lower than expected for the fiscal year. According to the ONS, public sector net borrowing (excluding interventions such as bank bail-outs) was £18.6 billion in March, taking the total for the fiscal year 2010-11 to £141.1 billion – less than [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today reported a rise in UK retail sales for the month of March. According to the ONS, sales volumes registered a surprise rise of 0.2% on a monthly basis – driven by strong food and non-store sales. However, other sectors which performed well included garden stores and toy [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed UK unemployment fell in the three months to February. The ONS said unemployment fell by 17,000 in the three month period to 2.48 million. The latest figures means the unemployment rate has fallen to 7.8% from 8% in January. In the meantime, the number of Britons [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed the UK’s trade deficit narrowed in February. According to the ONS, the global goods trade gap narrowed to £6.8 billion in the month from £7.8 billion in January. Analysts had expected a widening in the deficit to £8.1 million. Stripping out oil and erratic items, the [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) today announced Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) fell to an annual rate of 4% in March, from February’s 28-month high of 4.4%. The fall was attributed to food prices, which fell 1.4%. While it was the first time in eight months inflation had slowed, it still remains double the target [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed UK producer output (factory gate) prices increased 0.9% on a monthly basis in March, taking the annual rate to 5.4% – the highest since October 2008 and the sixth monthly gain. Analysts had expected a fall to 5.1% and the news lifted the value of sterling briefly. [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed UK manufacturing output experienced a shock fall in February after recovering in January following December’s weather related fall. According to the ONS, manufacturing output fell 1.2% on the month – attributed to a sharp drop in oil and gas production. However, analysts believe the fall is [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed the UK economy contracted by 0.5% in the October to December period – slightly better than the second estimate of 0.6% but unchanged from the first estimate. Economists had expected the figures to remain unchanged. Today’s estimate is the third and final reading and the GDP [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) will tomorrow publish its final reading of gross domestic product (GDP) for the fourth quarter of 2010. In January, the ONS revealed the UK economy contracted by 0.5% in the October to December period. Last month, the figure was revised down further to 0.6% with bad weather being attributed [...]
Retail sales fell last month – by a bigger than expected 0.8% on a monthly basis, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has reported today. The fall followed a downwardly revised gain of 1.5% in January. Sales growth for January was attributed to heavy discounts and a rush to beat the VAT hike, which came [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed UK public sector borrowing was higher than expected last month. According to the ONS, public sector borrowing was £11.8 billion in February – the highest for the month of February since records began in 1993. Furthermore, the figure was far higher than the £6.9 billion expected [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) today announced Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) rose to an annual rate of 4.4% in February – the highest rate since October 2008. The latest figures mean inflation is still way above the target of 2% – where it has been for more than a year and exceeded economists expectations [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed UK unemployment rose in the three months to January. The ONS said unemployment grew by 27,000 in the three month period to 2.529 million. The latest figures means the unemployment rate has risen from 7.9% in January to 8% in February – a 10-month high. In [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) today revealed UK producer output prices increased 0.5% on a monthly basis in February, taking the annual rate to 5.3% – the highest since October 2008 and the fifth monthly gain. Meanwhile, producer input prices for February were 14.6% higher on an annual basis – also the highest rate [...]
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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